Night Clerk (4) dress, ripped and torn. JERRY/JEAN (cont’d) ...genevieve... Jean grabs the remains of the dress , clinging to it. He begins to weep then sobs uncontrollably-- INT. DR. KLINE’S OFFICE - THE CLOSET -AFTERNOON --Jerry snaps awake, his face wet with tears. INT. A CITY HOSPITAL CORRIDOR -AFTERNOON Jerry sprints down the corridor, pulling on a light jacket with a hood. He swings the hood up over his head, slaps on his sunglasses and pulls the drawstrings tight so only his nose is sticking out of the hole. As he moves towards the main entrance, he yanks gloves on his hands as he dodges around incoming and outgoing patients. INT. HOSPITAL MAIN ENTRANCE -AFTERNOON At the doors he bumps into an older man-- JERRY --sorry-- Harris glares at Jerry’s back and continues into the hospital, returning his attention to the open manila folder in his hands. He walks to reception,and fishes his id out of his pocket- HARRIS Where would I find Doctor Kline? INT. DR. KLINE’S OFFICE -LATE AFTERNOON There is a quiet rap at the doctors door. KLINE (irritated) You might as well come in, my secretary is gone for the day. Harris pokes his head around the half-open door- HARRIS Hi. Am I interrupting? If so I apologize. I am special agent Harris. May I come in? KLINE ...have we met before? HARRIS Not that I know of, Doctor Kline. KLINE -oh. (regains composure) Oh I’m sorry, please do come in. Harris crosses to her, extending his hand to shake while flashing his badge with the other hand. The doctor is now quite confused and off-guard as she has no idea what he may want with her. HARRIS May I sit? He drops into a chair before she can answer. KLINE ...of course. HARRIS (searching pockets) Quite the hospital you have here. KLINE We try. HARRIS I’d say you succeed, Doctor. (still searching) May I ask what your doctorate is in? KLINE Neurology. What is this about--? HARRIS (finds envelope) AH! Here we go! He digs out a small manila envelope, opens it and puffs into it once to expand the sides. He then carefully dumps the contents out onto her desk blotter. It is several old and faded photos, small yellowing squares with white borders. KLINE What’s this? HARRIS Please, take a look, if you would. She reaches for her reading glasses, donning them while aiming the desk lamp to better illuminate the photos. Her mouth gaps as she recognizes the subject. It is herself- thirty years younger. A crown of flowers circles bright blond hair of a laughing young woman, just out of her teens. She wears patched jeans with a peace symbols drawn across the thighs and red shirt tied off at her waist. In the first of the photos she is walking through a crowd of people down a country lane (Woodstock?) one hand clenched as if she held something unseen. She is looking and leaning to her left, smiling. The second photo shows her stopped now, leaning more this time, lips puckered in a kiss with no-one. KLINE Where did you get these!?! How dare you come strolling in here and dump this on my desk. You have to leave, now. She moves to the phone to call security. HARRIS Doctor, I suggest you look at the third photo before you invite anyone else here. She replaces the receiver in the cradle and does so.. In the photo she is standing arched back in a dip, one leg in the air, her body all most horizontal, her arms wrapped around an invisible neck, her mouth open in a passionate kiss--with no one. She is impossibly alone in the photo, seemingly levitating. The doctor is speechless. HARRIS (cont’d) Do you know a Jerry McIntyre? She blinks at him realizing what this is about. HARRIS (cont’d) I’ll ask you again, do you know a Jerry McIntyre? (beat) Do you know what he is? KLINE Get out. HARRIS I need to speak to Jerry. The doctor grabs at the phone. KLINE GET OUT! Harris stands, making to leave. HARRIS Please. I only want to help him. Protect him. KLINE From what? HARRIS You have no idea. He hands her his card with his cel phone # on it. HARRIS (cont’d) I am not here to bring him harm. KLINE GET OUT!!!!! HARRIS Thank you for your time Doctor. You can keep those. He leaves the doctor alone to stare at the damning photos of long ago. EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE JERRY’S APARTMENT -NEAR SUNSET Morse and Pitcher sit in the station wagon, staring at Jerry's apartment,sloppily eating hamburgers and sipping soda through straws. MORSE (mouthful) So what’s the deal with sunlight? PITCHER I haven’t figure that out yet but I have some ideas. He begins to mindjam out loud, talking his way through ideas. PITCHER (cont’d) Moonlight is just reflected sunlight so it can't be the actual rays from the sun or solar energy that’s the problem. If vampires don't have any physical form, if they are all energy and our perception of them is formed by their perception of themselves... He jumps out of the car and heads for the rear door. He yanks it open and leans in, rummaging in crates. MORSE What are you doing? This is a stakeout you know and you’re breaking cover. PITCHER (distracted) ...yeah, okay,... (still rummaging) EUR-ANUS!!! He pulls a strange set of GOGGLES from a box. They look like night-vision goggles on steroids, all lumpy and covered with patched-on electronics. He moves back to the driver's seat and shoves the goggles into Morse's lap. PITCHER (cont’d) Put them on. Morse swallows her last bite and stares at him with an arched eyebrow. PITCHER (cont’d) Seriously. Begrudgingly, she tugs the goggles on over her head. MORSE I can’t see anything. PITCHER Hold on a sec. He reaches over to flick a switch. MORSE If this is some sort of joke and I go blind or something, you will die oh so very slowly. Pitcher grins and activates the goggles. EXT. MORSE’S POV - NEAR SUNSET Morse’s vision comes alive in a world of green and white. She stares about in wonder, slowly taking in her surroundings as if they were new. It is as everything is translucent. White throbbing lines of varying intensity are overlaid over her regular vision (tinted green). She can see the electrical system threaded through the car. She looks over at Pitcher, watching his mouth move as he speaks. Tiny white sparks thread their way through his face as the muscles move. PITCHER Pretty neat, eh? MORSE What am I seeing? A golf-ball sized white globule throbs in the middle of his skull, white threads spreading out from it across and down his head and body. PITCHER This is a visualization of electrical energy streams, including neural energy. Hopefully it will tell us right away who is a vampire and who's not. Morse looks around the neighborhood, staring at cars, homes, watching lines of power moves in and around. MORSE ...incredible... INT. STATION WAGON -NEAR SUNSET Pitcher reaches over and snaps the headset off. MORSE HEY!?! She automatically reaches, feeling for the switch. PITCHER The batteries die quick. He begins to pull the goggles off. Reluctantly, Morse removes the headset and hands it to Pitcher. MORSE Fine. He gently places it on the backseat and turns back to her. PITCHER So what I'm thinking is that because vampires don't have a physical form there is nothing for light to bounce off ‘em so they don't cast reflections, right?. I wonder if being out in the sun makes it harder for them to affect our perceptions, like the way computer-generated characters in the movies always look fake in daylight. A computer just can't calculate how light works from a source as big as the sun. I mean, during the day, light bounces and reflects off everything. Maybe that's why they can't stand sunlight, because it doesn't reflect off them but their minds have to make it look like it does. That’s gotta hurt, talk about brain-root. It must be the world's worst ice-cream headache. (snaps fingers) I want to show you something. He clambers into the back of the station wagon and starts rummaging through boxes. MORSE Whatever, kid. Morse shakes her head and glances around. Jerry’s car squeals around the street corner and up into the short driveway beside his apartment building. He jumps out and slams the door, obviously upset, moving quickly into the building. MORSE (cont’d) Hey-- Something catches her eye, just down the street. EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE JERRY’S APARTMENT -SUNSET Two men stepping out of a hot blood red sports car. Both are dressed in black leather, wearing sunglasses and each has pale skin. The sun has dropped below the horizon leaving a dusky orange glow. The men seem translucent in the fading light. They begin to walk purposefully towards the station wagon. INT. STATION WAGON -SUNSET Morse calmly looks into the passenger side mirror.The street appears empty. She slowly looks over shoulder, across Pitcher. Two other men with similar fashion taste are strutting up behind them, oozing malevolent confidence. PITCHER (muttering, unaware) ..where the hell...? Morse reaches for the energy-goggles, leans over and slips them over her head. The headset hums as she flicks them on. Surreptitiously, she peeks over the dash towards the oncoming men. EXT. MORSE’S POV - SUNSET In the goggle view they become floating balls of energy sending sparks to ground where each footstep would land. MORSE You gotta be kidding. She slowly turns towards the back of the car to see two more floating balls of energy growing ever closer. INT. JERRY’S APARTMENT -DAY Jerry bursts into the apartment: JERRY KERRY! He finds her sitting quietly on the couch. She holds an unlit cigarette between two fingers, staring at it in the darkening room. JERRY (cont’d) We have to talk. He shrugs out of his coat and reaches for the light switch. KERRY Don’t. (beat) I don’t want to look at you right now. Jerry is dumbstruck. His hand drops to his side. He stands silent a moment and then moves to a nearby chair, dropping into it. She turns away from him. Jerry notices a wide wet patch glistening down her cheek. JERRY (unsure) We... we need to talk. KERRY About what? JERRY Would you look at me? Please? She continues to stare out the window. He stands, starting towards her and nearly trips over two suitcases sitting beside the couch. Regaining his balance, he studies the cases as best he can in the low light. JERRY (cont’d) What’s going on? INT. STATION WAGON -SUNSET Morse tears the goggles off and grabs at her side arm. MORSE Stop jerking around we have a problem! Pitcher pops up out of a box,banging his head against the car ceiling. In his hand is a pistol-gripped device with short wide barrel, like a micro mini-gun. Sharp points stick out of various holes in the cylinder with a box magazine feeding from below. MORSE (cont’d) LET’S GO DAMMIT! The closest creature walks up the drivers side of the car and smashes his fist through the window. Morse leaps into the back seat as the creature reaches for her, cackling. She clambers over boxes and past Pitcher towards the back hatch and kicks it open. Pitcher is frozen staring at the vampire in the window. MORSE (cont’d) MOVE!!! Morse grabs his shoulder, yanking him back towards her. She snatches at the weapon he is holding, having deduced its use. Another vampire leaps atop the station wagon, crouching, hissing at them from above. The two approaching from the rear are only a dozen feet away, moving to surround Morse and Pitcher. Morse flicks what looks to be the safety on the new weapon, and aims at one of the creatures. The vampires laugh, daring her to fire. She squeezes the trigger and a sharped wooden stake is launched with a bump of compressed air. The stake slices through the creature’s chest embedding where its heart should be. The vampire spasms like we’ve seen before, seeming to implode and then explode in a brilliant flash of light. PITCHER WOAH! Morse roars like a Viking and begins firing at the other vampires who react much like the first. INT. JERRY’S APARTMENT -SUNSET KERRY ASSHOLE!! KERRY smacks Jerry's chest with both hands, punctuating how mad she is. JERRY Kerry, Honey I really have to talk to you about something-- KERRY Are you fucking her? JERRY What!?! KERRY KLINE!?! Tell the truth is the old bitch a better lay or what? JERRY NO!!! Jesus not this again. How many times do have to do this? KERRY You’re never here. You never tell me where you’re going or when you’ll be back! That freaking doctor slut has to call ME and fill me in! JERRY Why can’t you trust me? She gives him a hard “well duh” look and grabs at one suitcase, storming for the door. Jerry snatches hold of her arm, pulling her back. KERRY DON’T! She yanks her arm out of his grasp, fuming. In an instant she attacks him, pummeling her fists on his chest, screaming like a banshee-- KERRY (cont’d) YOU ASS - YOU STUPID FUCKING ASS! BASTARD! He takes it, knowing he deserves it. As she begins to tire he moves to embrace her. JERRY ...baby... KERRY NO! You don’t get to do that this time. EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE JERRY’S APARTMENT -SUNSET Unknown to Morse, little tendrils of energy, like fingers, caress and inch themselves back towards the burn mark where the first vampire stood. PITCHER Hey. HEY! Morse, MORSE-- MORSE SHUT UP! I’m working here. She dispatches the “last”creature. MORSE (cont’d) (panting, turns to Pitcher) What? The problem becomes obvious as she watches these sparking fingers coalesce back into a ball shape. At all the burn marks where she struck the creatures they are ALL beginning to reform. The first glows brighter and begins to shift, shaping itself back into human form. MORSE (cont’d) OH CRAP! START THE CAR,NOW!! She drops the empty weapon and races over to a nearby yard. A wooden shovel leans against a house. She snatches the shovel and runs back just as the first creature has reformed.It lunges at her, hissing with fury. MORSE (cont’d) PITCHER YOU DUMBASS NOW! START IT NOW! He is sitting in the back of the car fiddling with something as she swings the shovel at the creature. INT. JERRY’S APARTMENT -SUNSET KERRY I’m leaving. I‘ve had enough of this. JERRY WILL YOU SHUT UP! FOR JUST A SECOND! (beat) I have to tell you something important, for christ’s sake! I think you’re in danger. Kerry is stunned by his outburst. JERRY (cont’d) ...well? She begins to laugh, giggling at him. KERRY I wasn’t sure if you would take this seriously. (sighs) I am so tired of this Jerry. And I’m not to fight or cry or scream at you anymore. You’re just not worth it, you really aren’t. Jerry is speechless, unable to find the words or actions to stop her. JERRY Kerry, wait.. EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE JERRY’S APARTMENT -SUNSET Another vampire reforms atop the station wagon. It immediately leaps off the back, spins and stalks towards Pitcher, looking royally pissed off. Pitcher panics and yanks the wagon’s rear door shut, locking it. The vampire slams its fist through the glass sending Pitcher scrambling back over the boxes. Bouncing in his hands is some kind of remote control. MORSE PITCHER!!! Morse is stopped short as the vampire catches the shovel mid-swing. It roars and shoves hard against her, slamming her against the side of the station wagon hard enough to cob-web the glass. It holds the shovel handle across her throat pinning her against the car. She kicks, squirming just inches off the ground as she slowly chokes. MORSE (cont’d) (GURGLING) --pit--cher--- Pitcher is squealing within the car as another vampire reaches in through the broken driver side window. They swat at him, playing like cats play with mice. Pitcher flicks a switch on the remote eliciting a high pitched whine from one of the boxes. The remote looks like a radio-control for a toy car. Pitcher shoves a tiny throttle with his thumb, sending an RTC soaring out of a box through the shattered back window and into the street. Morse is beginning to blackout, spots dancing before her eyes. Her movements s become less urgent. The vampire cackles and leans in, wanting to see her life fade from her eyes-- Pitcher is still desperately trying to avoid the other vampires, half-leaning against a side window. The third vampire has snuck up behind him and makes to shatter that window-- The tiny car spins to a stop a few hundred feet away, hesitates and then speeds off back towards the station wagon-- The third vampire smashes his fists through the glass, one to each side of Pitcher’s head grabbing at him. He ducks only to be caught by the vampire leaning in the drivers side. Pitcher is yanked over the front seat as another vampire grabs his ankles-- --Morse is almost dead hanging limp by her bruising throat-- --the rtc is almost at the car, bouncing and ricketing over the pavement-- --Pitcher screams as the vampire grabs his head in both hands while the other tugs at his ankles, the both hoping to tear him apart. He jabs a big red button on the remote- - --as the rtc passes under the station wagon and explodes with a sharp crack, a bright flash and a puff of smoke. The vampires spasm all at once as an invisible wave of energy passes through them in a micro-second and scream. Pitcher and Morse are both unceremoniously dropped; Morse collapses like a sack of potatoes. The vampires seem to pulsate, much like when they have been staked but with an intensity of an order of magnitude greater than anything seen before. They implode with such ferocity it is as if they have turned inside out and then EXPLODE like a transformer shorting out, raining strangely colored sparks everywhere, sparks that fade even as they strike the ground. The station wagon’s headlights flash on its highbeams and then shatter. An overhead streetlamp flashes and shatters as well. All the house lights within the area flutter and go dark for a block in each
Copyright © 2001 Robin Taylor |