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(At Jam Pony) ALEC: Here you go, boss. One hot run delivered to Fifth and Maple, in a timely and courteous fashion, by yours truly. NORMAL: That's my rock star. MAX: Are you kidding me? One package? That's it? All day? ALEC: Quality, not quantity, Max. ORIGINAL CINDY: That's what all men tell themselves. Helps them sleep better at night. SKETCHY: Greetings, all y'all! Big news, my brothas. You are looking at the newest reporter for America's fastest-growing magazine. (Holds up a tabloid) ORIGINAL CINDY: New World Weekly? NORMAL: You're not reportin' anything on Jam Pony time, mister. SKETCHY: No worries, it's strictly freelance. I dropped my résumé off last month, and they finally called. Said they're willing to give a hungry young newshound a chance. ALEC: And what exactly are you gonna be doing for 'em, Sketch? SKETCHY: I'm gonna hunt down mutants in my spare time and immortalize their horrible, deformed faces for tabloid posterity. (Normal laughs.) MAX: That's just great. ALEC: Yeah. ORIGINAL CINDY: Except there are no mutants, and that rag is full of lies. SKETCHY: Wait 'til I get my first exclusive. In the meantime, everybody, drinks on me at Crash! (The employees cheer) (Max and Alec step away and speak privately.) MAX: This is not good. ALEC: No, no, I'm as worried about exposure as you are. MAX: I'd believe that if you covered your barcode better, Monty Cora. ALEC: Look, I seriously doubt White and his, uh, merry band of transgenic hunters get their tips from the New World Weekly. I mean, besides, this is Sketchy we're talking about. What are the chances he stumbles across an actual Manticore alum that's stupid enough to let him snap a shot? SKETCHY: Hey, guys. (Snaps a picture of them on his way out) MAX (to Alec): You were saying? (In Logan's apartment, the phone rings and he wheels over to answer it.) LOGAN: Yeah. VOICE: Logan? It's Wendy White. LOGAN: Wendy? Where are you? I've been trying to reach you, but your sister said that you were-- WENDY: I know. I--I talked to her. She said you were tracking down some leads on Ray? LOGAN: Yeah, I have nothing solid yet, but-- WENDY: I found him. LOGAN: What? WENDY: I found Ray. LOGAN: Is he with you? WENDY: No, but I know where my husband took him. You've gotta help me get him back. LOGAN: I will. But, Wendy, you have to promise me that you're not going to do anything until I get there, okay? I don't have to tell you how dangerous these people who took your son are, right? WENDY: Hurry, Logan. I think they're onto me. LOGAN: Okay, Wendy. Tell me where you are. WENDY: Even the policeman that I talked to-- LOGAN: Wendy, where are you? WENDY: A little town-- (White walks in the door.) WENDY: Oh, my God. LOGAN: Wendy? (White yanks the phone so the cord comes out of the wall.) LOGAN: Wendy? (Wendy picks up something heavy and hits White on the head with it. He doesn't flinch.) WHITE (without emotion): Ouch. (He smacks her hard and she lands on the bed.) WHITE: You shouldn't have come here. WENDY: I want my son. WHITE: He's not your son anymore. He's one of us. WENDY: Who are you people? What are you doing to him? WHITE: That is not your concern. We've protected ourselves for thousands of years. (Begins removing his tie) WENDY: Ames... WHITE: You should've left well enough alone. WENDY: Please... (White approaches her, wrapping the ends of his tie around his fists.) WHITE: I loved you, Wendy. You were chosen for me. But you should've forgotten about him...and you should've forgotten about me. (Wendy screams.) INTRODUCTION: They designed her to be the perfect soldier--a human weapon. Then she escaped. In a future not far from now, in a broken world, she is haunted by her past. She cannot run; she must fight to discover her destiny. (In his apartment, Logan is adjusting the exoskeleton, and Max enters with some containers of gasoline.) MAX: Hey. Only managed to score about five gallons. LOGAN: That should be enough to get us there. MAX: So you traced the call? LOGAN: She called from a town called Willoughby, which is located three hours south of here. Trying to pinpoint the address. MAX: Why is Wendy trying to track down Ray by herself? I mean, she knows how psycho White and his cult pals are. LOGAN: I can't even tell you how many times I've tried to tell her that. She's called me more than once with what turned out to be bogus leads. MAX: Think this might be another dead end? LOGAN: It occurred to me, until I heard someone bust in and the line went dead. (Logan's computer beeps and shows the following information:)
Address:
Telephone: LOGAN: Bingo. MAX: The address. LOGAN: Yup. Here we go. (At Jam Pony) NORMAL (not believing a word): Max is sick again? ORIGINAL CINDY: Up all night. I couldn't get her out of that bathroom. I think it's cholera. ALEC: Or diphtheria. NORMAL: Or maybe bubonic plague. ALEC (distracted): I hear that's been going around. NORMAL: Look, you want to cover her shift as well as your own, makes no never-mind to me. Happy riding. (He hands them some packages and walks away. Original Cindy tries to give some to Alec and he refuses. Sketchy approaches.) SKETCHY: Hey, is that going to sector three? Trade ya. ORIGINAL CINDY: Whatever. SKETCHY: I got a tip from the paper about a grotesque mutant living in the sewers over there. Maybe I'll get lucky and snap a shot. (Leaves) ORIGINAL CINDY: What do you think? ALEC: I think he'll slog around in the sewers for about an hour, come back empty-handed, tired, and smelling like garbage. (In the sewers, Sketchy is looking around with a flashlight. He sees a large shadow on the wall ahead. After gasping, he takes out his camera and snaps some pictures of the shadow. A moment later he is disappointed to discover the shadow was cast by a rat.) (In Logan's car, Max and Logan pull up outside a building in Willoughby.) LOGAN: Phone number's listed to this hotel. MAX: Which room did she call from, though? LOGAN: Records didn't break it down that far. MAX: Well, let's go check it out. LOGAN: Wendy said she had the feeling someone was onto her. We don't want to tip the wrong person we're looking for her. MAX: Well, that kinda makes things tough. LOGAN: Watch and learn. (Max and Logan enter the hotel lobby, suitcases in hand, and approach the front desk.) DESK CLERK: Morning. LOGAN: Morning. Uh, we're here with the Connor party. DESK CLERK (checking the computer and not finding a reservation): Connor party? LOGAN: Hunting weekend. Booked two rooms. DESK CLERK: No, I'm sorry. Is it under another name? LOGAN: You know, maybe Bill's girlfriend used her name to check in. Uh...try...(Chuckles sheepishly)...I can't remember her name. I only met her that once. Oh, God, this is embarrassing. Um, maybe if I just take a look, it might jog my memory. DESK CLERK: It's okay. We've got a couple extra vacancies, so... LOGAN: Oh, great! Well, then, we'll take a room. DESK CLERK: Okay. Well, just fill that out. (Hands him a form) LOGAN: Hate it when that happens. Right on the tip of your tongue, and... DESK CLERK (smiling): Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know the feeling. Why don't you go ahead and take a look? (Turns the computer monitor toward Logan) LOGAN: Ah, thanks, I appreciate it. (To Max, after checking the screen) I don't see anything. Do you? (She takes a look. He points to the screen's calendar. There are no reservations for that week.) LOGAN: Wow. Pretty quiet week. DESK CLERK: Yeah, it's mostly a weekend sort of place. Folks hunting, like yourselves. LOGAN: Huh. MAX (abruptly): So nobody? All week? (Logan gives her a look. The desk clerk suddenly looks wary.) DESK CLERK: That's, uh, that's what it says. LOGAN (handing him the form): Here you go. DESK CLERK: Yeah. You're in, uh, 203. Back stairs. LOGAN: Thanks. DESK CLER: Have a nice stay. (Upstairs, Max and Logan walk down the hallway.) LOGAN: I said "Watch and learn," not "Watch and tip the guy off." MAX: I was just trying to make sure. Think he's one of White's fellow travelers? What did he call them--Familiars? LOGAN: Maybe. (Dials his cell phone) Reception in this town is terrible, but there we go, it's ringing. You hear anything? MAX: Not yet. (Max slowly walks down the hallway, stopping when she hears a phone ringing from inside one of the rooms. Logan hangs up, the room's phone stops ringing, and Max picks the lock on the door. They enter the room and look around.) LOGAN: New strikeplate. Fresh coat of paint. MAX: Huh. Looks like a new phone jack. LOGAN: Somebody went out of their way to make it look like nothing happened here. (Max opens a small refrigerator, removes a can, and glances at the price list lying on the fridge.) MAX: Ten bucks for a soda?! LOGAN: Honor bar prices. They'll gouge you any way they can. MAX: No honor in a broken world. (Opening the can, she picks up a roll of film that was in the fridge.) MAX: Oh, look what I found. LOGAN: Best place to keep film until you're ready to develop it. MAX: Think it's Wendy's? LOGAN: Let's find out. Nice work. MAX: I watch, I learn, I steal sodas. (In the sewer, Sketchy is still looking around. He rounds a corner and several men suddenly point guns at him.) MAN: Freeze! What the hell are you doing here? SKETCHY: Uh... SECOND MAN (pointing behind Sketchy): There he is! (The men run past Sketchy and chase another man, who is climbing a ladder out of the sewer.) FIRST MAN (into a microphone on his collar): Subject is headed for daylight. Repeat--subject is headed for daylight. (Above ground, White is in a car with Otto.) WHITE: Damn it. (Into a radio) All units form a perimeter above ground. FIRST MAN: Go! Go! (The men climb the ladder and leave the sewer. A short distance behind, Sketchy follows.) (Above ground, a man--clearly a Manticore escapee--runs through a market area, chased by the other men. Sketchy follows. The man being chased approaches a street, but turns back when White pulls up and gets out of the car.) FIRST MAN: Freeze! (The man being chased is cornered, and the other men take aim at him. Sketchy arrives, hides, and begins taking pictures. The men in suits use tasers on the Manticore escapee. He tries to fend them off, but eventually they bring him down.) WHITE: Get these people out of here. SECOND MAN (to the gathering crowd): All right, let's move it back. FIRST MAN: All right, let's go. Move back. SECOND MAN: There's nothing to see here. WHITE: Put a sheet over its ugly head. Get it to HQ, ASAP. (At a convenience store, a clerk is showing Max and Logan how to use a photo-developing machine.) CLERK: Just takes a few minutes. And, uh, the photos, they come out right here. LOGAN: Great. Thanks. (A sheriff enters the store and approaches them.) SHERIFF: Afternoon. Uh, you folks staying at the hotel? LOGAN: Yeah. SHERIFF: Yeah, I heard we had visitors. Welcome. MAX: Just passing through. SHERIFF: Well, you enjoy your stay. (The sheriff walks away to return a video. Max and Logan look at the photos as they develop. Most of the photos are of a large building.) MAX: What's that? LOGAN: Don't know. (They glance out the window to see a group of uniformed kids walking down the street.) LOGAN: School uniforms. (Looking back at the pictures) Could be a prep school nearby. Place looks pretty posh...must be exclusive. (In one of the pictures, a boy peers out a window.) MAX: That's Ray. LOGAN: White must have stashed him here so Wendy couldn't find him. (The sheriff approaches from behind, surprising them.) SHERIFF: You folks have a kid up at Brookridge? LOGAN: Yeah. MAX (at same time): No. (They laugh awkwardly. The sheriff doesn't.) LOGAN: Uh, we're, uh, we just happened to drive by, and we happened to see it, and we just thought that it looked like the kind of place that we might send our kids someday. MAX: If we could afford it. LOGAN: Right. SHERIFF: Just happened to see it, huh? 'Cause it's nowhere near the roads. I mean, you've gotta, you know, pull right up to the gate. LOGAN: Right. Well, I took a wrong turn. MAX: I gave him bad directions. LOGAN: She had the map. (To the clerk) Anyway, thanks. CLERK: Yeah, take care. LOGAN: Bye. (He and Max turn to leave) SHERIFF: Hey! (They turn back, looking worried. The sheriff removes one last photo from the machine.) SHERIFF: Forgot one. MAX (taking it): Thank you. (Max and Logan leave the store. The sheriff follows them out and watches them walk down the street.) LOGAN: Keep walking, act natural, we're just passing through. (They step aside to let the uniformed boys and girls walk by. Max exchanges a glance with one of the boys, who looks at her strangely.) MAX (after the kids have passed): I'm starting to get the funny feeling this isn't your average boarding school for rich kids with disciplinary problems. LOGAN: Think maybe it's the breeding cult's version of Manticore? MAX: If so, then Willoughby's Cult Central and we don't know who's involved. Sheriff...hotel clerk... LOGAN: Let's get Wendy and Ray and get out of here. MAX: Works for me. (At their headquarters, White and Otto are talking about the Manticore escapee, who is chained to a wall.) OTTO: We're thinking he was probably designed to be some kind of worker drone. Good for hauling equipment, digging fossils, that kind of thing. WHITE: It talk? ESCAPEE: Talk...I can talk. WHITE: Good. Then you'll understand what I'm about to say. (To Otto) Give it a last meal; we don't want to be accused of being inhospitable. Ship it out in tomorrow's transport. The boys in Forensics can take it apart at their leisure. OTTO: Yes, sir. (White and Otto leave the room) OTTO: On another matter, sir, we may have a situation. The team came across a kid down in the sewers right before the damn thing broke for the street. He had a camera. May have gotten off a couple of shots. WHITE: Terrific. (White's cell phone rings) WHITE (into phone): White. Yes, sir. Of course, but can it wait 'til tomorrow? I've got a family situa-- (His jaw tightens) Very good, sir. I'll be there. (He hangs up.) WHITE: That was the Director. He wants to meet to talk about today's little snafu. I do not want to have to tell him that on top of everything else, we have a kid running around with photographs of the takedown. OTTO: We do have a lead. One of the men remembers that he was wearing a backpack with some kind of company logo on it. WHITE: Find him, find out what he knows, get rid of the film. OTTO: Yes, sir. WHITE: And if he knows too much, get rid of him. (Checks his watch) Damn it. I'm supposed to have seen my kid today. I'll be lucky if I get out of town before rush hour. (At Jam Pony, Sketchy runs in and joins Alec and Original Cindy, who are eating lunch.) ORIGINAL CINDY: What's up? Looks like you ran all the way from sector three. (Makes a face) And you smell like it, too. SKETCHY: You guys will not believe what I just saw. A mutant. A real, live miscreation of science, and I've got the photographic proof. (Holds up his camera) ALEC: Well, why don't you, uh, take a load off and tell us all about it? (Alec takes the camera and hands it to Original Cindy. Sketchy sits down and starts talking. He doesn't notice Original Cindy turn away briefly and open the back of the camera, exposing the film to light.) SKETCHY: Okay. So I'm trolling the area, looking for the mutant. I come across this military action in progress. They had the fiend trapped in an alley. You should have seen him, dude. Wait, what am I saying? You're gonna see it as soon as I get the film developed. ALEC: That's right. I can't wait. ORIGINAL CINDY (handing Sketchy his camera): Here. Wouldn't want that falling into the wrong hands. SKETCHY: Thanks, O.C. I'm gonna take this to the paper right after lunch. (Leaves) ORIGINAL CINDY: Poor little white boy. He was excited about that story, too. ALEC: Had to be done. Thanks. ORIGINAL CINDY: I did it for Max. But you're welcome. (At the harbor, a man who is presumably the Director talks to White.) DIRECTOR: What were you thinking, chasing a Manticore escapee into broad daylight? WHITE: It posed a clear and present danger to the public, sir. DIRECTOR: If your men couldn't make the capture under wraps, they should've let it go, not flush the damn thing into the street where everybody could see it. WHITE: Perhaps I should've waited until it ate somebody's child, sir. DIRECTOR: You are out of line, Agent White. WHITE: With respect, what's out of line is how this entire operation is being handled. We're understaffed and underfunded. DIRECTOR: Your funding is off the books. We can't risk diverting any more without raising some eyebrows. WHITE: Well, I thought that my job was to capture transgenics, not to cover somebody's ass. DIRECTOR: If it got out that billions of tax dollars were diverted to a secret government program to build transgenic soldiers, well, that would be bad enough. But if it got out that millions more were being diverted to catch the damn things because they got away, it would be a disaster. Damn it, Ames. It could bring down the Committee itself. Bottom line: I don't care what you do with these transgenics. Catch them, kill them, let them skulk around the sewer to their hearts' content. You just keep them off the nightly news. (The director leaves. White's cell phone rings.) WHITE (into phone): Yeah. Hi, Ray. How's my big man? Well, I can't, you know? You know the parents aren't allowed to be there until it's finished. But don't worry. It's gonna be just fine. You just do like you practiced, right? And I'll see you soon. I love you too. Okay. Bye. (In Logan's car, Max and Logan pull up to the driveway of the school.) LOGAN: Ready? MAX: Watch and learn. LOGAN: If you're not out of there in an hour, I'm coming in after you. MAX: Damn right you are. (She gets out of the car and heads for the building. He drives up to the door, where a uniformed guard stands watch. Logan pulls out a map and hides a gun under it.) GUARD: Can I help you? LOGAN: Hey. Yeah, I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. I'm looking for, uh, county road four? (While the guard is distracted, Max sneaks up to the building and begins climbing the wall.) GUARD: Sure thing. Go back the way you came. Make a left at the drive. About six or seven miles you'll hit a light. Make another left... LOGAN: Left? GUARD: It's your first right. LOGAN: Maybe I should write this down. You got a pen? (The guard checks his pockets. Logan sees that Max has reached a ledge.) GUARD: Not on me. Let me get one. LOGAN: Uh...that's all right. I think I can remember. Thanks. (Drives away) (Max crawls in an open window into a bedroom. A boy is sleeping in one of the two beds. Max notices a book on the nightstand. The book has a symbol on the cover. She opens the book; the words "Raymond White" are handwritten inside the cover. The rest of the book consists of hieroglyphic-like symbols. A gong sounds in the distance. Max quietly follows the sound downstairs. She sees some cloaked figures, carrying candles, headed for the basement. She follows. In the basement, the cloaked figures put on white and brown makeup and approach an altar. There stands a priestess, wearing makeup but no cloak, and flanked by two people in cloaks. Max watches, hiding behind a curtain.) PRIESTESS: Adara mo'ke tali. Konoss rehu jek. Hiif polna menos kori. Konoss rehu jek. Kariff mo'ss! OTHER PEOPLE (in unison): Miisru eh-nu. PRIESTESS: Kariff daah. OTHER PEOPLE: Miis'ru koss. (A cloaked man sounds the gong and the other people kneel. Ray White, not wearing a cloak, is escorted into the room.) PRIESTESS: Kan'dara mo'ss re'kali. OTHER PEOPLE: Mo'ss re'kali, ken'da hiif. PRIESTESS: Kon'ta ress. (The other people rise. Two men carry a large wooden chest to the altar and open it. The priestess lifts out a pair of live snakes.) PRIESTESS: Kariff mo'ss, miis'ru eh-nu. Kariff daah, miis'ru koss. Miis'toka ben tahari filus par'ri ben'ta koss. (The priestess hands one snake to an older, cloaked priestess standing nearby. We see that one of the cloaked people is the boy with whom Max exchanged glances on the street.) YOUNGER PRIESTESS: Mis'rah hek. OLDER PRIESTESS: Mis'ra'kahi fe'nos tol. OTHER PEOPLE: Fe'nos tol. (The younger priestess sets the snake down on the altar. A man hands her an ornate dagger. The older priestess escorts Ray to the altar.) YOUNGER PRIESTESS: Kiv'sa pol...tu'ri kom'sa....konoss rehu jek. (The younger priestess uses the dagger to slice off the snake's head. She drains the blood into a chalice and hands the snake to a man standing nearby. She dips the bottom of the dagger's handle into the blood and looks at Ray. Max restrains herself from rushing forward in alarm. Ray rolls up his sleeve.) RAY: Kan'dara mo'ss re'kali. YOUNGER PRIESTESS: Konoss rehu jek. (She presses the bottom of the dagger's handle onto Ray's forearm.) YOUNGER PRIESTESS: Kan'dara mo'ss re'kali. Mo'ss re'kali, ken'da hiif! (Ray raises his arm. It has been branded with the same symbol that was on the book's cover.) OTHER PEOPLE: Mo'ss re'kali, ken'da hiif. (The boy Max saw on the street turns to look at the curtain. The curtain moves aside, revealing Max. Max rushes the altar. The younger priestess tries to get her with the dagger, but Max blocks it. The bottom of the dagger's handle presses into her gloved hand for a moment. The older priestess shields Ray. Max punches the younger priestess and kicks a cloaked man, but some of the other people take her down.) (Outside, in the car, Logan checks his watch.) LOGAN: Damn it. (He prepares his gun, gets out of the car, and approaches some bushes near the school. He stands there for a moment, looking at the building. The sheriff suddenly points a gun at Logan's head from behind.) SHERIFF: Just passing through, huh? (Logan slowly turns around and raises his hands in surrender. The sheriff takes Logan's gun.) (Alone in a car, White speaks on his cell phone to the older priestess while he drives. She is watching over Ray, who is unconscious.) WHITE: Yeah, I'll be there soon. How's Ray? PRIESTESS: It's too soon to tell. But the symptoms have come fast. WHITE: I see. PRIESTESS: We had an incident involving one of the transgenics. WHITE: What? PRIESTESS: She tried to stop the ceremony and take Ray. WHITE: 452. PRIESTESS: We have her. She was cut with the kariff. It should take effect on her soon. WHITE: I'll be there in an hour. Fe'nos tol. PRIESTESS: Fe'nos tol. (Max wakes up in a supply room, caged behind a wire wall. The older priestess and the boy Max saw on the street enter the room, on the other side of the wire. Max sees a tear in her glove and removes it to find that her palm has been branded with the symbol.) PRIESTESS: Does it hurt? MAX: Yeah, except I want my money back. I asked for the heart with the dagger through it. PRIESTESS: Why did you come here? Did she send you, the Mother? If you're trying to protect her, don't bother. It's too late for that. MAX: What are you doing with Ray? PRIESTESS: What is necessary. MAX: Could you be a little more specific? 'Cause I left my copy of Wacky Cult Rituals for Dummies at home. PRIESTESS: Ray is proving himself. MAX: Oh, really? Well, I'd like to see you prove yourself. PRIESTESS: I have. (Rolls up her sleeve to reveal the brand on her forearm) We all have. MAX: Yippee. So, uh, after you pass the sacred snake blood test, what do you get? A lollipop? PRIESTESS: You shouldn't have interfered. MAX: Sorry I spoiled the party. PRIESTESS: You will be sorry...soon enough. (At Jam Pony, Otto enters with two other men in suits. Normal calls out without looking up from his Chinese food.) NORMAL: We're closed. Come back tomorrow. OTTO (flashing his badge): Special Agent Otto Gottlieb, NSA. I'd like to ask you a few questions. (Normal looks up and quickly puts away the food.) NORMAL: Hey, sorry. Didn't realize that, uh...I mean, you know, I never expected, uh...(Takes a deep breath and salutes briefly)...Whatever. Reagan Ronald, proud American, at your service, sir. OTTO: You run this place? NORMAL: Yes, as best I can, sir. OTTO: We're looking for one of your messengers. Male, early twenties, long hair, ratty clothes. NORMAL: Uh, tragically, sir, you've just described every young man in my employ. OTTO: He had a camera. NORMAL: Calvin Simon Theodore, a.k.a. Sketchy. Six foot, roughly 180 pounds, smells vaguely of rotten fruit. What'd he do? OTTO: That's classified. NORMAL: Got it. OTTO: Just tell us where we can find him. NORMAL: Uh, Crash. 1313 Euclid. It's a bar. He and his fellow reprobates go there after work to drink themselves into stupors. (Otto and the other men leave.) NORMAL: Glad I could help. (At Crash, Sketchy is sitting at a table with Original Cindy and Alec. He is depressed and looking at his photos, which are nothing but black.) SKETCHY: Dude, I just don't...I don't get it. ALEC: Well, maybe you left the lens cap on. ORIGINAL CINDY: Or loaded the film in backwards. SKETCHY: Yeah, maybe I'm just a loser who can't do anything right. That's what my editor thinks. ALEC: These things happen, Sketch. Don't be so hard on yourself. ORIGINAL CINDY: It just wasn't meant to be, that's all. ALEC: I mean, come on. You really think you saw an honest-to-God mutant? You know how these tabloid things work. Slap a photo of a weather balloon on the cover and call it an alien invasion. ORIGINAL CINDY: Or a shot of a guy in a Halloween mask and say that there's monsters on the loose. ALEC: Sketch, they make this stuff up. SKETCHY: Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just...I really wanted to believe it, man. You know? My life's not that interesting, Alec. I'm a bike messenger. ALEC: We're all bike messengers. SKETCHY: Yeah, but with you and Max and O.C., it's like it's not all you are. If the mutant stories were true, then life would be more interesting, and as a reporter bringing that story to the world, then I would be more interesting. But I am what I am...a bike messenger. ORIGINAL CINDY: It's not true, Sketchy. SKETCHY: Well, it feels true. (Standing up unsteadily) All right, thanks, you guys. I'll go home now and puke. (Walks away) ORIGINAL CINDY: Tell me again how that had to be done. ALEC: Had to be done. (Sketchy is about to walk into the men's room when Otto stops him.) OTTO: Calvin Theodore, you're coming with us. (Sketchy throws up on Otto's shoes.) (In the jail, Logan is behind bars, talking to the sheriff.) LOGAN: I've got a permit for the gun. It's in my car. SHERIFF: Look, I don't care about the permit. I'm interested in what you were doing up at the school. This is about the boy, isn't it? The one in the picture? What do you think you're going to do--take him? LOGAN: You got it all wrong. SHERIFF: Do I? (Logan nods) Look, I make it my business to take care of that school and everybody in it. I'm going to ask you one more time: What were you doing up there? (In the supply room, the boy is watching Max through the wire.) MAX: What are you lookin' at, you little freak? BOY: You. How do you feel? MAX: What do you care? BOY: It should've started by now. It's started with Ray. MAX: What's started? Is he okay? BOY: If he's one of us, he'll live. MAX: If he's sick, you should get a doctor. BOY: If he's not meant to survive, no one can help him. (Max looks down at the brand showing through the rip in her glove.) MAX: It's getting hot in here. Can you turn down the heat? BOY: It's begun. MAX: What's begun? BOY: That's why I'm here. To watch. MAX: Watch what? BOY: Watch you die. (Otto and one of his men take Sketchy, who is blindfolded and handcuffed, to headquarters. They shove him into a chair, remove the blindfold, and interrogate him.) SKETCHY: Whoa, man, I said I'm sorry about the shoes. OTTO: What were you doing down in that sewer? SKETCHY: I was on assignment. I work for a newspaper. OTTO: You had a camera. I want that film. SKETCHY: Yeah, man, the pictures didn't come out. OTTO: You expect me to believe that? SKETCHY: What can I say, man? I screwed up. I'm bummed about it too. Woulda made great copy. OTTO: What would've? What did you see? SKETCHY: Some loser in a Halloween mask. I don't know. OTTO: What paper is it exactly that you work for? SKETCHY: New World Weekly. OTHER MAN (relieved): It's a tabloid. SKETCHY: Yeah, you know, you get a picture of a weather balloon, the aliens are coming. OTTO: Some kid pulls a holdup wearing a Halloween mask... SKETCHY: ...mutants are on the loose. Man, I would've had a cover if I hadn't messed up the film. Look, dude, I'll totally score you a new pair of shoes, all right? (Otto and the other man step away to talk privately.) SECOND MAN: What do you think? OTTO: He doesn't know anything. Let him go. (At the jail) LOGAN: There's something going on at that school. Something dangerous. SHERIFF: What are you talking about? LOGAN: Haven't you ever noticed anything strange about those people up there? SHERIFF: What is this? Are you involved in some kind of custody dispute over that kid in the picture? LOGAN: Come on, you're a cop! It's your job to notice things! You haven't noticed anything unusual about that school? About those kids? SHERIFF: Maybe. LOGAN: Then hear me out. (In the supply room, Max is lying weakly on the floor.) MAX: It was something in the blood. (Coughs) I'm so thirsty. I need water. BOY: It won't do any good. MAX: I'm going to die anyway. Please? (White enters the school's basement and goes to Ray, who is still unconscious.) WHITE (whispering tenderly): Miis'toka ben tahari filus par'ri ben'ta koss. (One of the men who was at the ceremony touches White on the shoulder. White turns around and sees who it is.) WHITE: I didn't know you would be here. I'm honored. (Looking at Ray) How is he? PRIESTESS: He's weak. I'd be surprised if he survives. MAN: I am sorry, Ames. But we all have our destiny. WHITE: Ray...(Caressing him)...He's my only son. MAN: This is how it's always been for us. PRIESTESS: You said you had some business with 452. I'll call you if there's any change. (White gives Ray a kiss and then leaves.) (In the supply room) MAX: Please. (The boy prepares a glass of water for Max and unlocks the door in the wire to give it to her. Max runs past him.) BOY: Stop! (Max stops in her tracks. The boy turns to look at her and she is flung against the wall.) BOY: I said stop. (Max struggles, but can't move away from the wall. The boy lifts her up with just a look, until she is hanging in midair.) BOY: You were just pretending to be sick. (Max struggles.) Want me to put you down? MAX: Depends. If you hold me up here long enough, will your head explode? (Max drops to the ground. She starts to rush at him, but she is pushed against the wall again.) BOY: You can't win. MAX: Really? Not even if I do this? (She lifts her shirt and flashes him. He blinks, stunned, and Max takes the opportunity to kick him to the ground.) MAX: Made you look. (Max runs out of the supply room. A person wearing a cloak walks down a hallway as Max watches. Moments later, Max enters the basement, wearing the cloak and passing White, who is on his way upstairs. She enters the area where Ray is lying, still unconscious. Max chokes the older priestess until the priestess passes out.) MAX: Sweet dreams, bitch. (White enters the supply room with his gun drawn, finds the boy lying unconscious, and runs to Ray's bed. Ray is gone.) (Max carries Ray outside. White runs after her and draws his gun.) WHITE: Not another step! (Max stops and turns around.) WHITE: Put him down. MAX: You want to shoot me through your own son? WHITE: Put him down. (The sheriff and Logan pull up in the sheriff's SUV, siren wailing. The sheriff gets out, stands by the open driver's-side door, and points a gun at White. While White is distracted, Max slips into the bushes.) SHERIFF: Drop your gun. Keep your hands where I can see 'em. (White fires. The glass in the door window shatters and the sheriff falls to the ground with a grunt. White turns to aim at Max again, but she is gone. Logan climbs over to the driver's side of the car and runs White down.) LOGAN: Max, hurry! (Max puts Ray into the car and gets in herself. White sits up. Logan backs up until they reach the sheriff, who saw what happened to White.) LOGAN: Get in, sheriff. Get in! (White stands up. The sheriff gets in. White reaches his gun and fires in vain at the retreating SUV.) (At Jam Pony) NORMAL: Well, I expect the long arm of the law has given you a sound and deserved thrashing. SKETCHY: You tipped those goons I was at Crash? NORMAL: That I did. Whatever they suspected you of, I'm quite certain you were guilty. Hot run, Ninth and Grand. (Normal hands him a package and Sketchy walks away.) ALEC: Dude, pal, you okay? SKETCHY: Yeah. The weirdest thing happened to me last night. Some government suits grabbed me up, took me to their secret headquarters. Wanted to know what I saw in that sewer. ORIGINAL CINDY: What'd you tell 'em? SKETCHY: I saw some dude in a Halloween mask. Then they let me go. ALEC: Good man. SKETCHY: But then I started thinking. ALEC: Thinking? ORIGINAL CINDY: What do you mean, thinking? SKETCHY: Well, if they were that spun about what I might have seen, then maybe I actually saw something. ALEC: Yeah, a guy in a mask. SKETCHY: Yeah, right. Use your head, dude. Like the government needs to cover up the existence of guys in costumes? I don't think so. They nabbed me 'cause they got something to hide. The truth is out there, people. The mutants exist, and I'm gonna prove it. (Leaves) ALEC: Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. ORIGINAL CINDY: No, it did not. ALEC: Of course, the important question is, who gets to tell Max? (At the school, White talks to the priestess and the man who had been with them earlier. All three are wearing regular clothes and no makeup.) MAN: She was exposed. She not only survived--she didn't even show symptoms. How is that possible? WHITE: Sandeman. His work at Manticore must have progressed further than we thought. MAN: We need to find out if the other transgenics are immune as well. WHITE: I'll deal with the other transgenics, and I'll deal with 452. But I have to find out what happened to Ray. PRIESTESS: Ames... WHITE: It's possible he survived. PRIESTESS: Possible, but doubtful. WHITE: I need to know. I have to be sure. MAN: Do whatever you have to do. You just find out what the hell is going on. This could jeopardize everything we've worked towards. (They walk out of the school, passing the boy, who is standing just outside the door.) PRIESTESS: It's a shame we have to leave this place after all this time. MAN: It can't be helped. We'll find somewhere else. (To the boy) Samuel. (The boy turns and looks at the door, and it closes.) (At headquarters, White walks into the room where the Manticore escapee is being held. White sets down a briefcase and pulls out a pocket knife.) WHITE: Don't worry, this isn't gonna hurt. But, with any luck, it'll kill you. (He opens the briefcase to reveal a live snake.) (At Logan's apartment, Ray is lying asleep or unconscious on the couch as Max sits with him. Logan joins them, hanging up his cell phone.) LOGAN: That was Sam Carr at the hospital. Ray's bloodwork came back. He's going to be fine. MAX: Doc have any idea what they exposed him to? LOGAN: Some kind of pathogen or viral agent he's never seen before. MAX: Those snakes must be carriers, hosts for whatever bug it is. LOGAN: Well, whatever it is, kid's immune system kicked in with the right antibodies. MAX: That nutcase priestess bitch said he had to prove himself, like this was some kind of test to see if he would survive. If he didn't, he wasn't one of them. LOGAN: You were exposed. You didn't get sick. MAX (holding up her bandaged hand): Guess that makes me an honorary member. LOGAN: Congratulations. MAX: Think if I concentrated hard enough, I could make stuff fly around the room? LOGAN: I wouldn't count on it. My guess would be that the, uh, kid that went all Poltergeist on you was part of some kind of special breeding line. MAX: Make you wonder what other tricks they have up their sleeves. (Looking at Ray) Poor kid. Mom's gone...dad's a freak...Not exactly the storybook ending we were hoping for. LOGAN: Well, at least we got him away from those people. That's what Wendy wanted. Oh, I talked to her sister, by the way. She's on her way down. Made arrangements to get her and Ray on a plane, as far away from White as I can . (Ray wakes up.) MAX: Hey, Ray. How you feeling? RAY: Okay. Did I pass? Am I strong? MAX: You did fine. LOGAN: What do you need to be strong for, Ray? RAY: For the Coming. LOGAN: The Coming? What's that? RAY: Nobody ever told me yet, 'cept it's bad if you're not one of us. (Ray looks at his forearm, which has been bandaged. Fade out as Max and Logan exchange glances.)
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