daria
in
Through the silver
screen (horror edition)
What if Daria and
her cohorts stepped from the small screen into the silver screen and into movie
plots? Let’s find out.
Experiment #1: Night
of the Living Dead - A George Romero classic, and one of my personal
favorites. Many have alluded to this
movie, but as far as I know they mostly involve inserting zombies into
Our first
experiment opens in a cemetery in the country outside of
Quinn: I still
don’t know why mom insists we drive clear out here to put a wreath on his
grave. It isn’t like we knew him.
Daria: He was our
grandfather, Quinn. Try to show a
modicum of respect for the dead. Pretend
he invented mascara or something.
Quinn: Geez
Daria, even I know the queen of
Daria: (pulls
over and shuts off the engine while giving Quinn an odd look.) Look you don’t wanna be here; neither do
I. So let’s just get this over with and
get the hell outta here.
Quinn: (Starts to
agree while getting out of the car then gets a thoughtful look on her face) What, you’re not ‘afraid’ of a cemetery are you, Daria?
Daria: (quickly) Me, afraid of several blocks worth of worm food, nah. I just don’t like being surrounded by the
brain dead, it’s too much like being back in high school.
Quinn: (sensing
blood in the water) Wait, you’re ‘scared’ of this place. Ga-awd, Daria you’re such a wimp.
(Both girls move
away from the car and off towards a grave as they are talking. Quinn is carrying a tasteful and very
expensive looking wreath and Daria is looking around nervously.)
Daria: Dammit
Quinn, I’m not a wimp; I just don’t care for cemeteries that’s all.
Quinn: Oh
sure. (Takes up creepy voice, teasing)
They’re coming to get you Daria. They’re
coming, and they want your brains.
Daria: (more mad
than scared) Sure Quinn, but if I were you, I’d be afraid. After all they’ll be wearing clothes that are
years out of style.
Quinn: (crinkles
her nose in distaste) Yuck! That is
scary. (She spots an older man the
audience will recognize) Eww that outfit is just wrong.
Mr. DeMartino: (a
cut bleeding on his forehead, he seems to be in shock) They’re
alive, and they’re going to get us! Get
OUT of here, or they’ll be after YOU too! (He stumbles away.)
(Daria and Quinn
share a brief look, scared and concerned.)
Daria: (attention
on Mr. DeMartino) Who’s coming? Are you ok sir?
(He seems to not hear them)
Quinn: How weird
can you get? Let’s just get this wreath
done and get the hell out of here.
Daria: I second
that.
(They turn back
toward the gravestone, and scream in unison)
Daria &
Quinn: GAH!
(There is an
obviously dead zombie in front of them, swaying on its feet. The audience may recognize Mr. O’Neill under
the zombie effects. The creature lunges
for Quinn. Daria shoves her out of its
reach. The creature instead grabs onto
Daria.)
Quinn:
Daria! Get off her you creep!
(She bats at the
creature with the wreath in her hand.
Then she stabs it in the shoulder with the flimsy metal wreath
stand. “Mr. O’Neill” moves towards Quinn
now, the wreath sticking out of his shoulder.
Quinn turns to run and trips over a low stone. Her head bangs off of a nearby tombstone
making a sickening *thunk* sound.)
Daria: (very
clearly hysterical now) Quinn, NOOOOOOO!
(She moves to
check Quinn, who lays eyes glazed, neck broken, and obviously dead.)
Mr. O’Neill:
(begins moving again) aaaaooohhhhggnnaa
Daria: (kicks at
his hand reaching towards her and breaks into a run towards the car) (to
herself) This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. It can’t be.
(She climbs into
the car and struggles with Quinn’s purse to find her cell phone. When she does she tries to call for help.)
Daria:
(frustrated) Dammit, no signal.
(She throws the
phone onto the passenger seat and starts to get out when the creature slams
against the passenger window. As she
looks two more shambling, rotting creatures move into her view and with a
whimper she slams her door closed and frantically searches for the keys.)
Daria: (mumbling
to herself) Where’d I put those damned things.
(As she searches,
‘Mr. O’Neill’ starts banging on the window.
Soon another creature joins him.
We recognize this one as Ms. Barch.
Daria digs between the seats for the keys, and slips them into the
ignition just as the third creature moves to bang on the drivers side
window. This one we recognize as Ms. Li;
her hands flutter over the window, trying to find a way to reach the prize
inside. The car roars to life as Ms.
Barch slams a piece of brick at the passenger window. The glass cracks at the first half hearted
tap, and Daria’s resounding “Eeep!” seems to spur her on. The next hit is harder and shatters the glass
entirely. Daria finally remembers to put
the car into gear as the bitter dead woman lunges in at her.)
Daria: (fending
off grabbing hands) Get off of me.
(The car swerves
recklessly from side to side as she attempts to dodge Ms. Barch’s grasping
hands and to dislodge her from the window she’s hanging through. The reaching fingers manage to grasp a strand
or two of Daria’s hair.)
Daria: Oww!
(She turns to
push the creature from the window, giving the rotting thing one hard push as
she swerves. It falls from the window
dragging for a moment or two then loses its grip entirely.)
Daria: (relieved)
Thank God.
(She turns back to the road only to
realize she’s going to hit a large old oak tree. She spins the wheel to the left and taps on
the brake, but all she manages is to avoid a major head on collision with the
tree. Instead the car scrapes along the
passenger side, going off the road, and as it continues forward the front tire
starts squealing and the front of the car shudders as it slams through
underbrush and small trees. The
squealing gets louder and louder, and when she tries to avoid driving over a
drainage ditch she realizes the steering has locked up. The car slams into the mucky water, and Daria
smashes her head off the steering wheel.
She is knocked out. As we look at
her one might note the clock on the dashboard reads
(Fade in, with a close-up on the dashboard
clock. It reads
Daria: (a cut bleeding on her forehead,
coming to) mmmhuuuh, whaaa, what happened.
(She tries to restart the car. It won’t start and she sees movement in the
rearview mirror. Ms. Barch and Ms. Li
are coming down the long rambling path she made with the car, slowly ambling
closer and closer. Daria lets out a low
moan of panic then frantically starts grabbing at the cell phone. She slips it into her jacket pocket, and then
climbs out of the car, which is listing badly to the front passenger side. She moves to the drainage ditch, takes a look
at it calculating the short span, and then moves back a few feet for a running
jump. Once she lands on the other side
she checks the position of the two walking corpses. They have started moving a little faster upon
seeing fresh meat, but only a little.
Their shambling gait would be comical if they weren’t so deadly.
She turns and starts making her way
through the trees. Over the next few
moments we see her moving through the woods stopping to check the cellular for
a signal once or twice, and muttering a few choice curses when it fails to
work. Finally, she tops a hill and sees
an old farmhouse in the distance. Beyond
it lays a long gravel lane and several outbuildings, including what looks to be
an old gas station.)
Daria: (pocketing the cellular phone)
Please be home.
(As the sun reaches the horizon, and
prepares to set, Daria reaches the back door of the farmhouse.)
Daria: (knocking, then banging louder and
louder as no one replies) Hello, anyone home?
Is anyone here? Help! I need to use your phone! Please answer. Please!
(One of her knocks causes the door to creak open) Oh hell. This goes against every horror movie I’ve
ever seen. (She turns to leave, then
remembers just how far out into nowhere she is, and slips into the house.) Is anyone home? I just need to use the phone. There’s something going on outside. It’s dangerous. (She spots a telephone on the wall and
attempts to call 911, but there is no dial tone.) Dammit!
(She moves from the kitchen in past a
dining room to a front hall and staircase calling out hello. Daria moves towards the living room, when a
door behind her silently creeps open, and we see Mrs.
Johansson, zombified. She has what
appears to be chocolate on her face as well as blood, and is wearing a pair of
stained denim overalls and a flannel shirt instead of her standard muumuu. Slowly she shuffles, arms raised, towards
Daria, who is looking around the living room.
Off in the distance we hear a car engine sputtering along. Daria moves toward the window just as the
dead woman strikes.)
Daria: Gah! Get the hell off of me.
(Daria struggles to get away; reaching
with one hand, straining to reach the rack next to the fireplace, the other
trying to hold back the dead woman. Her
searching hand knocks the rack over and both the small shovel and the poker
fall onto the hard wood floor. Daria
grasps the poker in her hand firmly and starts hitting at it. Several hits to the thing’s shoulders do
nothing but goad it on. Then a well
placed blow to the head splatters grey matter, bone, and blood across the area
rug the creature falls down across.
Daria, in shock and revulsion sinks slowly
to the floor. Breathing raggedly and
pale, except for two spots of high color on her cheeks, she pushes herself away
with her boots; putting as much space as she can between herself and it. Suddenly the engine noise dies out and there
are footsteps heard just outside the front door. It is jerked open and a young
African-American man rushes in, and slams the door, locking it. We recognize him as Mack. A baseball bat held up and at the ready, he
moves through the house, heading first towards the living room.)
Mack: Hello? Are you okay? Do you have a phone? (As he speaks he moves closer to Daria;
making sure not to get too close to the thing oozing blood onto the rug. He walks close to Daria.) Are you with me here? Come on, I need to talk with you, snap out of
it. I need you to get it together. (He snaps his fingers in front of her face,
and when that fails, smacks her lightly across one cheek then the other. Finally, her eyes stray from the thing she
killed, and focus on him. He speaks
slowly as if to a child.) Are you
hurt?
Daria: It didn’t get me. (The reality of the situation sinks in to her
a little) We’ve got to get the hell out of here. I tried the phone, but it’s dead and my car’s
totaled. Those ‘things’ killed my
sister. We have to get the hell out of
here. (Edging towards hysterical again)
Mack: I’ve got a truck, but no gas. We won’t get more than a quarter mile down
the road on it now. I saw the old gas
station. I was hoping it still had some
gas in the underground tanks, or that someone here might have gas cans for a
mower or something. There’s an old gas
pump but it’s got a padlock on it. (He
starts looking around the room, checking drawers and cabinets as he talks.) Is this your place? Is there a key for the pump? Do you have any guns or any weapons?
Daria: (shaking her head) This isn’t my place.
At a guess, I’d say it was hers.
(She gestures to the woman on the floor.)
Mack: If we can’t get help, and we can’t
get out, we need to check this place out.
We need weapons, and to secure this place. I noticed some wood outside. If we could find some nails and a hammer this
place shouldn’t be hard to board up.
Then we would be safe for a while.
Daria: Why would we do that? Why can’t we just head towards the nearest
town? This can’t be everywhere. Can it?
Mack: I don’t know about everywhere, but I
came from
Daria: I’m sure you did all you
could.
Mack: I saw guys herding these things into
trucks, like they knew what they were going to do with them. They opened the door to let another one in,
and those things just came stumbling out.
There were too many of them to stop.
This one had to have taken ten shots to the body. I saw him jerking and stumbling, but he never
actually stopped until the guy got in a head shot. By the time the guys realized they had to shoot’em in the head, there were just too damn many, too
damned close to stop.
Daria: It’s starting to get dark. We need to check this place out while we can,
and get started on boarding it up. I’ve
got a cell phone, but it isn’t getting a signal way out here.
Mack: That’s good. After we make sure the place is safe we can
try it from upstairs. You might get
better reception from up there.
(They move towards the stairs. Mack holds up the bat and is heading upstairs
when Daria stops him.)
Daria:
Wait! There’s something up there.
(She points towards a blood stain dripping from the ceiling below the
upstairs landing)
Mack: You wait down here. Yell if you see or hear anything, and keep
that poker handy. Unless we find a gun
cabinet, that’s probably the best weapon we’ll find around here.
(Mack moves up the stairs slowly, bat held
up and at the ready. As we get up stairs
we see a dead body, its head gone. A
shotgun is propped between its legs.)
Mack: Someone’s up here. He’s shot himself, and he isn’t moving, so
I’m going to check the other rooms.
(He moves past slowly and checks the
remaining rooms. When he opens the
second bedroom door he finds a closet door open revealing a gun rack. There are two empty slots and one very
expensive looking hunting rifle, with a scope.
Scattered beneath the rack are several boxes of ammo. He grabs the boxes of ammo. Mack turns to leave then after looking at the
boxes in his hands; he spins back around and searches through the clutter on
the closet floor again. He pulls out a
small handgun that apparently matches one of the boxes of ammo in his
arms. Stepping back over the body, Mack
moves down the stairs.)
Mack: (giving her the handgun and bullets)
I’m fairly sure these people are card carrying members of the NRA, thank
God. If this isn’t a second amendment
situation then I don’t know what is. Do
you know how to handle a gun?
Daria: I grew up in
Mack: (starts moving through the first
floor, looking around) That’s pretty much it. Just remember to hold the gun with both
hands. It will keep your aim closer to
true and help with the kick. I’ve gone
target shooting with my dad a couple times, and he’s got a small collection. So I know how to get these things loaded, and
I’m a fair shot, but if more of those things show up we’re going to need more
than one fair shot.
(They move through the first floor, and
Mack checks the windows and looks around each room. They turn on all the lights in each room,
leaving them on when they move to the next room. One of the doors they check refuses to open
no matter how hard they try. Finally
they move back into the living room and silently Daria starts wrapping the area
rug around the woman she bludgeoned with the fireplace poker.)
Mack: What are you doing?
Daria: We may need to stay here for awhile
waiting for help. I don’t want her in
here with us, or her friend upstairs either.
Mack: (moves to start helping wrap and
then to carry) You’re right. Let’s get them both outside.
(Silently the pair begins moving the rug
wrapped woman out the front door. In the
failing twilight Mack grabs an old coffee can that has nails and three hammers
sticking out of it and hands it to Daria.
He picks up a sheet of plywood and the heavy circular saw and slowly
negotiates his way back inside.)
Mack: We need to move the wood
inside. There are only a couple full
sheets of plywood, but there are plenty of scraps we can use. While I get the guy from upstairs why don’t
you try and bring some of the scraps in.
If you see anyone give me a yell.
(Mack moves up the stairs as Daria
continues to bring large pieces of wood, keeping her eyes open all the while
for any of those things. Mack wraps the
hall runner over the nearly headless corpse.
He slowly drags it down the stairs and out the front door placing it
with the other covered body. He then
moves over to carry in more pieces of wood into the house. As Daria passes the grandfather clock in the
hall we note that the time is
(Fade in with a close-up on the face of
the grandfather clock, the hands read
Mack: (clicking buttons on the many
remotes) We need to see if there is anything on about
this. If anyone knows what’s going on,
or how to stop it.
Daria: (hammers in one last nail on the
board she was working on then moves to sit down) That’s
a good idea. Try the local channels, and
if she’s got it, CNN.
Mack: (flipping through channels) It might actually be easier to get CNN. This is a satellite receiver; the people who
lived here might not have local channels on their service package. Wait, here it is.
(The screen shows a logo for the Emergency
Broadcast System as well as the station logo, in this case KDKA 2. The screen is accompanied by a loud keening
wail, and then words start scrolling across the screen and a voice announces:
THIS IS NOT A TEST; THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) HAS ISSUED A STATE OF
The annoying wail starts up again for a
moment then the message repeats for a few words before Mack hits the mute
button.)
Daria: (shocked) My God.
Mack: (equally shocked) This
thing is huge. I thought it was some
weird isolated thing. (now determined) We’ve got to
get this place fixed up tight. Then,
maybe we can get someone on that cellular phone. Right now the people who could help us have
their hands full. We’ll reinforce this
place, and then maybe we can get some help.
(He gestures to the remaining wood.)
I’d better look upstairs for something more we can use. If need be, we can pull a couple doors down
to finish the job. Keep watch; I’ll be
right back.
(He moves up the stairs and down the
hall. Daria turns back to the window she
had been working on. As she resumes
hammering we hear a slow creak and see the previously locked door slowly
opening. Daria reaches for another piece
of wood and catches sight of something.
She turns to face it screaming, and bringing her hammer up as a weapon
as she does, forgetting the gun in her pocket momentarily.)
Daria: (loud)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
(Our view changes and we see
Daria: (still obviously shaken, but
attempting to regain composure) Who the hell are you,
and where did you come from?
(Mack enters the room covering the pair
from the rear as he does.
Mack: Where the hell did you two come
from, and who’s we?
Mack: How’d you get here?
Linda: (interrupting) She wasn’t dead; she
couldn’t have been.
Mack: (gently) You
did all you could. (to
Linda) How’d you get here?
Linda: (bitchy) Car. A mile down the road. Sitting on a flat. And none of these yo-yo’s had a car. (eyeing Mack then
Daria) What about you two; neither of
you look the neighborly sort. Either of
you have a car?
Mack: (gestures at Daria) Her car is off the road and busted up, and the truck I got
here in is outside. The tank is almost
on empty.
Mack: Why didn’t you come up when we first
started moving around up here?
Linda: (looking at Mack like he is stupid)
We were in the basement, it’s the only safe
place. Besides how were we to know you
weren’t more of those things.
Mack: (looking at Linda) Didn’t you hear us talking up here? We could have used some help. (Linda looks at him in disdain as he
continues.) We need to work together in
order to make this place safe.
Linda: (getting annoyed) The basement IS safe.
It’s the only safe place. We need
to get some supplies and get back down there, before more of those things show
up.
Mack: (examining the hidden door) I’m not
sure it’s the safest place. Enough of
those things get in here they could pop it right open.
Linda: (almost, but not quite in Mack’s
face) So these windows are gonna keep those things
out?
Mack: (struggling to maintain his temper) These windows are being boarded up. I don’t like the idea of being trapped down
there with no way out.
Linda: (cutting him off) A way out is a
way in. We need to get back downstairs,
all of us, before those things hear you banging away up here, and come to check
it out.
Mack: (exasperated) Look, I’m not bottling
myself in down there unless I have to.
It’s not a smart move. We won’t
be able to get help or information if we’re huddling in that basement like
rats. You want to go back down there go
ahead. You want to be the boss, well
then you can be the boss down there; Not up here. (to
(
(As Stacy comes up the stairs, Linda
shoots a dirty look at them all and slams past her, heading to the
kitchen. Stacy lets out a small “eep!”
before slipping into the room. She
watches the newcomers warily and waits for
Stacy: What should I do?
(Daria has been drifting away during this
exchange. She is peeking out past their
makeshift window coverings.)
Daria: (emotionless) There are more of
those things outside. (Stacy tries to
head for the stairs but
(Brittany and Mack lean in to get a better
look and suddenly a bloodied fist slams against the window. They jump back as Linda re-enters the
room. Mack moves towards the door gun in
hand as Linda realizes what’s going on.)
Linda: (eyes wide) Let’s
go downstairs everyone, before it finds a way in. (She notices Mack unlocking the door.) WHAT
THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?
(Mack grips the door handle, pops it open
quickly and then checks both directions before slipping through it. He aims the gun, and when he has a clear shot
takes out the zombie. Again looking both
ways he slips back inside, and relocks the door.)
Mack: (reloading the gun, very matter of
fact) I was keeping those things from building up on us. We keep their numbers down, we stay
safe. Simple logic
ma’am.
Linda: (absolutely livid) What if there
were more of those things on the porch?
What if they had gotten in? Don’t
just take it upon yourself to decide things for the rest of us. That little stunt could have gotten us all
killed. My husband and little girl are
downstairs. He’s unarmed and she’s
sick. Just one of those things could
kill us all because you had to play G.I. Joe.
Mack: (backing up realizing how scared she
is) Look your right, and I’m sorry. We
need to fix up this place before more than one of those things finds its way
inside. Then we have to decide together
what we do next. If we could find the
keys to that gas tank down the road we could try and get the hell out of
here. (turns to
the others) There are more windows to
cover. We’re starting to run low on
wood. Just get them up, we can reinforce
later.
(Everyone except Linda gets busy trying to
board the place up. We zoom in on the
face of the clock one more time and it reads
(Fade in on the clock again it reads
9:31. The sound of hammering is heard
from various points of the house. The
wood that had been brought in is gone and other things have been nailed to the
windows. As we pan though the room we see
an old wooden child’s sled along with what appears to be parts of the end
tables nailed across window. Mack and
Brittany are removing the legs from the dinning room table. They move to put it up across a large
window. Stacy looks out a window off to
one side of the big window they are covering.)
Stacy: Omygod!
(As
Daria: (Breathing heavily) Back up and let
it in!
Linda: (She is barely heard and not
acknowledged at all from her vantage point of the basement doorway.) You’re all
crazy!
(Slipping out of the thing’s grasp, Mack
pulls back and lets the table top fall to the floor. Standing in the window, clutching a small
stylish purse, stands Tiffany. Except
for the bite marks along her arm, the dried leaves in her hair, and the
obviously rotting flesh, she looks quite like her normal self, vacant stare and
all. Again everyone seems to freeze a
moment, contemplating this new visitor.
Suddenly she lunges forward toward Mack.
As she does, the whip crack of a rifle shot is heard and she falls onto
Mack, her much questioned brains are now splattered along one wall, and on a
shocked Stacy.)
Stacy: (Now completely hysterical) You shot her; you
shot Tiffany!
Daria: (Getting angry now) She was one of
those things. She was going to attack
Mack. Would you rather I let her?
(Mack moves the body out the window and
drops it. He pulls back suddenly as
another figure lurches into view. It’s
nude from the waist up and displays a roughly sewn up y cut that is the obvious
results of an autopsy. One can barely recognize
the corpse as Tommy Sherman. He scans
the room with and lumbers a step or two towards Brittany and Stacy.)
Daria: (Angry) Is he dead? Is he? (She shoots him in the chest and he
falls back with the impact briefly, but then starts towards the girls
again.) You’re all seeing this. Is he dead?
(another shot) Well? (Spins towards Linda) What about you, convinced yet? Is he dead?
(she shoots him one more time in the chest,
again he slams back with the impact and immediately starts forward again.)
Mack: Daria, get it together. You can’t start losing it now.
Daria: (Coldly) I’ve already lost something to these
bastards. I DO NOT plan on losing
anything else. (She fires one shot to
the ex-quarterback’s head, causing him to drop immediately.)
(While Daria and Mack board up the broken
window,
Newscaster: … The White House has been
host to experts in the fields of microbiology and virology, as well as
specialists on chemical warfare and officials from NASA and the director of the
Centers for Disease Control in
We have reports coming in from a group of
scientists from the Center for Communicable Disease’s in
Anyway folks, for now the instructions are
this. If you have the means, attempt to
get to one of the designated Red Cross stations. There you will find food, shelter, and protection
by National guardsmen. The list of
stations should be starting up again in a moment or two. If you do not have a safe way to reach one of
these stations, burrow in. Board up your
windows, lock your doors, conserve food and water, and above all else remain
indoors.
Stay tuned to KDKA News Channel 2 for
continuous updates.
(When the screen went back to the studio
logo and an ever updating list of cities and Red Cross stations
Linda: That’s IT? That’s the ONLY thing they have to tell
us. These are the people PAID to deal
with this type of crap!
Mack: I don’t think anyone has ever had to
deal with this type of crap.
Linda: Of course YOU’D stick up for them,
wouldn’t you?
Mack: (clearly angry) What
the hell is THAT supposed to mean?
Linda: What the hell do YOU think I
mean? I mean that that sorry excuse for
a news anchor has told us to do what YOU want.
Mack: Just because they know a good idea
when it jumps up and bites them on the a-
Linda: (interrupting) Oh REAL GOOD
idea. It’s their backup plan. It doesn’t mean THIS place will hold off more
than a couple of those things. We NEED
to get back to the basement, or to figure a way to get to one of those
stations.
Mack: Well since you’re dead set against
staying up here, why don’t you just make yourself
useful, and try to find the keys to the gas pumps. Maybe then we can get out of here.
Linda: (fed up) Fine, you just do that,
Cupcake.
(She leaves the living room, and wanders
from room to room. She eventually goes up
stairs and we see her looking at what seems to be a dropdown ladder for attic
access. After a few moments randomly
poking around in the upstairs rooms she returns to the first floor. The sound of hammering is constant and people
are moving back and forth as they need material.)
Linda: I didn’t see anything resembling a
key upstairs. I guess I’ll, like, look
around down here.
(She begins poking around in drawers and
tables around the room, and comes across the cellular Daria has set down while
she works. A furtive look on her face,
Linda picks it up and after seeing the lack of signal, starts to slip the phone
unto the pocket of her suit. She turns
to walk away and walks straight into Mack who is blocking her path.)
Mack: (Barely repressed rage) Where the
HELL do you think you’re going with that?
Linda: (Attempting, badly, to look
innocent) Wh-what are you talking about?
Mack: Don’t act like you don’t know
exactly what I’m talking about. The cell
phone; you just took it.
(He grabs her arm and pulls it up
revealing the phone. Furious she jerks
out of his grip and the phone slips out of her grasp. It flies across the room and slams into the
fireplace, busting up into several pieces.)
Linda: Look what YOU did. Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you put your filthy hands on me?
Mack: (no longer repressed at all) You, lying, thieving bitch!
You try to steal the one thing that might get us some help and take it
down into that death trap with you, and then you have the nerve to blame it on
me.
Linda: (getting in his face) I was not
taking it downstairs.
Mack: Sure you weren’t after all that’s
the ‘only safe place’ isn’t it? You
figure you’ll hedge your bets; let us hold them off up here, let us take the
risks, and all the while, you sit down there with your family, knowing you have
a way to call out, and the rest of us to act as a shield.
Linda: (yelling) I WAS NOT TAKING IT
DOWNSTAIRS!
Mack: Yeah, right.
Linda: You moron! There is no damned reception in a
basement. I was not taking it
downstairs.
Stacy: (interrupts, yelling, mad as hell)
JUST. SHUT. UP.
The both of you! This isn’t your
house. This is our house, this is
Stacy: This was your aunt’s house and now
it’s your house, and they don’t need to be fighting over it like a couple of
schoolyard bullies. So either shut up or
get out.
(Daria watches the events unfold, but when
Stacy talks she gets a strange look on her face. She walks toward the door, picking the rifle
up on the way. The sound of the bolt being
slid back gets everyone’s attention, and they all move towards the door.)
Stacy: What the hell is she doing?
(Daria cautiously opens the door checking
both directions then, gun out and pointed at the ceiling, moves towards the
pair of corpses they had dragged outside earlier.)
Daria: (to
(
Stacy: (triumphant) I got’em.
(As they move back through the door Daria
looks out through the yard at the slowly gathering dead. There are now more than ten visible from
where they stand. They are slowly
shambling towards the ‘living’.)
Daria: (softly) They’re
so slow. We could walk right past them.
Mack: What?
Daria: (normal voice) They’re
so slow. We could just walk past
them. (Mack gives her an odd look.) What?
I’m not crazy. We have the
guns. If we moved fast, and watched each
other’s backs, we could make it. You
KNOW I’m right.
Mack: What about her kid, Linda’s
kid. She’s hurt.
Daria: We could leave them here, locked
in, and bring back help.
Mack: We have the keys now. We’ll see about getting the truck gassed up,
and getting the hell out of here. We
need to be smart about this.
(Daria takes aim with the rifle and shoots
the two nearest zombies dead in the head.
They both fall over.)
Daria: I am being smart about this, but
you’re right the truck would be our best bet. (Just then another zombie comes
into view. It’s Mr. O’Neil, the wreath
still in his arm. With a cry of anguish
Daria takes aim again through the scope of the rifle and shoots. There is an explosion of grey matter and
blood from his head.) Alright, we’re
starting to draw a crowd. Let’s get
inside.
(They re-enter the house and lock the door
again. Once inside they find seats in
the living room.)
Linda: What are we waiting for? Let’s get the tank filled and get out of
here.
Mack: We need to be figure out how we’re
going to work this. We have plenty of
ammo, but we need to work out who takes what gun, and how we’re playing
this.
Mack: Can you handle it?
Mack: You’re right and I’m sorry. You seem to be very capable. I just want to
make sure you know what you were getting into.
If you’re sure, then I guess it’s you and me.
Daria: I’m coming too.
(Mack pulls her off to one side and
quietly talks with her.)
Mack: I want you in here covering us with
that rifle. You seem to be the best shot
with it, and I don’t want any locked doors between me and her. (tilts head toward Linda)
Daria: (nods) Yeah, you’re right.
(They return to the main sitting area.)
Stacy: I’m going too.
Brittany and Mack: (simultaneously) NO!
Mack: We can’t protect you out there, stay
here with the others and be ready to move fast once we’ve got the truck gassed
up.
Stacy: No, he isn’t. You need someone to drive, someone to pump,
and someone to shoot. In other words,
you need three people.
Mack: Alright you’re the third. (He hands her a set of keys from his
pocket.) Now, about the weapons; We leave the rifle here.
It’s only good for long range really anyway. Daria can cover us as best she can from one
of these front windows. There are a
couple breaks in the boards big enough if you knock out the glass.
(He picks up a couple of towels and begins
to wrap them around a leg from one of the tables they had cannibalized to cover
the windows, creating a torch. With a
bit more rummaging, he turns up a small butane lighter and charcoal starter
fluid. He douses the torch’s end
liberally with the fluid, and then lights it.
Gun in one hand he moves towards the door. Brittany and Stacy, guns in hand, follow
him.)
Mack: (smirking just a little) No, not
really.
(Torch held to one side carefully, the
three of them make their way outside.
Daria slams the door behind them and locks it, then takes up her post at
the window. Stacy quickly gets in the
truck and tries to start it. There are
over twenty zombies nearby, and they are slowly moving in on the small group. Brittany and Mack put down seven zombies
between themselves by the time Stacy gets the truck moving. They climb into the bed of the pickup and
they speed off toward the gas pump.
Mack’s homemade torch lies on the truck bed while he reloads his gun. Stacy swerves sharply to avoid one of the
undead and Mack is thrown from the truck.
Unaware, Stacy speeds to the pump and skids to a halt.)
Stacy: (shocked and guilty) What?!? Why didn’t you tell me?
Stacy: No, those have to be the ones.
(She climbs from the truck, pulls the keys
from