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| RANNNDDDOOOOMMMMM CHATTT!!!!; Talk about anything! Life, failed missions, anything! | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 8 2016, 01:34 PM (1,580 Views) | |
| Fulcrum | Jul 8 2016, 01:34 PM Post #1 |
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Hello fellow Wardens! |
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| Altmoras | Aug 7 2016, 08:27 PM Post #221 |
Big Brother
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52. CONTINUED: NOMI What're you --? EXT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - BACK PORCH - NIGHT -- and steps out to meet their tormentors. Rodenburg and the others are there now too. Rodenburg is grinning. RODENBURG Talked-to Billy-Ray, chief. Don't know who you a r - e, but you picked the wrong -- Blaze struggles to contain the Ghost Rider, but his whole body is drenched in sweat now -- like he's going to spontaneously combust at any moment. BLAZE Please. Just tell us where they went and leave. There's no reason why you have to die. Rodenburg LAUGHS, looks at his friends in disbelief. RODENBURG I'm gonna die? Me? Buddy, you got your head screwed on bass-ackwards! Rodenburg FIRES into Blaze's chest -- once, twice. Blaze stumbles back against the porch. As he falls, Rodenburg mounts the steps, charging in after Nomi. INT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - NIGHT Nomi runs -- but Weingrod DIVES through the plastic sheeting in the hall, cutting her off. He SLAMS her against the wall, twisting her arm behind her back. Rodenburg appears behind them. Together, he and Pennebaker drag Nomi towards the bedroom. They shove Nomi onto the bed. RODENBURG Had to come back here, didn't you, Nomi? Just couldn't leave well enough alone. Nomi struggles to sit up. Rodenburg LAUGHS viciously, forces her back, drags at her jeans. EXT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - BACK PORCH - NIGHT Doyle waits on guard duty, bored, when suddenly -- (CONTINUED) 53. CONTINUED: BLAZE sits up. He looks to Doyle, TEARS OF FIRE streaming from his eyes. As he stands, his chest wounds ignites, the flames instantly cauterizing the flesh. He's suddenly engulfed in a heat haze. Wood smolders all around him. Doyle backs away, terrified. He FIRES his gun again and again, but the bullets just punch through Blaze, creating more flaming holes- INT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT Rodenburg stops mid-assault. Nomi breathes fearfully, held down at gunpoint by Pennebaker. We hear SCREAMS, the WHISTLING WIND, the CRACKLE OF FIRE. INT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - BACK PORCH - NIGHT Doyle rushes in from the porch, looks back -- Blaze keeps on coming, unstoppable. He steps/burns his way through the screen door, leaves a trail of BURNING FOOTPRINTS in his wake. As he walks down the hall, the heat streaming off of him blisters and curls the wallpaper. Doyle backs away, stumbles -- and Blaze is upon him, lifting Doyle up, gripping him by the throat. DOYLE P-PLEASE -- BLAZE I'm sorry. soul, the fire expanding, engulfing Doyle. INT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT Rodenburg buckles his pants, goes to the doorway, peers cautiously into the passage beyond. RODENBURG'S POV: Flaming leaves burn and twirl at the far end. Firelight flickers. The SCREAMS still come, sporadic and terrible. Rodenburg's mind is racing. He motions to Pennebaker, who drags Nomi off the bed and strong-arms her to the door. 54. INT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - NIGHT Rodenburg leads, gun ready. RODENBURG Doyle? Smoke and CRACKLING NOISES are building rapidly. The SHRIEKS persist, and those burning leaves are everywhere. Then -- --- movement in the living room! Rodenburg draws a bead but it's Weingrod, pushing through the plastic sheeting, fearful, eyes darting. He speaks in a strained whisper. WEINGROD What's going on, man? Where's Oswalt? GUNFIRE! Outside! CRASH! Something hits the house. Then more SCREAMS, more GUNFIRE, and a RUMBLE so deep it's deadly. Pennebaker panics, pushing past Rodenburg. PENNEBAKER I want out of here, I'm getting out! RODENBURG Keep your fucking voices down! WEINGROD He's burning the house, man! He's BURNING THE-- RED-HOT CHAINS whip viciously around Weingrod's head and torso. Then he's wrenched backwards, hauled straight through the plastic sheeting -- THE GHOST RIDER bursts through the melting plastic, hauls his red-hot monster bike up on its back wheel -- Rodenburg and Pennebaker run for their lives, falling into the fire-lit passage. The Ghost Rider screeches across the living room, setting the place aflame as he passes through. Nomi leaps aside as a sheet of fire burns where she was, SEES the fiery monster crash straight through the wall -- Rodenburg and Pennebaker run through the flames, stumbling over Doyle's charred body -- 55. EXT. CARRIGAN'S HOUSE - NIGHT They burst out the front door, clothes alight, racing across the yard towards their vehicles. Rodenburg looks back -- The Ghost Rider EXPLODES through the front of the house, skids to a halt, flicks out a chain -- and snags Rode burgs ankle. He falls, SCREAMING. The chain retracts -- Pennebaker reaches his vehicle, struggles with the door - TheGhost Rider thrusts a clawed hand outwards,clenchesthe air and hauls it back in. Like an explosion in reverse, 4,11 fire is sucked violently back into his hellish being. A frozen moment. All terrified eyes on the Ghost Rider Then he lets rip. Hurls the energy back out as a torus of white hot fire that expands across the yard, BLASTS Rodenburg's shirt from his back, SMASHES Pennebaker against his vehicle -- The vehicles EXPLODE, gas tanks rupturing. Pennebaker is blown to pieces. Rodenburg SCREAMS, shields his face. Fire and debris rain down in every direction. The Ghost Rider looms over him. More accurately, it's -- GHOST BLAZE Half man, half monster, his pitiless skull-face hazing and flickering between human and inhuman states. GHOST BLAZE Where are they taking the girl? Rodenburg whimpers. Ghost Blaze grabs Rodenburg's hair, wrenches his head back. GHOST BLAZE (CONT'D) Where. Are_ They. Taking. Her? RODENBURG (BEYOND TERRIFIED) North! They're headed North, into Oregon, oh, god, fuck -- GHOST BLAZE Where? RODENBURG I don't know exactly, Jesus, I don't know! (CONTINUED) 56. CONTINUED: Blue-white fire floods down Blaze's arm and engulfs Rodenburg. The poor man screams, struggles to break free -- aze simply crrows Otte ana ac and the Ghost Rider's evil countenance submerges every trace of Blaze's humanity. Then it's over. The flames evaporate. Rodenburg's corpse crumbles to dust. Wind HOWLS. The Ghost Rider is gone. ON BLAZE He SEES the corpses, the burning vehicles, tries to deny the horror. But it's always the same -- another swath of destruction left in his wake, another righteous atrocity. NOMI He told you everything he knew. She's ten yards away, shaking. Not going to come any closer. NOMI (CONT'D) Told you everything -- (BEAT) -- you didn't have to do that. BLAZE You asked for my help. I warned you what you were getting into. More a statement than an excuse. There are POLICE SIRENS on the wind. Blaze starts walking towards the pickup. CUT TO: EXT. MOTEL - NIGHT A sub-par motel 6. Nomi's battered pickup is parked outside. We HEAR Blaze's tortured MOANS coming from within. INT. MOTEL ROOM - NIGHT Blaze sits in a chair, shirt off, Nomi at his side. She's trying to help him patch up his wounds, but the enormity of the damage and the sheer amount of blood is daunting. NOMI I don't -- I don't know what else to do for you -- (CONTINUED) 57. CONTINUED: BLAZE S'okay -- just need to rest now -- (GASPING) -- wounds'11 be healed by morning. Nomi stands, still shaken. She retrieves a cigarette from her purse, lights it. NOMI I thought you were dead. BLAZE (considering his wounds) I don't even know if it's that's an option anymore. Every time I get close, I feel myself being dragged back -- (breathing through the pain) --it's like being born all over again. Like every law in the universe is being broken. Blaze sits forward, gritting his teeth against the pain. BLAZE (CONT'D) See, the Ghost Rider -- it's drawn to darkness like a bloodhound. If it thinks you've sinned, it'll find you. NOMI What if you're innocent? BLAZE Nobody's innocent. (beat, staring at her) Think about it. Everyone's done somethincr. You. Me -- Blaze lifts up the coyote coin, flipping it over his fingers. BLAZE (CONT'D) Every night I spin this fucking coin -- and it always lands the same side up. I keep thinking -- ona time, one time I'm going to spin it and I'll see the other face. Sleep through the night without getting blood on my hands. But it never happens. (SHAKING) There's always some sad motherfucker out there that needs retribution, vengeance -- (CONTINUED) 58. CONTINUED: (2) Blaze flings the coin away in disgust. It spins, wobbles, lands coyote side up. He laughs tiredly, then looks away, lost, suddenly overcome with emotion. BLAZE (CONT' D) I'm just so fucking tired -- Nomi moves to his side, struggles to help him up. NOMI Here, why don't you lie down for a little while? Blaze nods, too tired to argue. Nomi half carries him to the bed, lowers him down. Blaze settles back, exhausted. Nomi watches him, holding vigil. His eyes grow heavy. He shuts them a moment, opens them again -- THE PAST -- and it's Roxanne who is laying beside him now. She rolls over to face him, smiles sleepily. Blaze reaches for her, touches her face -- and the moment shatters into violence. A COLLISION OF IMAGES -- the El Camino sliding, spinning over. Metal rending. -- rain pattering on broken, bloody wreckage. Roxanne's torn seat belt hanging loosely. -- climbing out through the blown-out windshield. Crawling in mud, Blaze's face reflected in broken glass. -- cradling Roxanne's body in his arms, rocking her and -- THE PRESENT WHAM! Blaze bolts up in bed, disoriented, shaken. Clearly, some time has passed. Nomi sits across the room now, holding Blaze's tattered photographs in her hands, looking a little guilty. She's got the paper wedding band which Blaze made for Roxanne too.' BLAZE What are you doing? NOMI I'm sorry, I just -- (CONTINUED) 59. CONTINUED: ( 3) As Blaze stands, we SEE that his wounds have healed.-He shrugs on a shirt, approaches. Nomi nods to the paper wedding band. NOMI (CONT'D) You must've loved her a lot. Blaze doesn't answer. Just takes the photos and wedding band from her, shoves them back in his pack. He pulls out one of the postcards, scribbles an address on it. BLAZE What time is it? NOMI A little after three. BLAZE What time, exactly? NOMI 3:27. Why? Blaze ignores her, jots down the time. Licks a stamp and puts it on the postcard. Leaves it on the dresser. NOMI (CONT'D) What is it with you and those postcards, anyway? BLAZE They're just a kind of record. (hauling up his pack) Let's go. INT. PICKUP - DRIVING - NIGHT Blaze and Nomi drive. Outside, the landscape passes, bugs twirling and spattering against the windshield like snowflakes. MEMORY FLASHES Roxanne in the hospital, serene and beautiful. Starke handing Blaze the coin. NOMI You made a deal. Blaze nods. NOMI (CONT'D) So what happened? Did she live? (CONTINUED) 60. CONTINUED: BLAZE Roxanne? Yeah, she's alive. She just doesn't know it. (off Nomi' s look) Coma. Probably never wake up. NOMI So he tricked you. BLAZE (a tired laugh) That's what he does, doesn't he? She nods. That's what he does. NOMI (almost afraid to ask) What about the baby? Blaze just shakes his head. BLAZE It's funny. That kid was supposed to be my second chance. Rox and I used to talk about it -- how things'd be different after she was born. Nomi didn't expect his honest vulnerability. NOMI Maybe that's why we have them BLAZE What, kids? NOMI (NODDING) So we can make amends for all the royal fuck-ups we've perpetrated on the world. God knows I've had my share. (beat, pained) I just don't want her to have to pay for the things I've done. You know? Blaze nods. He knows all too well. He and Nomi drive on in silence for a beat, their thoughts turning inwards. NOMI (CONT'D) Can I ask you something? Honestly? (off Blaze's nod) What're you going to do when you find Starke? (CONTINUED) 61. CONTINUED: (2) BLAZE Make him pay, somehow -- (UNCERTAIN) I don't know. How do you beat the Devil? Walk up and bitch-slap him? Pretend you're Schwarzenegger and fire a bazooka up his hind ass? I'm basically making this up as I go along. Nomi smiles. NOMI I'm sure you'll figure something out. CUT TO: INT. CARRIGAN'S HUMMER - TRAVELLING - NIGHT -- Rain looking out through the truck's moon roof, watching stars passing overhead. As the sky above slowly brightens in time-lapse, Rain's eyes grow lidded. She sleeps, clutching her skeleton toy and -- INT. CARRIGAN'S HUMMER - TRAVELLING - DAY -- waking sunlight floods the cabin. New shift. Odell drives. Rain rides shotgun. Carrigan and Landsdale are sacked out in back. The radio drones, laced with STATIC. Tedium. No one slept well. Carrigan stares out at the passing plains, expertly cutting a deck of cards one-handed. He SEES a scarecrow go by, standing ragged in the middle of nowhere. Then his cell phone RINGS. Carrigan flips it open -- CARRIGAN Yeah? Based on his facial expressions, the news isn't good. He sighs, disconnects the call. Landsdale cocks an eyebrow. CARRIGAN (CONT'D) Rodenburg's dead. Oswalt, Weingrod, all those other inbred losers too. (off Landsdale's look) Looks like my ex-bitch has hooked up with the fire guy -- In the rear-view mirror, Odell's eyes grow wide. ODELL No fucking way -- Carrigan ponders, nods to Landsdale. (CONTINUED) 62. CONTINUED: CARRIGAN We're going to need reinforcements, some kind of escort to the meet. LANDSDALE I know a guy. Got some boys given over to wickedness and such. CARRIGAN (tosses him the phone) Make the call. RAIN (0.5.) He'll find me, you know. Her voice makes Odell jump. He thought she was asleep ODELL (fretful, pleading) BILLY-RAY -- CARRIGAN (to Rain, leans forwards) Hey, kiddo, you're worrying my boy here. So shut your goddamn mouth -- RAIN You can't tell me what to do. You're not my father. Wow. The truck collectively holds its breath. Carrigan settles back, but he's pissed. CARRIGAN You better believe that, sweetheart. I'm just the dumb-ass that financed your whole fucking life. You and your mother both. And what did I get for that selfless act of stupidity? She burned down the house and gave me something to remember her by. He's referring to the scar under his eye. Rain turns away. Huddles against the door. LANDSDALE Believe me, I could care less what Starke wants with you. Make you into a fucking hood ornament if he wants to. It's not like you came springing out of my loins. Only thing I care about now is getting what's mine, and that's -- (MORE) (CONTINUED) 63. CONTINUED: (2) LANDSDALE (CONT'D) (counting on his fingers) -- payment and retribution, got it? She's not listening. Her bound hands are secretly pushed down into the tight gap between the seat and the door. ON RAIN'S FINGERS extending towards A PEN, one inch out of reach, caught between the seat mechanism and the door sill. RAIN'S EYES are fluttering. Extreme concentration. THE PEN levitates, tilts into her outstretched hands. The RADIO squeals painfully, pure strident STATIC. Odell punches a new station, but the STATIC continues, grows -- Rain ATTACKS, stabbing the pen into Odell's thigh. He SCREAMS, slams the brakes, loses control of the truck -- EXT. HIGHWAY/CORNFIELD - DAY The Hummer barrels off the road, SLAMS down hard into a concrete culvert. Without missing a beat, Rain is out and away, plunging into the cornfield. Carrigan and Landsdale bolt after her, guns drawn -- ON RAIN, weaving between the stalks. She reaches an old farm implement, uses one of the rusting blades to saw through her taped bindings. Then she's up again, running -- ON CARRIGAN AND LANDSDALE searching high and low. Carrigan SEES movement to his right, surges forward -- -- but Rain jigs left and Carrigan misses her, tripping over the farm implement instead. He cuts himself, curses -- Rain continues, straight ahead now. Carrigan motions to Landsdale. The two split up, drifting in different directions. They're gaining on her -- BACK TO RAIN, losing ground. She spies a rock, scoops it up -- and SMASHES across C rr_gan's Face! (CONTINUED) 64 CONTINUED: Carrigan falls, dropping the gun. He searches for it, desperate. Then he SEES it. But as he reaches for it -- -- Rain extends her hand, concentrating, eyes fluttering -- WHOOSH! The gun spins away from Carrigan, into Rain's hands. She doesn't hesitate for a second -BLAM!- First shot wings Carrigan, knocks Rain on her ass. Carrigan DIVES for cover.. She FIRES wildly --CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-- but then the gun is spent and -- -- Landsdale emerges through the corn, bagging Rain with his coat. As a shaken Carrigan gets to his feet, Landsdale slips his belt out of his pants and binds Rain tightly. EXT. HIGHWAY - DAY Carrigan and Landsdale return to the Hummer, which is still nose down in the culvert. Landsdale carries Rain under his arm, tightly wrapped, no longer struggling. Odell sits on the hood, daubing the bloody wound in his leg with a handkerchief. He SEES Carrigan's wound. ODELL Man, she shot you? (off Carrigan's nod, disbelief) Jesus. Lucky she didn't perforate my ballsack with that fucking pen. CARRIGAN (RE: HUMMER) What's the damage? ODELL Mounts are cracked, trans-axle's shot to HELL -- (shaking his head) -- this baby ain't goin' nowhere. CARRIGAN Fuck. Ma. Carrigan fumes, glances at Rain -- then he just snaps, starts angrily kicking at the door. After a few futile moments, he stops, paces, looks to Landsdale. CARRIGAN (CONT'D) We're going to need a place where we can hole up `til tomorrow. Wait for those boys of yours. (CONTINUED) 65. CONTINUED: LANDSDALE How `bout up there? Landsdale points past Carrigan at a squat group of buildings and machinery -- a shut-down ROCK QUARRY in the distance. EXT. QUARRY - FRONT GATE - DAY From a distance, we watch as Landsdale approaches a guardhouse with an empty gas can. A GUARD opens the electric gate, steps out to help. Landsdale pistol-whips him, drags his limp body in through the gate. INT_ QUARRY OFFICE - DUSK The Guard slouches in a corner, bound and gagged. Landsdale and Odell lounge nearby, keeping a watchful eye on Rain. Carrigan paces by a window, nervously cutting his deck of cards one-handed. He's watching the shadows lengthen outside, the setting sun. He looks to Rain, who matches his gaze -- creepy eyes penetrating his brain. CARRIGAN (to Landsdale, anxious) Where the fuck are those men of yours? LANDSDALE Don't worry. They're on their way. Carrigan nods, cuts his cards. He j worried. CUT TO: EXT. HIGHWAY - DUSK/NIGHT The abandoned Hummer in the culvert. A gang of CROWS tear a lizard apart. Dusk TIME-LAPSES into night. Stars. After a time, Nomi's pickup comes racing past. Blaze is driving, cranes to see the passing wreck. He pulls over onto the shoulder. Blaze and Nomi climb out, approach the vehicle. Nomi shines a flashlight, SEES blood on the front seat. She GASPS. Blaze reaches past her, touches the blood stain -- FLASH OF THE PAST Chaotic and violent. Rain attacking Odell. The Hummer crashing. The desperate race through the cornfield. (CONTINUED) 66. CONTINUED: BACK TO THE PRESENT as Blaze steps away from the Hummer, into the field. BLAZE She's alive. NOMI How do you know ---? But Blaze isn't listening. His gaze is now fixated on the distant lights of the rock quarry. EXT. FIELD - NIGHT Blaze and Nomi crest a rise in the field, hunker down: THEIR POV: We can see the main compound of the quarry from here. Landsdale is in view, having a smoke by the guardhouse. NOMI You think she's in there? Blaze nods. NOMI (CONT'D) Then let's go -- Nomi starts forward, but Blaze pulls her back. BLAZE No. We'll wait. (POINTEDLY) Dawn's less than an hour away. NOMI (taking out her gun) You wait. I'm heading in. BLAZE Look, they're not going anywhere. NOMI You don't know that. This is probably the best chance we'll get. They're sitting ducks. We can do this if you -- BLAZE If I what? Burn them alive? Eat their spirits? (DRAWING CLOSER) (CONTINUED) 67 CONTINUED: BLAZE (CONT'D) You still get it, do you? The Ghost Rider whales on whoever's got it coming, but it's Johnny Blaze that gets to remember their faces. And I Lb remember them. Every last one. Just then, we hear the RUMBLE of approaching MOTORCYCLES. Lots of them. Blaze turns, SEES a line of BIKERS chugging up the service road on ratted-out Harleys. NOMI They know we're coming, don't they? Blaze nods. Once again, Fate is royally fucking him. NOMI (CONT'D) I'm going in. You with me or not? EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - NIGHT Landsdale opens the main gate. The bikers THUNDER into the compound -- low-rent Hell's Angel types culled form the shallow end of the gene pool known as the Gray Gargoyles. ARLO SKINNER, the Gargoyle's CEO, climbs off his hog, adjusts his nut-sack. As he approaches Landsdale. GUNT and CHESTER PULSIFER, his identical twin lieutenants, fall in behind. ARLO Brotherman. LANDSDALE Arlo. ARLO (GRINNING) I believe you know the Pulsifer Brothers, Chester and Gunt? EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - ELSEWHERE - NIGHT Blaze and Nomi scramble over a fence, then drop down, crouch- running to avoid a security camera. They hug the shadows. At least a dozen of the Gargoyles are in view, lounging around, shooting the shit. BLAZE I'll find her. You stay here. Nomi moves to protest, but Blaze silences her. (CONTINUED) |
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| Altmoras | Aug 7 2016, 08:28 PM Post #222 |
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Big Brother
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68. CONTINUED: BLAZE (CONT'D) If things go South and the Ghost Rider takes over, I can't guarantee he won't -- NOMI I know. I'm on my own. (beat, more plaintive now) , Just bring her back to me. That's all I care about. BLAZE (NODDING) Start disabling the bikes. Last thing we need is a gang of pissed-off speed freaks on our tail. Rip out all the coil wires --- Blaze points to the motorcycle nearest him. Nomi rolls her eyes and pulls out a switchblade, deftly slicing through a fuel line. Gasoline leaks onto the ground. BLAZE (CONT'D) (CHAGRINED) -- or you could do that. As Blaze creeps away: NOMI BLAZE -- (as he turns back) Whatever happens -- BLAZE You're welcome. Blaze leaves. Nomi starts in on the other bikes. INT. QUARRY OFFICE - NIGHT Arlo enters, accompanied by the Pulsifer Brothers. Carrigan and Landsdale are waiting to meet them. ARLO So you need some contract work? CARRIGAN An escort. We're making a delivery first thing tomorrow morning. ARLO And will there be mayhem involved? (CONTINUED) 69. CONTINUED: CARRIGAN Yeah, I'd say a certain amount of hijinx are likely to ensue. EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - OFFICE - NIGHT Blaze moves around the back of the compound. Up ahead, TWO GARGOYLES are lingering by a side entrance. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - OFFICE - NIGHT Arlo takes out a nail clipper, starts trimming his fingernails. ARLO Well, I'll tell you, I got nineteen brothers out there willing to go the distance and enough firepower to give a small Balkan nation a fucking titty- twister. But we don't come cheap. So how many men we going up against? CARRIGAN One. EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - SIDE ENTRANCE - NIGHT WHACK! Blaze elbows Gargoyle #2 in the face. As the biker drops, we SEE that Blaze has already disabled Gargoyle #1. Blaze quietly slips in through the door. EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - NIGHT Nomi has worked her way through a half-dozen bikes now and a fair amount of gasoline has pooled on the ground around her. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - OFFICE - NIGHT Arlo looks at Carrigan, incredulous. ARLO One man? CARRIGAN One man. ARLO You trying to diddle my nutpurse, Mister? CARRIGAN Absolutely not. Lemme clarify things -- 70. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - HALLWAY - NIGHT Blaze sidles down the hallway, moving as quietly as he can. We can HEAR the men talking in the office just next door. CARRIGAN (O.S.) See, this guy's not really a "guy". He's more like a demon or something. ARLO (0. S.) A demon? CARRIGAN (O.S.) That's right. ARLO (O.S.) What, exactly, do you mean by demon? Blaze winces, lifting a hand before his face -- BLUE FLAMES dance over his fingertips. He leans against the wall for support. When he removes his hand, he leaves a singed palm- print on the drywall. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - OFFICE - NIGHT Arlo puts the clipper away, starts arranging the fingernails on the desk before him into a neat little pile. CARRIGAN Like his head's on fire and shit. Arlo LAUGHS, the Pulsifers follow suit. Then Arlo turns to Landsdale, icy now. ARLO Brotherman, what in fuck's name is this smooth faggot talking about? INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - CORRIDOR - NIGHT Blaze exhales a wisp of BLUE FLAME, totally enveloped in a bubble of heat. More than anything, he wants to step inside, fully aflame. But he forces himself to simply take a peek -- BLAZE'S POV; The room, the men -- but no Rain. LANDS DALE He's telling the truth, Arlo. The guy ain't human. Saw him torch Albright and Chudacoff with my own eyes. (CONTINUED) 71. - CONTINUED: BACK IN CORRIDOR Blaze presses against the wall, desperately trying to rein the Ghost Rider in -- but FOOTSTEPS are coming. A Gargoyle is round; c the corner! INT. QUARRY OFFICE - NIGHT Gunt rips open his shirt, shows a chest covered in tattoos. GUNT Well, I say bring him on. You see this ink? That's a hundred hours under the needle. A motherfucking canvas of pain. He and Chester here, we're not afraid of fuck-diddly! INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - CORRIDOR - NIGHT The Gargoyle passes the doorway, lights up a smoke. Or tries to. The flame from his Zippo is bending sideways. He tries a couple more times. Same thing. Weird. ON BLAZE hidden in a dark alcove, struggling to contain himself. If the Gargoyle turns he will surely see him. The Gargoyle studies the flame, then notices an OPEN WINDOW nearby. He shuts it, lights his cigarette, turns back -- b= Blaze has moved on. INT. QUARRY OFFICE - NIGHT Arlo settles back in his chair. ARLO If this guy's as lethal as you say he is, I want fifty for me, another fifty for the club. Only you can't let the boys know we're takin' a 50K rake off the top, see? CARRIGAN How `bout sixty and I'll throw in a kilo of coke? ARLO (INCREDULOUS) Coke? That's like selling snow to Eskimos. You think I'm some kind of crack-smoking foolio or something? (CONTINUED) 72. CONTINUED: CARRIGAN (SIGHING) Seventy, then. Arlo reaches into his shoulder-holster, whipping out a mean looking nickel-plated Colt 44 Anaconda. ARLO Ninety, and not a nickel less, you fucking pillow-biter. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - ANOTHER CORRIDOR - NIGHT Blaze continues, agitated. Where the fuck is the kid? He looks through a doorway, SEES -- TEN OR MORE brutish gargoyles drinking beer and cleaning their weapons. Blaze drops back. His snarling face contorts, starts to assume that awful skullish quality. The Ghost Rider wants out. mow. But Blaze fights, shoves it back down and deep. SOMETHING moves to Blaze's right -- a TINY WHITE FIGURE, lolling and flopping at the far end of the passage. EXT. QUARRY - COMPOUND - NIGHT Nomi slices through another fuel line, inadvertently drawing the attention of a Gargoyle who was taking a leak. He zips up his jeans, starts towards her -- INT. QUARRY OFFICE - NIGHT Carrigan grins, trying to calm the situation. CARRIGAN E a sy, gentlemen. No need to get all truculent on me. ARLO Truculent? You get that out of a Scrabble dictionary or something? What the fuck does "truculent" mean? (grabbing Carrigan by his shirt) I'll tell you what it means. It means FUCK YOU! 73. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - ANOTHER CORRIDOR - NIGHT Blaze stares, hypnotised, his face flickering from skull to flesh and back again. The tiny figure is Rain's SKELETON DOLL, held upright, unsteady, by some unseen force. THAT MOMENT, ELSEWHERE - RAIN'S FACE Extreme mental concentration. Temples pounding. Her eyes are fluttering, rolled to white. BACK TO BLAZE as he starts towards the toy skeleton. He's in agony now, each breath a cough of fire, each footstep igniting the floorboards. He SEES a storage room up ahead -- INT. QUARRY OFFICE - NIGHT Carrigan smiles, seemingly unruffled by the gun. CARRIGAN Okay, alright -- how about seventy-five and we'll smoke the old peace pipe? ARLO (cocking the Anaconda) How `bout eighty or you're gonna be smoking my dick? INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT Blaze enters, SEES Rain. He extends a hand to her -- and Odell steps out from behind the door where he'd been hiding, shotgun in hand. BLAZE Shit. EXT. QUARRY - COMPOUND - NIGHT Nomi tries to fall back into the shadows, but it's too late. The Gargoyle has spotted her. He draws a Taurus pistol -- INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - OFFICE - NIGHT -- and we hear a high-pitched BEEPING. Arlo turns. ARLO What is that? (CONTINUED) 74. CONTINUED: CHESTER (LISTENING) Sounds like a smoke alarm. GLINT (wrinkling his noise) Smells like somethin's burning. CARRIGAN What-is this, fucking charades?! It's h,jM, you- ass-holes ! EXT. QUARRY, COMPOUND - NIGHT A FIREBALL erupts from the back of the building. The milling Gargoyles spring into action. Nomi takes advantage of the distraction, STABS the Gargoyle nearest her in the thigh, bolts -- INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - CORRIDOR - NIGHT Carrigan and the others race out into the corridor even as Odell rushes from the storage room, a WAVE OF FIRE on his heels. THE GHOST RIDER emerges seconds later, Rain cradled in the crook of his arm, safe in a cool bubble of air. She looks to Carrigan. The meaning in her gaze is implicit: "I told you so". GARGOYLES appear from every direction. Guns BLAZE. Bullets turn-to slag, vaporizing as they enter the Ghost Rider's aura of hellfire. Rain drops from the Ghost Rider's arm, runs. The Ghost Rider advances. The Gargoyle nearest him empties a machine pistol into the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider reaches for the weapon. At his touch, the pistol becomes RED HOT -- The Gargoyle CRIES OUT. The Ghost Rider takes the pistol, and FIRES BACK. The Gargoyles stumble, clawing at their smoking wounds. In seconds, the entire weapon turns WHITE HOT, melting apart in the demon's hand, SIZZLING away into nothing -- The Ghost Rider keeps coming. Men are SMASHED aside, incinerated. Bravado turns to terror, to chaotic scramble -- 75. EXT. QUARRY COMPOUND - NIGHT FLAMES belch from every window. Panic-stricken Gargoyles try to start their bikes -- and the bikes detonate. one after the other! CRASH! Nomi's pickup barrels through the fence. She slaloms through a gauntlet of flames, skidding to a halt. She SEES Rain running towards her, throws open the passenger door -- NOMI RAIN! " Rain makes for the pickup, scrambles inside even as -- THE GHOST RIDER strides from the burning ruins of the compound. With a wave of his hand, the wall of flame parts like the Red Sea. He locks his gaze with Nomi, points a skeletal finger at her. His meaning is clear: "You are on the list." Nomi floors the gas. The pickup slews and grinds, finds purchase, leaps away from the monster as -- THE PULSIFER BROTHERS emerge from the building, burned but howling for blood, fueled by a lethal combination of stupidity and crystal mech. Carrigan, Landsdale, and Arlo fall in behind. The Ghost Rider moves, whipping his red hot chains. Left, he lassos a passing gargoyle, BURNS him. Right, another Gargoyle, dragged from his bike and reduced to ash. Then two more lashes to either side of the brothers. Two more victims reeled in -- charred corpses falling at the Ghost Rider's feet. The whole thing took three seconds. CHESTER (to Gunt, nerves failing) Forget it, bro, live to fight another day. The Ghost Rider slams his skeletal hand on the tank of a nearby bike. The bike glows RED HOT and CHANGES SHAPE, getting bigger, nastier, demonically slouched -- GUNT No fucking way! That's my hog! As the Ghost Rider mounts the newly transformed hellcycle, Gunt charges forward, infuriated. He OPENS FIRE with his mini-•un, .er. rounds a second. (CD N, - _ 1 ID) 76 CONTINUED: Moving with uncanny speed, the Ghost Rider grips Gunt by the throat and hauls him off his feet, unleashing the full fury of his Penance Stare. A BLAST-WAVE OF LIGHT erupts from the Ghost Rider's eye sockets, engulfing Gunt. Gunt SHRIEKS, his cries becoming infant-like ULULATIONS. Arlo, Carrigan, Chester, and the others instinctively shield their faces, falling back from the infernal glow -- CHESTER Gunt! ON GUNT, images from his own subjective hell assault him. Tears stream down his cheeks as his body ignites. His corneas are burning, melting. The Ghost Rider starts to accelerate now, from zero to sixty in an eye-blink, hauling Gunt's writhing body along with him - straight into the burning building. INT. QUARRY COMPOUND - NIGHT A juggernaut trajectory crashing through wall after blazing wall. The Ghost Rider skids to a halt, HURLS Gunt to the floor. Senses SOMEONE behind him -- A FIRE EXTINGUISHER, blasting the Ghost Rider's head. The Ghost Rider SQUEALS and for a split-second, the demon's flames are actually snuffed out. The cloud clears. The Ghost Rider glimpses ODELL rushing into another room, SLAMMING a steel door behind. INT. QUARRY - STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT Odell pauses in the darkness, hyperventilating. Outside, we hear the heavy FOOTFALLS of the Ghost Rider approaching. INT. QUARRY - HALLWAY - NIGHT The Ghost Rider places a skeletal hand against the steel door. His hand GLOWS WHITE HOT, like an acetylene torch. The steel door begins to bubble and melt. 77. INT. QUARRY - STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT The door to the storage room liquefies, flowing apart like molten lava. The Ghost Rider steps through and -- -- in the light cast by .he demon's owing hand. Odell realizes that the room is stacked with high explosives. CUT TO: EXT. HIGHWAY - NIGHT Nomi's pickup races into the night. A distant FIREBALL ERUPTS hugely, engulfing the quarry, setting off a chain reaction of smaller explosions -- BA-BOOM-BOOM-B-B-BOOOOM! EXT/INT. NOMI'S PICKUP - NIGHT Rain clutches at Nomi, frantic, looking back. RAIN What about the Ghost Rider? We have to go back for him! NOMI Are you crazy?! Sit down! Then Nomi glances in the rearview mirror. Oh. My. God. THE GHOST RIDER is coming after them. HOWLING, plowing through the inferno on his hellcycle. Nomi floors the gas. But the pickup is already maxed out. The Ghost Rider easily gains on the truck, leaving a wake of burning asphalt. He lashes out with his chains, snags the back bumper. The chain-links slice deep into the steel bodywork. The Ghost Rider hauls up onto his back wheel -- Nomi slams on the brakes. The truck fishtails. The Ghost Rider rear-ends the pickup. Bike and demon cartwheel crazily into the cargo bed, SLAMMING explosively against the back window of the cab. Hot glass showers Nomi and Rain -- The Ghost Rider is pinned, SQUEALING, entangled with his bike. Nomi floors it again. The truck leaps ahead -- -- but the Ghost Rider hangs on as his bike slides backwards. He reaches into the cab, clutching at Nomi. The pickup thunders up a rise -- (CONTINUED) 78. CONTINUED: The Ghost Rider's skeletal fingers clamp Nomi's shoulder. She HOWLS in pain, her clothing beginning to smoke. Rain tries to help, imploring -- RAIN No, no, no -- EXT/INT. NOMI'S PICKUP - DAY The truck makes the rise -- and there's THE SUN, dawning huge and white. flaring mightily over the distant horizon. THE GHOST RIDER recoils, blinded by the dawn. He releases Nomi, collapses backwards. His fire extinguishes, his skull-face fades -- -- and Blaze lies in the pickup bed, shaking. Nomi glances back through the shattered cab window, her face a mask of fear and sympathy. Blaze looks to Gunt's bike, which has also reverted to its original state, then SEES -- BLAZE'S POV: The bad guys coming on battered bikes -- Arlo, Chester, plus FOUR OTHER GARGOYLES. And bringing up the rear, a seven ton Mack dumper driven by Carrigan. Landsdale rides shotgun. Blaze looks to Nomi, SHOUTS over the wind: BLAZE Give me your gun! Nomi passes it back. The Gargoyles OPEN FIRE. Bullets zing and whine. Blaze shoves Gunt's cycle off the pickup bed The heavy wreck CRASHES and bounces, wasting the first Gargoyle. The others swerve around the sliding debris EXT. INTERSECTION/HIGHWAY - DAY Nomi runs a stops sign, slews across a rural intersection, pounds the HORN, swerving to avoid the crossing cars -- AN ONCOMING TANKER TRUCK brakes, jack-knifes. Four gargoyles make it past, the fifth is flattened. The Mack comes last, SMASHING a passing minivan into a spin -- (CONTINUED) 79. CONTINUED: ANGLE ON A GAS STATION A STATE TROOPER, hidden from view, hits his SIREN, gives CHASE -- BACK TO ARLO AND THE OTHER GARGOYLES Gaining, riddling the pickup with BULLETS. Blaze is pinned in the bed, can't get off a shot -- ON CHESTER PULSIFER, hanging back and riding one-handed. He hefts a 66mm LAWs rocket on his shoulder, LAUNCHES it -- Near miss. But the impact lifts the pickup's rear axle into the air. Nomi SCREAMS. Blaze hangs on for dear life. ON CARRIGAN, hauling the Mack alongside Chester -- CARRIGAN (yelling from the cab) The hell you doing? I need the kid alive!!! CHESTER Fuck the kid and FUCK YOU!!! Chester aims the launcher again. Carrigan swerves, CRUSHES Chester under the Mack's mighty wheels. THE TROOPER CAR pulls alongside the Mack, SIREN wailing. Carrigan veers hard, forcing it into the opposing lane. Up ahead: ROADWORKS. The highway narrows to a single lane -- BACK TO ARLO AND THE GARGOYLES Gaining on the pickup, trading shots with Blaze at ninety miles and hour. Blaze wings one Gargoyle, then plugs another who loses control, cartwheels catastrophically, EXPLODES -- Arlo zigzags the debris, guns his hog, screams closer. Blaze fires but -- CLICK, CLICK, CLICK -- he's out! (CONTINUED) 80. CONTINUED: (2) ROADWORKS The pickup mows down barricades like dominoes, clips a hot tar cooker, spins spumes of molten tar in all directions. HIGHWAY WORKERS run for their lives. Nomi SMASHES through barricades, leaps a pile of rough gravel. Blaze is nearly hurled out the bed, but hangs on, shoulder screaming -- A FOREGROUND WORKER operating a jackhammer fails to notice the careening pickup racing by, which-is, in turn, followed by Arlo and -- THE MACK TRUCK AND THE STATE TROOPER, ana necx at OOFJ2 Ann r i t s over, end. BACK TO SCENE Arlo rides against Nomi's door, lets rip with his Uzi. Glass SHATTERS. Rain and Nomi duck -- Arlo tries again, sticks his Uzi right into the cab. But Nomi forces the gun upwards. Bullets puncture the roof, shell casings ricochet- In desperation, Nomi reaches for the door latch, kicks her foot against the door. The door swings outward, taking Arlo along with it. UP AHEAD is a concrete divider. Nomi abruptly veers right, clipping Arlo against the divider, killing him instantly. ON BLAZE hauling himself back into the pickup bed even as -- THE MACK bears down on them. Landsdale jumps from the cab, landing alongside Blaze. The two men struggle in the cargo bed, hand to hand, exchanging a volley of vicious blows. Nomi is desperate, doesn't know what to do. Landsdalp is getting the upper hand. He grips Blaze by the throat, forcing him over the side of the pickup bed, shoving Blaze's head towards the churning wheels of the Mack -- (CONTINUED) 81. CONTINUED: (3) NOMI (to Rain, pleading) Do something!!! ON RAIN, concentrating, focusing all her energy on Landsdale. She CRIES OUT, makes a forceful hand gesture -- -- and Landsdale's glasses SHATTER. He SCREAMS, blood pouring from his eyes. Blaze rolls, throws Landsdale over his shoulder -- into the wheels of the Mack. UP AHEAD, A MASSIVE ROADBLOCK Barricades, bulldozers, dozens of state police cars. The pickup and the Mack pass over a line of TIRE SPIKES. The tires BLOW. The trucks drop. Metal rims SPARK and GRIND -- NOMI (CONT' D) Hold on to something! She brakes. The pickup fishtails. Carrigan also brakes, struggling to keep the Mack under control. Then the Mack catches a rim, flips, rolls -- SLOW MOTION The rolling Mack plows into the roadblock, seven tons of iron crushing cruisers and barricades alike. The pickup careens off the road, plunges into a cornfield, hits a rut, grinds to a halt -- A SERIES OF DISSOLVES The aftermath. Trooper cars sliding to a halt. Carrigan being dragged from the Mack at gun point, handcuffed. Armed TROOPERS plunging into the cornfield, YELLING. Nomi falling out of the cab, finding Rain, unhurt, alive. She drags Rain into the sea of corn. Rain looks back, SEES -- BLAZE being surrounded by Troopers, wrestled to the ground. CUT TO: 82. INT. COUNTY JAIL - DAY A cacophony of noise for the new meat. Hardened CRIMINALS BANGING their bars, SHOUTING as loud as they can. ON BLAZE chained, cuffed, struggling with TWO DEPUTIES trying to drag him to a cell. Further up, Carrigan is being similarly escorted. Blaze looks to the faces of his fellow prisoners, dread seizing his body. BLAZE I have to talk to the warden. You have to put me someplace else -- DEPUTY #1 Should've thought of that before you pulled that "Dukes of Hazzard" stunt. BLAZE Please, just listen to me. Put me in solitary, anywhere but here. DEPUTY #2 This isn't a fucking hotel, chief. BLAZE You don't understand, people will die -- WHACK! A baton blow to the knee. Blaze CRIES OUT, staggers -- DEPUTY Easy on the threats, big guy -- (shouts to door control) NUMBER TEN! The cell door opens. Blaze struggles even more violently now. BLAZE Do not put me in here! Do not leave me with these men! They'll die if you do this!! ! The deputies force Blaze inside, using batons, boots. A stun gun SPARKS. Blaze falls. The cell door SLAMS. The inmates opposite are LAUGHING, waving, bashing their bars with every metal implement they've got as we -- CUT TO: 83. EXT. MOTEL - DAY A grimy, little stop, held together with paint. Nomi and Rain step off a bus, each carrying a bag of supplies. INT. MOTEL ROOM - DAY Simple and clean. Rain locks the door, goes to the window and opens it wide -- a beautiful day outside, hills rolling down to a busy town a mile distant. Nomi drops her bag, sits wearily on the bed, peels her jacket open -- revealing a nasty shoulder wound. Burned to the bone, the impression of fingers clearly evident. Rain hurries to help, rummages antiseptics and bandages from Nomi's bag. Together, they clean the wound. Nomi's pain is clear, but she keeps it quiet. RAIN Are we safe now? Nomi regards her sadly. She's never been one to tell lies. NOMI Honey, I don't know if we'll ever be safe. Rain nods, knew the answer instinctively. Something about her look -- far too fatalistic for a child her age. RAIN He talks to me sometimes. NOMI Who? RAIN My father -- (beat, hesitant) -- when I'm dreaming. NOMI (FEARFUL) What does he say? Rain starts to cry now, suddenly overwhelmed. Despite her eerily calm demeanor, she's still a child. And a frightened one at that. RAIN I don't want to be like him, mom. (CONTINUED) 84. CONTINUED: NOMI You won't. RAIN (SOBBING) You don't know that. NOMI Yes, I do, baby -- Nomi hugs her, desperate, as if the world were ending. Outside, across the land, the sun shines gloriously bright. NOMI (CONT'D) -- yes I do. DISSOLVE TO: INT. COUNTY JAIL - BLAZE'S CELL - DAY On Blaze, immobile. Waiting for nightfall. Shadows lengthen around him in TIME-LAPSE as the day begins to die. He starts to shake. Tears streak from his eyes, burn his cheeks. INT. COUNTY JAIL - CARRIGAN'S CELL - DAY On Carrigan, in his cell at the end of the corridor. He's nervous, cutting a deck of cards. EXT. LANDSCAPES - VARIOUS - DAY/DUSK Ants feed on a praying mantis. An owl pulls at a recently killed mouse. Day TIME-LAPSES to dusk. Thunder RUMBLES. CUT TO: INT. MOTEL ROOM - DUSK Rain sleeps. Storm fingers scratch at the window. Nomi steps out of the shower. Towels off. Checks on Rain. She contemplates her sleeping child a moment, then taps a pack of Camels, realizes she's out. EXT. MOTEL - WALKWAY - DUSK Nomi quietly closes the door. Walks to the far end where the vending machines are HUMMING. CLUNK. A fresh pack of smokes. She tears it open, then notices -- (CONTINUED) 85. CONTINUED: A MOTH fluttering by an outdoor light, casting distorted shadows on the stucco wall. Nomi stares, uneasy, something tugging at- her memory as we SEE -- A BRIEF FLASH OF THE PAST Nomi back on the bed, ODing. The SHADOW of Starke falling over her. The moth fluttering above. BACK TO THE PRESENT as Nomi turns to the parking lot, SEES a coyote slouching out of the gathering darkness. And she knows. 5-ba fucking knows. WOMAN (V . 0 . ) My father used to say that the only way evil came into your life -- INT. COUNTY JAIL - BLAZE AND CARRIGAN'S CELLS - DUSK Blaze waiting, internal. Carrigan manically cutting his deck of cards. Over and over. Blaze suddenly CRIES OUT, throwing himself onto the floor. He begins to writhe as the other prisoners jeer at him. WOMAN (V.O.) was if you invited it. INT. MOTEL ROOM - DUSK Nomi bolts into the room, frantic. She shakes Rain awake. The child looks up, SEES the terror in her mother's face. RAIN Mom --?! NOMI Sweety, you have to get out of here now. FOLLOWING NOMI as she drags Rain into the bathroom. She tears the shower curtain back. There's a window just above the shower stall barely big enough for someone like Rain to squeeze through. WOMAN (V.0.) I'm not sure about that. At least not anymore. What I CQ know is this: (CONTINUED) 86. CONTINUED: We hear FOOTSTEPS in the walkway outside. SOMEONE is coming-___" Nomi tugs open the window, lifts Rain towards it -- NOMI Honey, go, GO! ? INT. COUNTY JAIL - NIGHT The other prisoners are SHOUTING, fed up with Blaze's "antics". He-rolls about, clutching at sides. Fire streams from his mouth, his-eyes -- WOMAN (V.O.) We are born alone and we die alone. ON CARRIGAN, terrified, backing into the far corner of his cell. THE OTHER PRISONERS pause, watching the beginning of Blaze's transformation, their CRIES taking on an entirely new kind of urgency. WOMAN (V.0.) (CONT ` D ) It's what happens in-between that matters. INT_ MOTEL ROOM - BATHROOM - NIGHT Rain squirms through the window, drops to the ground outside. WOMAN (V.0.) -- the choices we make, the people whose paths we cross -- She stands, casts a fearful look to at Nomi, then runs off into the stormy night. ON NOMI backing out of the bathroom as the front door EXPLODES OPEN. She turns around -- WOMAN (V.0.) (CONT'D) -- these are the things that determine our fate. STARKE stands in the doorway, coyotes slouching in around his heels. The beasts attack, growing and changing, their gnashing mouths of razored teeth opening wide to consume Nomi as -- 87. INT. COUNTY JAIL - NIGHT -- FWOOOSHH!!! A mushrooming blast-wave of HELLFIRE erupts from Blaze's body, expanding beyond his cell and across the- CORRIDOR -- EXT. WOODED RISE - NIGHT Rain runs for her life, weeping, distraught, stumbling down a rain-slick hillside. She SEES -- THE TOWN spread out below, FIREBALLS engulfing a distant building -- INT. COUNTY JAIL - BLAZE'S CELL - NIGHT The Ghost Rider stands in the center of Blaze's cell, a cyclone of hellfire swirling around him -- for there is a direct, casual relationship between the amplitude of his rage and the number of transgressors in its vicinity. He moves forward, melting the cell bars, stepping into -- THE CORRIDOR BEYOND The prisoners are frantic, leaping about like frightened lab animals. THOOM! THOOM! The Ghost Rider's heavy FOOTFALLS ring out as it strides down the corridor, turning his awful gaze on the first cell. The Ghost Rider extends a hand, sending a STREAM OF HELLFIRE coursing over the prisoner within. The Ghost Rider moves on, to the second and third cells, swiveling his gaze back and forth, BURNING the occupants within. Like shooting fish in a barrel. THOOM! THOOM! The Ghost Rider continues its rampage. Murderers, rapists, malefactors. Some curse, others plead, others simply drop to their knees and pray. For they know, instinctively, that the universe is not an arbitrary place, that their Day of Judgement has come. The entire jail is ablaze now, a roiling extension of the Ghost Rider's fury, drowning out the VOICES OF THE DAMNED. ON THE FINAL CELL where Carrigan cowers within. The deck of cards in his hands drops, scatters. Some of them catch fire, shrivel up -- (CONTINUED) 88. CONTINUED: The Ghost Rider waves his hand. The bars separating them melt, flowing to the floor like liquid. He stares down at Carrigan, his hollow eve sockets sparking to life. AS THE PENANCE STARE erupts from the Ghost Rider's eyes, Carrigan reaches for something beneath the bed -- cell wall. He holds it up. The effect is catastrophic, like the Medusa having her own deadly gaze turned back upon her. The Ghost Rider stumbles backwards, SHRIEKING, assaulted by an onslaught of subjective images. Visions horrifying enough to drive even a demon mad. EXT. COUNTY JAIL -- NIGHT The windows of the jail pulse with HELLFIRE, panes of safety glass EXPLODING OUTWARDS as a blast-wave expands and expands, making the world go white. DISSOLVE TO: INT. COUNTY JAIL - NIGHT FADE IN from white. Another aftermath. A circus of PARAMEDICS, POLICE, FIREMEN and REPORTERS. Every corner is blackened, every bar twisted and melted. Charred CORPSES are scattered like matchsticks. BOOTS are coming. We've seen them before. These boots belong to -- STARKE navigating his way through the bedlam. He passes between rushing emergency personnel, steps over a writhing VICTIM -- -- but no one seems to notice his presence. And as he progresses to the far end of the cell block, the cacophony fades, leaving only his FOOTSTEPS as he turns into -- CARRIGAN'S CELL Carrigan is terribly burned, but still clinging to life. Frantic paramedics are running an IV, struggling to stabilize him. His fear-filled eyes grow dim, then abruptly snap into focus as he SEES -- STARKE (O.S.) You look like you could use some help. (CONTINUED) 89. CONTINUED: -- Starke standing over him, his gaze stoic and pitiless. STARKE (CONT' D) You lost her, Carrigan. What happened? CARRI GAN (a choking sob) -- you didn't tell us -- what he was Carrigan starts to slip away. The SOUNDS of the outside world begin to intrude once more. Starke kneels, touching a hand to Carrigan's chest. The world ebbs away again. The paramedics continue their work, oblivious. Carrigan MOANS. CARRIGAN (CONT'D) -- please, I don't want to die -- Starke's arctic eyes gleam bright with mischief. STARKE If I could save you, would you be willing to make a deal? CUT TO: EXT. DESERT CEMETERY - DAWN Blaze sits against an old grave marker, gun in hand. Thousand-yard stare in his eyes. He contemplates the gun SILENT MEMORIES assault him -- good times with Roxanne, happy times, making the onrush that much more unbearable. We INTERCUT -- ROXANNE, radiant at the beach. Flickering sunshine makes her squint. BACK TO BLAZE, here and now, cocking the gun, turning it back on himself. ROXANNE folding clothes, seen through a sunny doorway. BACK TO BLAZE, fingering the trigger of the gun, edging closer to the unknown, the terrors that the afterlife holds for him. (CONTINUED) |
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| Altmoras | Aug 7 2016, 08:28 PM Post #223 |
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Big Brother
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90. CONTINUED: ROXANNE Her laughing face, loving Blaze from across a dinner table. BACK TO BLAZE suppressing a sob. The pain is too much. It's overwhelming -- ROXANNE and Blaze at the obstetrician's. On the sonogram monitor, w e SEE unborn child shifting positions within Roxanne's womb, PUSH IN on the eerily beautiful image and -- BACK TO BLAZE Fuck it. He presses the barrel against his forehead. Squeezes his eyes tightly shut, compresses the trigger -- -- but he can't do it. He lowers the gun, weeping with frustration and -- freezes, head cocked like he heard a voice. He scans the cemetery: graves, trees, nothing. Then he spins around --- RAIN stands behind him, waif-like. Big, melancholy eyes. They stare at each other for a long time, not knowing what to say. RAIN My mother is dead. The statement hangs. Another death. Another failure of Blaze's part. BLAZE How--? RAIN My father found us, just like she knew he would. Rain looks down at Blaze's hand -- the gun resting there. Blaze meets her gaze and tucks the gun away, embarrassed. The wind picks up. Rain looks to the graves. RAIN (CONT' D) What do you think happens when you die? Do you think there's a heaven? BLAZE I don't know. (CONTINUED) 91. CONTINUED: (2) RAIN (INSISTENT) But what do you think? Blaze studies Rain. This kid is hurting. What she needs now, is reassurance. And try as he might, Blaze just can' t seem to harden his heart against her. BLAZE Yeah, I think there's something. Maybe not angels playing harps and stuff, but (SEARCHING) -- something. Rain wipes her nose with her sleeve, wanting to believe it. RAIN He'll keep coming, you know. Unless you stop him. BLAZE (TIRED) I don't know that I can anymore. RAIN But you'll try, right? Blaze regards her curiously. Even in grief, she's a consummate negotiator. BLAZE I don't have anything left to give, kid. Blaze stands, starts walking. Rain follows. RAIN My mother said you were a good man. BLAZE I'm not. RAIN She said I could trust you. BLAZE You can't. RAIN (PERSISTENT) But don't you think there's a reason why all of this is happening? Like fate? (CONTINUED) 92. CONTINUED: (3) BLAZE I don't believe in fate. RAIN Maybe it believes in you. Blaze stops. Cold. Deja-vu all over again. He looks back at Rain. Sighs. CUT TO: EXT. MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY - DAY A battered truck full of MIGRANT FARM-WORKERS grinds to a halt. Blaze and rain jump out in a cloud of dust. DRIVER (POINTING) Alla! Mision de Sante Lupia! High up the mountain: an old adobe building perched on stilts, precariously overhung. On top of its bell tower, a crucifix stands clear and proud. RAIN We're going to a church? BLAZE It's not a church. It's a mission. They take people in. Blaze pays the driver. The truck roars away. Rain looks back to the mission, doubtful. RAIN Are you going to dump me there? CUT TO: EXT. THE MISSION - DAY 18th Century Spanish adobe. Chapel and dormitory, currently under renovation. VARIOUS TOUGH-LOOKING MEN are at work. Picks and hoes clink in the dirt. Blaze and Rain make their way towards the main building. TOLBEIN (40s, hard, mistrustful) intercepts them. TOLBEIN Can I help you? (CONTINUED) 93. CONTINUED: BLAZE Our car broke down a few miles back and my daughter and I were wondering if we could crash here for the night. Tolbein sizes them up -- doesn't like what he sees. TOLBEIN Don't think so. BLAZE What about a ride, then? Is there a town somewhere you could take us to? Other men have gathered behind Tolbein -- VISCOTT, WILSON. One of them, NUNEZ, nods to the South. NUNEZ Why don't you head back to Dawson? They got motels there. BLAZE That's not really an option. TOLBEIN Then I'd say you're out of luck. BLAZE Look, you must have a cot, something. The kid's hungry -- RHYMER (O.S. ) I'm sure we can figure something out. JOE RHYMER, 50s, approaches, silences Tolbein with a look. He's down to earth, capable, wearing a black shirt, cleric's collar, oily jeans, and muddy work boots. RHYMER (CONT'D) (offering his hand) Joe Rhymer. I'm the Padre. BLAZE This is Rain. RHYMER Rain? That's a pretty name. (TO RAIN) You hungry, Rain? Would you like something to eat? Rain nods. Rhymer ushers them inside. As he moves to follow, Tolbein stops him. (CONTINUED) 94 CONTINUED: (2) TOLBEIN Bottom line, Father. There's something wrong with those two. Especially the kid. RHYMER Duly noted, Richard. (POINTEDLY) And overruled. ANGLE ON A RAGGEDY FIGURE jutting into frame in the foreground. Blaze pauses at the threshold of the chapel, looks back, uneasy -- but it's just a SCARECROW being buffeted about by the wind. INT. MISSION - CHAPEL - DAY Rhymer leads Blaze down the central aisle. The chapel is dark, lit by candle-light, crowded with scaffolding and drop- sheets. As Blaze walks, the flames of the candles bend in his direction -- as if drawn by some unseen magnetic force. BLAZE Those men outside -- RHYMER Most of them are on a work-release program. We're a halfway house for ex- offenders. We try to get people on their feet, reintegrate them into society. Blaze glances at Rain, apprehensive. RHYMER (CONT'D) (misreading Blaze's look) Don't worry, you're perfectly safe here. But of course, that's not what Blaze is thinking. CUT TO: INT. MISSION - KITCHEN - LATE AFTERNOON Rain sits at the table, spooning her soup. Tolbein, Nunez and a few others watch them. Blaze watches them back, nonchalant in the face of their obvious hostility. EXT. COURTYARD - LATE AFTERNOON BUILDERS working. Men carrying provisions. There's a small vegetable garden in the center of the courtyard. Rain helps the GARDENER pull carrots. (CONTINUED) 95. CONTINUED: Blaze watches from a distance, cleaned up, clothes laundered-- Rhymer approaches, gestures to the garden. RHYMER It's turned out beautiful, hasn't it? We try to be as self sufficient as we can, back to the earth and all that. He notices that Blaze is staring at the lowering sun. RHYMER (CONT'D) You any good with diesel engines? BLAZE I know my way around a flywheel housing. RHYMER Well I've got a generator out back that's been on life support the last few weeks. Mind helping me try to resuscitate it? Blaze looks at him curiously. BLAZE Sure. INT. BASEMENT - LATE AFTERNOON Blaze and Rhymer work by flashlight, tinkering with the old generator. There are a number of vehicles stored around them, including a pair of dusty motorcycles. RHYMER So how long have you been running? BLAZE What do you mean? RHYMER You know what I mean. You spend as much time around lost souls as I have, you learn how to read a man's face. (NODDING) You want to hand me that crescent wrench? Blaze hands Rhymer the wrench, who then makes an adjustment. RHYMER (CONT'D) Take the girl, for instance. She's not your daughter, is she? BLAZE No. (CONTINUED) 96. CONTINUED: RHYMER So what happened to her mother? BLAZE She's dead. RHYMER Did you kill her? BLAZE No. Rhymer studies Blaze, decides he believes him. BLAZE (CONT' D) (ELABORATING) She doesn't have anyone else. I'm just trying to protect her. RHYMER And who's protecting you? MOMENTS LATER, Blaze and Rhymer are cleaning up. BLAZE Listen, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I've never really been a come to Jesus kind of guy. RHYMER I wasn't talking about Jesus, I was talking about a little healthy introspection. Working here, staying in one place for a while, seeing what surfaces. I've found that people tend to arrive on our doorstep for a reason. Blaze considers this formidable man, a yearning moment then he shakes his head. BLAZE I can't stay. I'm sorry. RHYMER What about the girl, then? Whatever you're involved in, I can't imagine it's good for her well-being. (beat, gentle) We can find a home for her. (CONTINUED) 97. CONTINUED: (2) BLAZE (UNSURE) I'd have to leave tonight -- Rhymer nods, understanding, he motions towards a beautiful motorcycle parked back in the shadows -- a `71 Norton Commando 850. Black, with gold pin-striping. RHYMER You can take the Norton. BLAZE I don't have any money. RHYMER So send us some when you do. Blaze is moved by this man's simple humanity -- but he's also wrestling with the idea of abandoning Rain. CUT TO: EXT. MISSION - DUSK/NIGHT TIME-LAPSING SHADOWS cross the mission buildings and the surrounding wilderness landscape. The lonely scarecrow stares button-eyed and blank. INT. MISSION - BATHROOM - NIGHT Blaze gazes into a bathroom mirror. Been here so many times before. SOUNDS intrude upon his solitude. He bows his head, studies the coin, turning it over in his shaking fingers. The malicious coyote, the soaring eagle. Still the SOUNDS come, stronger, more insistent -- Cars CRASHING. Police SIRENS wailing. SCREAMS. GUNFIRE. FLAMES. Blaze looks up once more. His eyes are shadowed sockets. This is the real PENANCE STARE, and Blaze is feeling its awful, mournful ache. NOMI'S VOICE He wants to know if you're a bad man. He wants to know -- if the Ghost Rider turned its penance stare on you, would you burn? Blaze clenches his fist around the coin, spins on his heels. 98. INT. MISSION - DORM ROOM - NIGHT Blaze pauses in the doorway, looking in on Rain, who sleeps, dead to the world. Blaze sets the coyote coin on the bed table next to her, turns and leaves. We HOLD ON Rain's sleeping face for a beat, then she stirs, opening her eyes. She SEES the coin nearby, sits up. INT. MISSION - STORM CELLAR - NIGHT The Norton Commando ROARS into life, blasting webs from the exhaust. Blaze guides the bike up the coal ramp and out through the open cellar doors. EXT. MISSION - NIGHT A STORM FRONT is moving in, huge thunderheads gathering and roiling. Blaze pulls a dusty skid, pauses with the engine RUMBLING. Looks back forlornly at the mission. Then he wrings the throttle and hauls away into the night as we -- ANGLE ON A DORM ROOM WINDOW Rain stands at the glass, watching Blaze leave. CUT TO: INT. MISSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT Rhymer and leads his wards in prayer. We can hear the WIND rising outside, gathering in strength. RHYMER That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." INT. MISSION - HALLWAY - NIGHT MOVING WITH Rain down a moonlit corridor- She clutches the coyote coin like a talisman, then --- SEES SOMETHING through a window which startles her -- only to realize that it's just the scarecrow out in the field, flapping wildly. (CONTINUED) 99. CONTINUED: THE MEN (V.O.) "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." INT. MISSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT RHYMER CONTINUES: RHYMER "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light -- " CUT TO: EXT. COASTAL HIGHWAY - NIGHT Blaze rides like the wind along a snaking road, away from the storm clouds churning behind him. RHYMER (V.0.) -- and in him is no darkness at all." UP AHEAD, the land falls sharply away, spilling down into a wide expanse of moonlit ocean pregnant with the promise of release. CUT TO: INT. MISSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT Rhymer and his men eat. Rain is there too. Nunez peers out into the darkness. Wind and debris are scratching at the window panes. We hear THUNDER now, too. NUNEZ Padre. You'd better take a look at this. Rhymer joins him. SEES what he SEES: COYOTES gathering. Six or more. They creep malevolently towards the mission. NUNEZ (CONT'D) You ever see anything like that before? (CONTINUED) 100. CONTINUED: Rhymer shakes his head, looks to -- RAIN She's acutely conscious of the men staring at her now, still clutching the coin like a rabbit's foot. TOLBEIN It's her -- she's the one doing this. RHYMER That's enough, Richard. TOLBEIN I'm telling you, Father, there's something wrong with -- CRASH! One of the windows SLAMS open, startling everyone. Rhymer moves to it, latches it shut again. INT. MISSION - ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT LIGHTNING flashes. An eerie HOWLING arises. Tolbein and Nunez lead some men to the front door. Tolbein unbars the door, pulls it open, can't believe his eyes: THREE DOZEN HOWLING COYOTES, approaching the entrance. TOLBEIN What is this?! SCARE! A snarling coyote comes out of left field, just misses his throat -- Tolbein leaps backward, SLAMS the door. The men start SHOUTING. Rain backs away. She knows what's happening. WHAM! An animal rams the door. Then another. And another -- INT. MISSION - RHYMER'S OFFICE - NIGHT Rhymer breaks out a shotgun, shells, hears the men SHOUTING. INT. MISSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT Rhymer rushes in. The men are confused, afraid. WHAM! WHAM! GROWLING coyotes are hurling themselves repeatedly against the windows, cracking the panes. RHYMER Get away from the windows! (TO WILSON) Wilson, take Rain to the chapel. (CONTINUED) 101. CONTINUED: Wilson hesitates, eyeing Rain with distrust- WILSON I ain't going nowhere with her. All the men are giving Rain a wide berth now. WHAM! Another snarling coyote hits the glass. RHYMER One of you, please, just take the kid to the chapel. TOLBEIN Father, that's the last place she should be. CRUNCH! Something strikes the room a massive blow. Something MUCH BIGGER than a coyote. Viscott starts praying. NUNEZ Quiet, Viscott! THUMP! CRUMP! More heavy blows. Like the Fist of God. Making the floorboards beneath their feet vibrate. SOMETHING shambles past the window. What in God's name was that? TOLBEIN (looking at Rain, accusing) I knEw we should've sent them away! THOOM! Another impact. THOOM!THOOM! Plaster cracks. Dust falls. Viscott wails, praying even more stridently. Nunez is losing it_ NUNEZ SHUT THE FUCK UP, MAN! TOLBEIN She's the one they want, I'm telling you! -- and the lights abruptly go ou The storm bellows and blusters. The men huddle together, fear thick and sour. CARRIGAN (O.S.) Raainn -- Raaaaiinnn -- A gastly VOICE, monstrously corrupt, but still recognizable as Billy-Ray Carrigan. CARRIGAN (O.S.) (CONT'D) -- where are you, Rainnnnnnn? Rain shrinks away from the insidious mewling. (CONTINUED) 102. CONTINUED: (2) TOLBEIN (to Rhymer, hissing) I told you -- Even Rhymer is shaken now. He moves to investigate, presses up against a cracked window -- RHYMER'S POV (THROUGH WINDOW) Carrigan stands outside, lurching between patterns of moonlight and shadow. But the movement is all wrong. And in our momentary glimpses of him, we get the sense that he's been horribly changed -- as if his body had been torn apart, then haphazardly reassembled into something else. CRUNCH! The wall fractures. Rhymer staggers back. WHUMP! CRUNCH! A row of impacts moves along the wall -- Tolbein and Nunez scramble to reach the dining room door. They close it, turning the locks. WHANG! Carrigan slams against the other side of the heavy, steel door. WHANG!WHANG! Again and again and again. The men are terrified, SHOUTING at each other. The door is buckling inward, the hinges bending and GROANING -- Then the pummelling stops. Just the sound of BREATHING, halting and phlegmatic. No one moves, not a whisper. CORROSION starts to spread across the metal door. NUNEZ What the fuck --?! Rhymer edges close to the decaying door, peering through a gap in the frame -- Carrigan peers back, moonlight illuminating his face. There are buttons where his eyes should 12P. He BELLOWS: CARRIGAN PRIEST! GIVE ME THE GIRL! The POUNDING begins anew, harder now. The weakened door is surely about to give way. Rain is terrified. TOLBEIN Do what he says! Put her out! RHYMER Get back with the others! (CONTINUED) |
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| Altmoras | Aug 7 2016, 08:28 PM Post #224 |
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Big Brother
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103. CONTINUED: (3) TOLBEIN We don't do what it says, that thing outside there's gonna kill us all. Rhymer steps in front of Rain, levels his shotgun at Tolbein's chest. RHYMER God as my witness, Richard, lay a hand on that girl and I will pull this trigger. Tolbein hesitates -- then grabs at the shotgun. He twists it from Rhymer's hands, SMASHES the butt across Rhymer's jaw. Rhymer sinks to the floor. Tolbein grabs Rain, drags her SCREAMING to the door. He waves the shotgun at the others -- TOLBEIN Open the fucking door! DO IT! Nunez fumbles with the lock. Rhymer recovers, throws himself at Nunez, tries stop him from opening it. The pounding ceases. All eyes sweep to the door -- TWO BUTTONS roll through the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, coming to rest at Rhymer's feet -- immediately oottina the floorboards beneath them. CARRIGAN (O.S.) (a skin-crawling whisper) I can see you, Priest. I can see every last one of you. THE DOOR BURSTS OPEN, knocking Tolbein, Rain, Rhymer and Nunez on their asses. All eyes bug as Carrigan shoulders his way inside. Only he's n..t Carrigan anymore. Now he's -- THE SCARECROW A golem of dessicated flesh knitted together with straw and sodden burlap, pieces of insects, twine, and razor wire. Button-socket eyes. Jagged bone teeth. Beetle-black chitin for fingers and nails. His very existence is an affront to nature. Everything the Scarecrow touches instantly corrodes and decays. Floorboards rot, metal rusts. Every movement, every spastic shudder and twitch is a source of incalculable pain. (CONTINUED) 104 CONTINUED: (4) The Scarecrow thrusts his hand out and a STORM OF DEMONIC CROWS explodes from his chest, whirling about like a cyclone of knives. Now the coyotes enter too. Dozens of them, SNARLING, DIVING at the men, sinking their jaws into flesh. The men are trapped. Some try to flee. Others fight back, swinging chairs and planks -- THE SCARECROW stalks into their midst, snaring victims left and right, HURLING bodies or pulling them apart -- He snatches Viscott up by his throat. Bugs swarm over the SCREAMING parolee's face as it rots and decays. In seconds, Viscott's entire body decomposes, putrefies, falls apart -- RHYMER AND RAIN back up towards the kitchen. SCREECH! A crow-thing comes flapping. Rhymer FIRES. The creature SHRIEKS and flops -- Nunez claws another from his face, SEES it's not a crow at all, but some kind of wriggling eyeless monstrosity with a deformed razor beak, matted feathers, bony talons -- Wilson, trapped under a bench, BEATS desperately at a gnashing coyote. Lands a real blow. The beast falls back then stands up like a man? VARIOUS ANGLES as the OTHER COYOTES do likewise. The coyotes are changing shape, enlarging, canine skeletons CRACKING and re-arranging themselves into -- JAW-BEASTS The same half-glimpsed horrors we glimpsed accompanying Starke. All muscle and gnashing fangs and bloody, ripping claws. CUT TO: EXT. COASTAL HIGHWAY - NIGHT Blaze rolls the Norton to a stop. Kills the engine. Sits back in the saddle and drinks in the night. The moonlit landscape is profoundly silent, the starry sky clear and awesome. Nothing stirs. (CONTINUED) 105. CONTINUED: Not a cricket, not a lizard. Just the moonlit expanse of ocean below. Then we hear THUNDER, like distant artillery. Blaze looks back over his shoulder -- BLAZE'S POV Distant thunderheads. LIGHTNING flickering. CLOSE ON Blaze, trying to drive Rain from his mind. We can SEE on his face that it's a losing battle -- for poor, cursed Johnny Blaze has finally understood his purpose on this earth. CUT TO: INT. MISSION - KITCHEN - NIGHT Claws and jaws and razor-beaks tearing frenziedly through wood and plaster and lathe. Rhymer, Rain, Nunez and Tolbein struggle to repel the monsters, beating them back with whatever is at hand -- -- but the jaw-beasts and razor birds are winning, forcing their way into the kitchen -- Nunz is snagged. Slashing claws swarm all over him. The others try to pull him free -- Rhymer wastes two more precious SHOTS, but Nunez is lost. Dragged SCREAMING into the storm of mouths and claws. The survivors fall back as the door gives and -- THE SCARECROW pitches through the opening, lurching forward. Jaw-beasts fall in behind him. Razor birds whirl around his head. The survivors scramble for the far exit. Rain opens every gas burner on the grill as she passes by -- but the far exit is locked. And Rhymer doesn't have the key! BOOM! Rhymer shotguns the lock! The lock fractures, but the exit still won't open. Tolbein starts kicking. Rhymer aims AGAIN -- RAIN (tugging at Rhymer) Shoot the gas! RHYMER What? (CONTINUED) 106. CONTINUED: THE SCARECROW advances. Bugs swarm from beneath his tattered feet. Every metal implement and surface rusts as he passes. RAIN (pointing at the grills) SHOOT THE GAS! Rhymer hears the ranges HISSING and FIRES. CHOOM! The gas fireballs, catches Scarecrow full-on sideways. He squeals, reels. Burning jaw-beasts writhe and howl. Rain falls to the floor, dropping the coyote coin. It spins furiously as we -- CUT TO: EXT. COASTAL HIGHWAY - NIGHT Blaze. Coming back. Ninety_ One hundred. Wind tears wildly at his hair, jacket. The bike shudders. The tachometer edges upwards -- One twenty. One twenty-five. Nitrous booster. The Norton SCREAMS. One thirty. One forty. One fifty -- HEAT streams off Blaze. FLAMES wisp from his nostrils. One sixty. One seventy. The tachometer SHATTERS. The engine smokes. The bike SHRIEKS, pushing the edge of mechanical reason. FLAMES explode from Blaze's mouth and eyes. His hands ignite. He CRIES OUT in agony. His body alters violently. His face warps. Bones crack and shift. Flesh shrinks and tightens as the skull-visage emerges. The bike changes too, red heat spreading throughout. Tortured metal SCREECHES. Straining machinery pops and bulges. Shafts lengthen into skeletal "bones". The saddle slouches. The tank distends -- WHOOMPF! The wheels ignite, then the whole bike. HELLFIRE streams, an extension of Blaze's rage. Blaze SCREAMS from the pit of his soul as the Ghost Rider claws itself into being, more manifest that ever before -- And that's when the bike really accelerates - -- so fast that its air wake churns the dust on each side. (CONTINUED) 107. CONTINUED: so fast that molten asphalt spumes from behind like lava. -- so fast that the goddamn camera can barely catch it and -- B-BOOM!!! The hellcycle breaks MACH 1, SONIC BOOMS rocking the landscape as we -- CUT TO: INT. MISSION - NIGHT -- the Scarecrow, savagely burnt by the blast, but unstoppable. He rises, cocks his head, hears something -- VARIOUS ANGLES - DINING ROOM, KITCHEN, STAIRCASE The jaw-beasts_ The razor birds. All pause. All listen. They know something's coming. Something fast. Something bad. We hear it now too -- the WHINE of an APPROACHING ENGINE. ON THE COYOTE COIN wobbling to a stop, coyote side up. Realizing what's about to happen, the Scarecrow lets loose a GHASTLY WAIL and -- THE GHOST RIDER erupts through the wall in DEEP SLOW MOTION, sending forth a majestic tsunami of fire and debris. The monster bike skids, carves floorboards like matchwood -- JAW-BEASTS AND RAZOR BIRDS hurl themselves out of its scorching path -- The Ghost Rider vaults from the saddle, sends the bike spinning at the scurrying monsters. It ninepins a few, takes out the rest as it impacts the wall like a nuke -- THE CROW-THINGS are vanquished, squealing and flopping like living cinders. BUT THE JAW-BEASTS RECOVER, still aflame but very much alive. If anything, they seem emboldened by the fire. They circle the Ghost Rider, more and more of them joining the pack. (CONTINUED) 108. CONTINUED: THE GHOST RIDER readies his chains. The jaw-beasts attack. Three dozen horrors pouncing and GNASHING. The Ghost Rider takes them.- Chains, flames, sheer power and force -- Spines snap. Lupine skulls burn. The Ghost Rider tears the monsters limb from limb. The room becomes the Seventh Circle of Hell, and at the heart of the Inferno, the Ghost Rider exults in the slaughter -- The whole mission is ablaze now, fire and churning smoke consuming everything in its path. Rhymer, Rain, and Tolbein run for their lives. INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT Rain, Rhymer and Tolbein are trapped. Fire has cut them off. They back their way towards the rear of the building, peer out the windows -- THEIR POV: a hundred foot drop straight down to the highway. TOLBEIN There's no way down from here! CRACK! The door behind them splinters. The Scarecrow's found them once again. INT. MISSION - DINING ROOM - NIGHT The Ghost Rider is having difficulty with the jaw-beasts. His fire burns them but they just keep coming -- blackened skeletal demons, possessed of an unstoppable ferocity -- For every one he throws aside, two more seem to take its place. He can wound them, sear the flesh from their bones, but still they pile on, sinking their teeth into his skeletal flesh, CRUNCHING through his hollow rib-cage -- The Ghost Rider SHRIEKS in pain, TEARS one from his back, SNAPS another's spine, PUNCHES a fist through a third's gnashing muzzle. He falls back through a doorway, onto -- A STAIRCASE And still, they attack. And now the Ghost Rider is weakening. He stumbles on the steps, falls to his knees. The fiends pile atop his back -- (CONTINUED) 109. CONTINUED: Summoning all his power, the Ghost Rider emits a SHOCKWAVE OF FLAME, a HEAT-BOMB that blasts the creatures clean off him. INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT The SHOCKWAVE shakes the room. FIRE belches through the splintered doorway -- -- but the Scarecrow scarcely notices. He's flinging dorm beds left and right, HOWLING and GROANING as he hunts for -- RAIN huddled beneath a flimsy bed-frame. SCARECROW RAAAAINNN! RAAINN! The Scarecrow hurls aside a bed and finds Tolbein. He reaches for the man, sinking his spindly finger's into Tolbein's chest. Tolbein SCREAMS, instantly shrivelling, corroding into dust -- The Scarecrow hurls aside yet another bed and finds -- RHYMER aiming his shotgun, point-blank range! BLAM! The BLAST Takes a chunk out of the Scarecrow's face. INT. MISSION - THE STAIRS - THAT MOMENT All Hell breaks loose. The Ghost Rider unleashes wave after wave of HELLFIRE, incinerating the hounds as they leap towards him, fighting his way up and up the steps -- INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT BLAM! Another BLAST chews apart the Scarecrow's neck. The monstrosity staggers, then lurches forward, grabbing the barrel of the shotgun, instantly corroding it -- The wave of corrosion swarms up the stock while towards Rhymer's hands and he drops the gun, rolling away, scooping up Rain as he runs towards the bathroom -- BACK TO THE SCARECROW, recovering, his makeshift flesh knitting itself back together. Flames kiss his body, causing sodden particles on his frame to SIZZLE and POP -- but because his decayed flesh is so wet, he never ignites. (CONTINUED) 110. CONTINUED: Enkindled BUZZING bug-ember things swirl around the Scarecrow's head in a halo, impossibly alive- He stumbles after Rhymer and Rain into THE BATHROOM A claustrophobic box of stalls and urinals. Rhymer and Rain are nowhere to be seen. Enraged, the Scarecrow tears into the stalls, ripping them aside one by one -- INT. MISSION - THE STAIRS - THAT MOMENT The Ghost Rider advances, hurling jaw-beasts left and right -- INT. MISSION - BATHROOM - NIGHT The Scarecrow rends the last stall asunder, finds Rain and Rhymer cowering like bugs. He looms above Rain, beetle- fingers clutching, flashing a rotted rictus-grin -- SCARECROW -- GOT YOU'. RED-HOT CHAINS whip viciously around the Scarecrow's sodden head and torso. He's wrenched backwards, hauled out of the bathroom and SLAMMED across the dormitory into the opposite wall -- EXT. MISSION - NIGHT The wall fractures. Debris falls, tumbling hundreds of feet down to the highway below. INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT The Scarecrow recovers, SEES the room ablaze. SEES a swathe of blackened, twitching jaw-beast skeletons leading from the doorway to -- THE GHOST RIDER At the other end of the chains. More accurately, GHOST BLAZE, battered and weakened, staggering. His flames are barely flickering, his bony flesh has become chalky and brittle. He's holding a jaw-beast skeleton, drops it to the floor -- The Scarecrow attacks. Hand-to-hand combat. Massive blows and blocks. The burning room SHUDDERS with each impact -- (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: Ghost Blaze uses his chains, but he's weak, and Scarecrow turns them back on him, SMASHES him against the walls. More structural fractures, more dust -- EXT. MISSION - NIGHT The whole mission quakes. A huge hole in the wall falls open, the Scarecrow barely manages to stop himself falling The stilt-like support columns bearing the weight of the overhanging mission begin to CREAK and bend. Some snap -- INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT The dormitory drops alarmingly, ten feet or more, the flooring canting precariously. Ghost Blaze stumbles, falls -- WHAM! Scarecrow grabs Ghost Blaze's neck. Squeezes tight. A WAVE OF DECAY AND CORROSION spreads over Ghost Blaze. He SCREAMS, his flesh putrefying, but Scarecrow will not let go -- ON RAIN AND RHYMER Desperate for escape, the flames closing in on them. There's nowhere to go. Except a small HATCH, high up in the ceiling -- BACK TO SCENE Ghost Blaze HOWLS, in agony as the Scarecrow's superior evil dominates. He feebly extends a hand towards the flames nearby, trying to compel the fire to him. The flames twist, briefly bend in his direction. The Ghost Rider HOWLS with frustration. He needs the flames. He will die without them. He tries again, reaching, reaching -- THE FLAMES surrounding the two foes are starting to bend in earnest now, streaming towards Ghost Blaze's bony, begging fingertips The Scarecrow is oblivious. Just keeps pouring more misery into Ghost Blaze's body as -- EXT. MISSION - NIGHT -- the entire mission, which was only moments ago completely aflame, is now extinguishing itself. An inferno in retrograde, roiling inward -- INT. MISSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT -- raging flames bend and draw long -- (CONTINUED) 112. CONTINUED: -- clouds of embers are pulled into coursing streams-.-- -- roiling fireballs are dragged wildly from walls, floors and ceilings -- -- flame and fury funneling thunderously into SCORCHING FIRE- SPOUTS that cyclone up and up and up into -- INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT -- Ghost Blaze from every direction. Suddenly Scarecrow finds himself at the heart of a back- drafting firestorm, a sustained implosion feeding straight into Ghost Blaze. Then -- Nuclear silence. An instant in which Rhymer shoves Rain through the hatch -- An instant in which Scarecrow senses his own doom -- Because the Ghost Rider is back- But now he's more than the Ghost Rider. He's a white-hot nuclear bomb fairly vibrating with volcanic heat. And he DETONATES. An apocalyptic release that -- obliterates Scarecrow -- sends Rhymer ducking for cover -- bulges the dormitory's fractured walls and ceiling, lifting the ATTIC FLOOR mightily. HURLING Rain into the air! A FLAME TSUNAMI steamrollers through every room and passage, destroying everything in its path, consuming itself. INT. MISSION - DORMITORY - NIGHT Ghost Blaze lies GROANING at blackened ground zero. He's almost human now, spent. Charred timbers CREAK and GROAN around him. The entire structure is on the verge of collapse. ON RAIN emerging from the smouldering bathroom, ghostly white. She picks her way cautiously across the teetering floor. Kneels alongside Ghost Blaze -- (CONTINUED) 113. CONTINUED: Blaze's eyes are black pits, gaunt and skullish_ Rain casts --- - about, finds a BURNING EMBER, cups it in her hands, holds the flame close to his mouth -- Ghost Blaze senses the fire, breathes it in like a drowning man. Draws the flame deep into his lungs, keeps drawing until the ember is gone, internalized. Their eyes meet. RAIN Are you going to die? GHOST BLAZE (WEAKLY) Not today. He pushes up on his elbows, tiredly rises to his feet and -- THE MISSION Topples. Ghost Blaze and Rain run -- but they're not going to make it. The whole room is dropging away at their heels! Ghost Blaze snatches up Rain, DIVES through a widening split in the wall even as -- EXT. MISSION - NIGHT -- the dormitory folds up and slides away from them, pitching over the hillside. Breaking into TONS OF PLUNGING DEBRIS that CRASH SPECTACULARLY onto the highway far below. ON GHOST BLAZE AND RAIN, clutching precariously to a muddy hillside. Ghost Blaze looks up, SEES -- DAWN APPROACHING, first light bleeding in over the distant mountains. EXT. HIGHWAY - MISSION RUINS - JUST BEFORE DAWN Ghost Blaze strides over the smoking ruins. Finds what he was looking for -- CARRIGAN, back to human, hopelessly trapped deep in the wreckage. He's barely alive, just a face in the rubble. Carrigan blinks. CARRIGAN (a ragged whisper) who -- the fuck -- are you, anyway? (CONTINUED) 114. CONTINUED: GHOST BLAZE Vengeance. And Ghost Blaze raises his hand, HELLFIRE trickling down the length of his arm, swirling around his hand like a building static charge even as -- CARRIGAN (terrified, yet defiant) Do it, fucker -- dQ it. RAIN appears on a ridge just before them, eyes locking onto him. It's now or never. Ghost Blaze hesitates, hesitates -- then abruptly reins the flame back in. Metabolizes the fury. Pushes it down deep through sheer, agony-inducing willpower. Ghost Blaze SCREAMS, struggles -- -- and forces the Demon away, Now he's just Blaze, weak with exertion, but triumphant for the first time in years. He turns away and we -- CUT TO: EXT_ MISSION GROUNDS - DAWN -- Blaze and Rain walking, working their way across the scorched grounds. Rain kicks at a carbonized jaw-beast skull. It rolls, SMASHES against a tree, crumbles to dust. Blaze looks up just then, HEARS the sound of --- STARKE'S CADILLAC It slows to a stop at the end of the drive, ENGINE RUMBLING. Dusty and bug-begrimed from its cross-country journey. Blaze braces himself. A silent inhalation of breath. Rain stares, paralyzed by fear -- The driver's door opens. A hulking silhouette steps out. The Beast, backlit by the fiery dawn which is just breaking over the horizon. Sunlight FLARES outward, briefly blinding us. And when it subsides -- STARKE is standing there. Human. Windblown. He raises a hand, shielding his gaze from the light. Steps cowards them -- (CONTINUED) 115. CONTINUED: Blaze moves in front of Rain, blocking Starke's path. They stand there in silence. And Starke smiles, eyes alight with mischief. STARKE Looks like we've come to the end of the road, haven't we? BLAZE Guess so. After a long beat: STARKE Give me the girl and I'll lift the curse. Blaze looks down at Rain. This was all he ever wanted. The only thing that has kept him going all these years. He reaches into his jacket, retrieving a crumpled pack of cigarettes. Plucks one out -- BLAZE She's all yours, Starke -- -- and lights it without a match, somehow conjuring the flame from within himself. He takes a long drag. In the pits of his eyes, something glows there -- a kind of lambent darkness. BLAZE (CONT'D) -- but you'll have to go through me if you want her. Starke stares into Blaze's eyes. Doesn't like what he SEES. STARKE Don't be a fool, Blaze. I'm offering you your life back. BLAZE That's not a life. And least now one I'm interested in living. STARKE You think you can control it. You can't. BLAZE Guess I'm willing to take my chances. Starke nods, accepting defeat. For now. He looks down at Rain, a bitter smile creeping across his face -- (CONTINUED) 116. CONTINUED: (2) STARKE You have your mother's eyes. -- and walks away. Blaze and Rain watch him retreat. Presently, a coyote slips from shadows, joining him on the road. It--lopes along beside him. We watch them disappear over a rise. Then they're gone. Beat. Rain studies Blaze, reaches for his hand. RAIN He'll be back. BLAZE Yeah. BACK AMONGST THE SMOKING RUINS We pass broken concrete, smouldering timber, a rock snake constricting a mouse, an industry of beetles dissecting a bird's carcass. Finally, we come to a small, deep cavity -- and there, tucked away in the darkness, we find -- WOMAN (V.0.) And that's how it ended. With another beginning. A kind of balance struck between the flame and the fury. BLAZE'S COIN balanced perfectly on it's edge. How it fell like that, at the heart of the wreckage, is a mystery that will probably never be solved. DISSOLVE TO: INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY A NURSE brings a postcard to a sleeping patient's bedside. The patient is ROXANNE, sleeping peacefully, bathed in sunlight. The nurse tacks the card to a wall filled with many -- dozens and dozens of postcards charting Blaze's journey back and forth across the country. And we realize now, that Roxanne is the woman who has been narrating our tale. (CONTINUED) 117. CONTINUED: ROXANNE (V.O.) And me? I still sleep. Wandering. Waiting. Listening to the whispers of the dead. CUT TO: EXT. RURAL HIGHWAY - DAY/NIGHT On Blaze, riding hard, as a scorching desert noon TIME-LAPSES into night. ROXANNE (V.O.) The world turns around without me. There are sharks. And there are doves. And nighttime holds far darker terrors than death. But I am never afraid because I know that he is out there, somewhere. And that someday, somehow -- Blaze ignites, SCREAMS, hurls back his head -- ROXANNE (V.O.) (CONT'D) -- he will return to me. -- and the Ghost Rider rockets headlong into black. THE END |
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| Olevsky | Aug 7 2016, 08:45 PM Post #225 |
Banned
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The whole script thing is pretty boring, honestly. |
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| Bodobol | Aug 8 2016, 12:29 AM Post #226 |
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[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou
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| Olevsky | Aug 8 2016, 02:49 AM Post #227 |
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Banned
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Bodo, don't try to do what I do. You're bad at it. |
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| Altmoras | Aug 8 2016, 04:09 AM Post #228 |
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Big Brother
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[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou
[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou [/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]e=Fulcrum,Aug 6 2016, 07:21 AM]ou
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| Fulcrum | Aug 8 2016, 12:33 PM Post #229 |
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Pergamon! |
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9:39 PM Jul 10