(On a Seattle street, a couple of police are guarding a gasoline truck. Max and Sketchy are among the people waiting in line to fill cars and containers with gas.)

SKETCHY: It’s gonna run out before they get to us.

MAX: Will you stop?

SKETCHY: I really need new shoes, man.

MAX: Uh, Sketchy, this line’s for gas.

SKETCHY: I know. Sky said if I score him a couple gallons of premium, he’d give me a pair of bike tires. Hey, no cutting!

MAX: I thought you wanted shoes.

SKETCHY: Sky doesn’t have shoes. Herbal has shoes.

MAX: So you’re gonna trade him the tires for the shoes?

SKETCHY: Herbal doesn’t need tires. He needs a waffle iron for his lady. Original Cindy needs tires.

MAX: And Original Cindy has a waffle iron?

(They sit down on the bed of the pickup truck in front of them in line.)

SKETCHY: No, Normal has a waffle iron. He’s gonna swap Original Cindy for some lingerie so she can give it to Herbal for the tires Sky’s giving me for the gas, which is how I’m getting my shoes.

MAX: Nice. What does Normal want with lingerie?

SKETCHY: I’m a businessman. I don’t ask questions.

(The truck they’re sitting on pulls away. They stand up and watch it drive off.)

SKETCHY: Don’t you wish sometimes you could just get the hell outta here for a couple days?

MAX (smiling): Reason why I’m standing in line.

(As a cop leads a man down some steps in handcuffs, we see Matt Sung sitting in his car, talking to Logan on his cell phone.)

LOGAN: Hey, it’s Logan. I need your help with something, Matt. Remember those protesters that went missing back when the city first imposed martial law?

MATT: Rumor was they were disappeared by a police death squad.

LOGAN: I think I can prove it.

(We see Logan wheeling around his apartment as he talks on the phone, eventually ending up at the computer.)

LOGAN: I got a tip about one of the cops on the scene. Partner tried to step forward about what happened. Partner turned up dead…guy took off. He’s been laying low in a little town up the coast ever since.

MATT: You think he’s willing to talk?

LOGAN: Think you could score me a sector pass so I can get out of the city and find out?

MATT: Sector police have really clamped down since the New Year’s riots. No one gets in or out of the city without a Class One pass, and even I can’t get a hold of one of those.

LOGAN (sighing): Right.

MATT: I know you’re not gonna just give up on this. But do me a favor…be careful.

LOGAN: You got it.

(Logan ends the call and turns around to find Max standing behind him, holding up the gas container and grinning.)

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Hey. Where you going?

MAX: “We,” remember? (She sets down the gas container and a bag) The dizzying heights…fresh country air…hiking in the Cascades…We talked about it last week!

LOGAN: You might’ve noticed there’ve been some changes since then. Unless you’re planning to roll me off Mount Rainier, you might want to reconsider.

MAX: What? You’re back in the chair so you can’t have a life anymore?

LOGAN: No, but I can’t exactly scale mountains now, can I?

MAX: Forget about the dizzying heights. What about the country air? Campfires…S’mores.

LOGAN: I got work to do.

MAX (angrily): And I spent the entire morning waiting in line for gas.

LOGAN: You can’t get out of the city anyway. Not without—

(Max holds out two laminated cards.)

LOGAN: —sector passes.

(He reaches for them and Max yanks them away.)

MAX: Class One, VIP, no-questions-asked sector passes. I had to hang upside-down outside the window for an hour to swipe these from police headquarters. I almost horked, I got so nauseous, and I hate horking. You’re not bailing on me.

LOGAN: Who said anything about bailing?

(She looks at him and he smiles.)

(Later, Logan and Max are in the car. Max checks a map.)

MAX: I don’t mean to bruise your delicate male ego, but your uncle’s cabin is back that way.

LOGAN: Oh, didn’t I tell you? It’s, uh, being fumigated for termites. It’s all tented up.

MAX: So? We’ll un-tent it.

LOGAN: Ever hear of a town called Cape Haven? It’s a little resort community. Passed through it once when I was a kid. Really charming.

MAX: Your uncle’s cabin’s pretty damn charming, as I recall, not to mention free.

LOGAN: It’s rented out. Didn’t I just tell you that?

MAX: You just told me it was tented for termites.

LOGAN: Whatever. You’re really gonna love this place, though. Perfect vacation spot.

MAX: Long as I get my S’mores.

(They pass a sign that says “Welcome to Cape Haven—Leave your worries behind!”)

LOGAN: I remember this hotel. Enormous swimming pool, high dive. My parents—

(They slow down as they approach several civilian men with guns, guarding the main road to town.)

MAX: This hotel…did it have valet parking, by any chance?

(Logan idles the car and rolls down the window. A man listed in the credits as Deputy Hallahan talks to them.)

HALLAHAN: Where you headed?

LOGAN: Into town.

HALLAHAN: If you’re looking for work, there isn’t any.

MAX: I’ve got a question for you. Can I see your badge?

HALLAHAN: No badge. We’re out here ’cause we don’t want any trouble.

LOGAN: No, we’re just here for the weekend.

HALLAHAN: Curfew’s 10:00. After that, you’d be advised to stay off the streets.

LOGAN: Got it.

HALLAHAN: Welcome to Cape Haven.

(Logan rolls up the window and drives on, as Max rolls her eyes.)

MAX: …where the men are men and the tourists are afraid. (Laughs) What was his deal?

LOGAN (chuckling): Ah, you remember what it was like after the Pulse hit. Places like this were overrun by people trying to get out of the cities. They were desperate…starving.

MAX: I figured things wouldn’t be that bad out here.

LOGAN: A nuclear burst fries all the computers and satellites, turns the Information Age into the Stone Age overnight, doesn’t mean you can’t still fish or farm or whatever. They had to keep people out. Places like this would’ve been mobbed.

MAX: He was just hassling us ’cause he was bored. Don’t they realize people wanna leave the city to get away from martial law and pretend the Pulse never happened?

LOGAN: Easier said than done.

(They pass a building with a clock on it that says 12:05.)

MAX: Twelve-oh-five.

LOGAN: June first, 2009. Time the Pulse hit.

(They pull up to an old one-story house that has peeling paint and a covered porch with steps. They get out of the car and a woman comes to greet them.)

LOGAN: Are you Trudy?

TRUDY (surprised): Mr. Cale. Uh, come on around. Through the kitchen.

(As they head for the house, Max notices a boy of about twelve or thirteen watching them from a window.)

(Trudy opens a side door, and they enter and look around. The main room is a kitchen/dining room. A few steps lead down to a coffee table, a fireplace, and the front door.)

MAX (smiling): Nice.

TRUDY (giving them the tour): Um…stove’s gas. So’s the hot-water heater. If you could just turn it on when you need it...propane’s hard to come by these days.

MAX: No problem.

TRUDY: Fireplace works. You can use the cuttin’ stump outside if you need m—Oh, the steps. I’ll get a carpenter to put a ramp down in the morning.

LOGAN: Great.

(Trudy leads them down the hall. Max notices the boy watching them from the porch, through the screen door.)

TRUDY (gesturing): Bathroom’s through that door.

(She arrives at a bedroom, and they peer inside.)

TRUDY: Master bedroom.

MAX AND LOGAN: Where’s the guest bedroom?

(She looks at them.)

MAX AND LOGAN: I snore.

TRUDY (gesturing): Guest room’s through there.

(They turn and see the boy watching them from the guest bedroom.)

LOGAN: Hi.

(The boy doesn’t respond. The others go back to the kitchen.)

TRUDY: We didn’t turn it down. I’ll get Sage to come back with some linens.

LOGAN: Now, where’s the phone?

TRUDY: There isn’t one. Sorry.

LOGAN: Because my cell can’t get a signal and I…(Max catches his eye)…I, uh…I need a phone.

TRUDY: There’s a pay phone back in town.

LOGAN: Great.

TRUDY: If it’s not a problem…would you mind…?

LOGAN: Oh! Yeah. Sorry. (Takes some cash from his jacket pocket and hands it to Trudy) Here you go.

TRUDY: Thanks. Sage, let’s go!

(Max and Logan look toward the guest bedroom, but Sage isn’t there. They look out the front door and see him jump down the porch steps and run off. Trudy follows. Max sits down as Logan looks around.)

MAX: Spill it.

LOGAN: Spill what?

MAX: You need Bling to feed a cat you don’t have?

LOGAN (looking a bit sheepish): There’s a source that I need to talk to here in town.

(Max gets up in a huff.)

LOGAN: What?

MAX (going to the fireplace): I should’ve known.

LOGAN: Max, this is important.

MAX: You came here to work.

LOGAN (following her to the edge of the steps): Ten years ago, there were eighteen people who were murdered for standing up against police brutality. This guy was there.

MAX (angrily): I don’t care if he could raise the dead. This was supposed to be a vacation.

LOGAN: How can I even think about having a good time when—

MAX: —when there are eighteen restless spirits waiting for you to avenge their deaths?

LOGAN (angrily): When the man responsible for killing those people was Rollins Miller, the chief of police! And not only did he get away with it, he got promoted for it!

MAX: If I’d known this was gonna be an Eyes Only wilderness retreat, I wouldn’t have come.

LOGAN: So I’m just supposed to let him get away with it?

MAX: You can’t right every wrong.

LOGAN: You’ve got to at least try.

MAX: Whatever. Go talk to your source. This girl’s gonna kick back, make S’mores, and relax.

LOGAN: Fine. I’ll be back later.

MAX: Don’t hurry.

LOGAN (glaring at her): Have fun, because that is the most important thing.

MAX: I’ll try. Even though I’ll be wracked by guilt, since I don’t have enough to share with every single person on this planet.

(Outside, Max is chopping wood. As she raises the ax, she shakes a little, and she stops chopping. She gathers an armful of the wood she has cut and walks toward the house. As she hits the porch, she shakes violently for a few moments and drops the wood. Max runs into the bedroom and pulls a bottle of tryptophan out of her bag. She manages to get a few pills into her mouth before her shaking hands drop the bottle and pills scatter across the floor. She sits on the floor by the bed, legs drawn to her chest. Sage, who was passing by with some linens, sees her and drops to the floor in front of her, wide-eyed, as she continues to seize.)

SAGE: My aunt’s a doctor. I can go get her if you want.

MAX: No, it’s okay.

SAGE: What’s the matter with you?

MAX: I have this problem. The chemicals in my brain go all buggy on me. I just have to take these pills and it goes away after a while.

(Sage reads the label on the bottle and begins to pick up the pills.)

SAGE: Tryptophan. That’s what’s in milk.

MAX: How’d you know?

SAGE: Aunt’s a doctor. She doesn’t just give you a glass of milk when you can’t sleep. She tells you why it’s gonna work.

MAX: I have a hard time sleeping, too.

SAGE: I don’t really like to.

MAX: How come?

SAGE: Bad dreams.

MAX: Me too, sometimes.

SAGE: Like what?

MAX: People chasing me…trying to hurt me.

SAGE: In mine, I’m hiding from them. And when I try to get away…

MAX: You can’t move.

SAGE: They keep coming.

MAX: But they never get closer.

SAGE: Yeah.

MAX: Yeah.

SAGE: Sure you don’t want me to go get her?

MAX: Yeah. Positive.

SAGE: How come?

MAX: It’s complicated. Kind of a secret.

SAGE: I have a secret too.

MAX: Yeah?

SAGE: I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours.

MAX (laughing): Nice try.

(They both smile.)

(Logan enters a small office building. He approaches a couple of guys standing around, one of whom is Deputy Hallahan.)

LOGAN: I’m looking for Herman Colberg.

(Hallahan looks over to a man sitting at a desk nearby.)

HALLAHAN: Herman?

(The man at the desk looks up. Logan turns and approaches him.)

LOGAN: Mr. Colberg?

HERMAN: Yeah?

LOGAN: I’m Logan Cale. I’m a journalist.

HERMAN: Uh-huh?

LOGAN: Can I talk to you for a minute…in private?

HERMAN: What about?

LOGAN (glancing around and lowering his voice): I know who you are…who you were. And I’m not here to make trouble.

HERMAN (at normal volume): I don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about.

(Herman gets up and walks into the next room. Logan follows and continues speaking at low volume. Herman pours himself some coffee and continues to use normal volume.)

LOGAN: You used to be with the Seattle P.D. Changed your name back in 2010 when you quit the force.

HERMAN: I don’t know what to tell you…but you got the wrong guy.

LOGAN: Look, I understand why you’d be reluctant to talk to me.

HERMAN: I’m not the man you’re looking for.

LOGAN: Maybe you don’t care about those eighteen people those cops killed…but your partner did. He died trying to come forward and do the right thing. Don’t let his death be for nothing.

(Logan leaves as Herman watches.)

(In a local bar, two guys named BC and Dean are playing pool, while a guy named Clyde watches. BC makes a shot to win the game.)

DEAN: Aw! Shoot! Easiest five bucks you ever made.

(Max and Sage are sitting at the bar. Max finishes a glass of milk.)

BARTENDER: You sure like milk, huh?

MAX (smiling at Sage): Does a body good.

(Sage laughs. BC sits at the bar and sets down an empty pitcher. Sage’s smile disappears, and he stares straight ahead.)

BC (to the bartender): Hey, Benny. Top us up, there, fella. And a glass of milk for the lady.

(Benny pours Max some more milk. BC lights a cigarette.)

BC: Sage. That your girlfriend? Hey, why don’t you be a good pal and introduce us, huh?

(Sage doesn’t react.)

BC: That’s okay, I’ll do it myself. (To Max) Hi. I’m BC.

MAX (to Dean): Are you done with the table?

DEAN: Well, it’s all yours, honey.

MAX (to Sage): Come on.

(She takes the glass of milk and leads Sage over to the pool table.)

(Later, Max is leaning over Sage’s shoulder as he takes aim. BC and his friends watch from the bar.)

MAX: Hit it right there.

(Sage takes a shot. Logan enters and joins them.)

CLYDE (in background): What do we have here?

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Hey. Got your note.

MAX: You remember Sage.

LOGAN: Yeah. (To Sage) How’s it going?

SAGE: Okay.

DEAN (in background): Gonna have a rough ride on that.

MAX: So, how’d it go? Find him?

LOGAN: Ah, turned out he wasn’t the guy I thought he was.

MAX (smiling): Oh. I guess you got no choice but to enjoy yourself.

(As she rounds the table, she shakes for a moment.)

LOGAN: You all right?

(He notices the empty glass of milk on the table as Max bends to take aim.)

BC (in background): Bet he wouldn’t even know what to do.

MAX: I’m fine. (Quietly) He knows.

(Logan looks at Sage.)

MAX: I’m just a little shaky.

(She takes a shot and sinks the eight-ball. BC and his friends whoop.)

MAX (to Sage): Sorry, bucko. My game.

SAGE: Thanks…for not treating me like a kid and letting me win.

(Max nods.)

MAX (to Logan): So you want to be my next victim?

LOGAN: Mind if I break?

(Logan takes a shot, and the balls on the table scatter. He sinks some balls and moves to the side of the table.)

MAX (smiling): Lucky.

DEAN (in background): Not bad. For a cripple, he's pretty good.

(Logan sinks another ball.)

DEAN (to BC): Lucky.

MAX: Not bad.

(Logan takes a third shot and sinks another ball. He takes a fourth shot, but misses. Max leans over to take aim and BC notices her butt.)

BC: Nice.

(Logan overhears the comment and frowns. Max takes her shot and sinks a ball. BC and his friends whistle a catcall. Logan backs up to approach BC while keeping his eyes on Max, who is taking aim for another shot.)

LOGAN: You got a problem?

BC: No, man, I ain’t got no problem. I’m just enjoying the view.

LOGAN: Why don’t you go enjoy the view from your cave?

(The other guys laugh.)

BC: Oh, okay.

(BC pushes him over so that he falls backward out of his chair and onto the floor. As Logan struggles to get back up, BC and his friends laugh.)

DEAN (in background): I’ve fallen and I can’t—

(Max is still leaning over the pool table, taking aim. BC approaches her from behind. Her face suddenly contorts with fury and she shoves the pool stick backwards into his gut. She whacks Dean in the face with the stick. Clyde attempts to kick her; she blocks him with the stick and kicks him in the gut. Dean throws a punch, but he misses, and she socks him in the gut and in the face. BC heads for her. She punches him in the face. As Clyde comes at her again, she hops on the pool table and kicks him with both feet.)

BC: Hey.

(She punches him and he falls, unconscious. Benny stands behind the bar with his hands on his head. Max sees that Logan is almost in his chair and lifts him the rest of the way.)

MAX: You okay?

LOGAN (tightly): Yeah. Fine.

(He leaves and Max watches him go.)

(The next morning, Max enters the kitchen. Logan is sitting on the counter, legs on his wheelchair in front of him, spooning some oatmeal into a couple of bowls.)

LOGAN: Morning.

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Want some breakfast?

MAX: No. I’m not hungry.

(She gets some milk and shakes a little as she pours.)

LOGAN: Seizures getting bad?

MAX: No worse than usual. Just got a terrible headache and I’m tripping over my own feet.

LOGAN (chuckling a little): Well, that’s new, huh?

MAX (smiling): Guess I need my 50,000-mile checkup.

LOGAN (dropping into his chair): Are you cold? ’Cause I can get a fire started.

MAX: No, I’m fine.

LOGAN: Let me get you a blanket.

MAX (testily): I said I’m okay.

LOGAN: That’s right. I forgot. I’m not supposed to help you, ‘cause you’re the superhero and I’m the guy on wheels.

(He takes a bowl of oatmeal to the table and begins to eat while sulking. Max sets her milk down and watches him in disbelief.)

MAX (angrily): How did my screwed-up genetics suddenly become about you?

(He doesn’t answer and her face softens.)

MAX: When you’re done eating, d’you want to go for a walk or something?

LOGAN (sarcastically): Wouldn’t want to slow you down.

(Max’s face hardens again.)

MAX: Fine. You want to feel sorry for your bad self, be my guest.

(She walks out the door. Logan stabs his spoon into his oatmeal.)

(Later, Max is walking along a dirt path on a hill and stops to look out over the town and the water. A short way down the hill, she sees Sage standing in a small cemetery. She approaches him, and we see that he is standing in front of three headstones. The first name on one headstone is covered by leaves; the last name is Gilan. The birth year, in the 1980s, is also covered up, and the death year is 2009. The second headstone says EMILY GILAN 1984-2009. Sage is looking at the third headstone, which says SAM GILAN; the first date, in the 2000s, is covered up, and the second date is 2009.)

MAX: Hey.

SAGE: Hey.

MAX: Friend of yours?

SAGE: Sort of.

MAX: What do you mean, sort of?

SAGE: Remember when I said I had a secret?

MAX: Yeah.

SAGE: Promise you won’t tell?

MAX: Promise.

SAGE: I see him sometimes. At night.

MAX: You mean like when you’re asleep?

SAGE: No. He’s there. In my room.

MAX: You mean like a ghost.

SAGE: Maybe it’s just my imagination. ’Cause I know the story.

MAX: What story?

SAGE (looking at her): How he died.

(At the house, there is a knock on the front door. Logan sees Dean standing on the porch, looking through the screen.)

LOGAN: Can I help you?

DEAN: Trudy sent me.

LOGAN (in disbelief): You’re the carpenter?

DEAN: Toolbox…wood…truck…Thought I was the dentist?

LOGAN: I was thinking something else.

(Max and Sage are standing outside an old house. It has obviously been in a fire, and several of its walls are missing.)

SAGE: It happened before I came to live here. It was right after the Pulse. They were running a generator to keep the power on. There was an accident. They all died.

(Inside, they stand in the doorway of a bedroom. Burned debris covers the floor.)

SAGE: This was his room.

(Max enters and pokes through the debris. She picks up a doorknob with an interesting engraving and tosses it to Sage.)

MAX: Hey, Sage. Check this out.

(Sage catches the doorknob and looks at it. Suddenly he looks at Max with terror on his face.)

MAX: What’s wrong?

(He drops the doorknob and runs out.)

MAX: Sage!

(She starts to chase after him but shakes. She stops, steadies herself against a wall, and walks out of the house.)

MAX: Sage!

(Back at the house where Max and Logan are staying, Dean finishes the ramp while Logan watches, chin in hand.)

DEAN: Yeah. That’s it. All finished. Wanna try it out?

LOGAN (tightly): I’m sure it’s fine.

DEAN (somewhat contritely): It’s a little steep. I, uh…wouldn’t want you to tip over.

LOGAN (softening): It’s fine.

(Dean nods and picks up his toolbox. A truck pulls up outside.)

DEAN: You have a nice day now.

(Logan nods, and Dean turns for the door. Herman gets out of his truck. Dean glances back at Logan and nods to Herman on the way out to his own truck.)

DEAN: Herm.

(Logan, eyes on Herman, goes down the ramp and approaches the screen door. Dean drives off and Herman stands on the porch, looking in at Logan.)

HERMAN: No one here knows who I am, and that’s the way I want it to stay. If you’re smart, you’ll leave this whole thing alone.

LOGAN: Maybe I’m not so smart.

HERMAN: Nothing you can do could bring them back. (Turns to leave)

LOGAN: No, but maybe I can get the cops responsible off the street so they don’t do it again.

(Herman turns back around, enters the house, and closes the wooden door behind him.)

HERMAN: You don’t know. You don’t know what it was like, being out there on the front lines.

LOGAN: You make it sound like a war.

HERMAN: It was. (Pacing) Summer of ’09, Seattle went crazy. People were looting, burning down the city. We had to do something.

LOGAN: You mean like rounding up demonstrators, shooting them in cold blood, and dumping their bodies in a mass grave?

HERMAN: Demonstrators? They were inciting people to riot.

LOGAN: They were just trying to keep the police in check.

HERMAN: Keep us in check? I saw people hanging from telephone poles, lynched by their own neighbors. At first, everybody thought it was the Arabs set off the Pulse. Then just about any foreigner was a target. Pretty soon, anybody who had something that somebody else wanted was fair game. We had to get the situation under control.

LOGAN: And if you had to break some heads to do it, then…so be it?

HERMAN: We were protecting people like you. People that had the most to lose. You didn’t want the barbarian hordes coming to your neighborhood. But you…you wanted us to be nice about it. You wanted us to play by the rules, but…the rules had changed.

LOGAN: Murder was always against the rules.

HERMAN (angrily): You tell that to the cops out on patrol who were being shot at by snipers! You tell that to the firemen who had their throats slit by piano wire strung across doorways! We didn’t have any choice! It was us against them! Kill or be killed!

LOGAN: The people that I came to talk to you about were unarmed when they were killed, and they posed no threat to the police involved.

HERMAN (more calmly): As long as they were in custody, no. But…some judge would’ve let ’em right out. And they would’ve been right back at it.

LOGAN: Somebody decided to make sure that didn’t happen again. Who gave the order?

(Herman shakes his head and walks toward the door.)

LOGAN: Who pulled the trigger?

HERMAN: I don’t know.

LOGAN: The bodies—where are they buried? You were there.

HERMAN: I don’t know. I don’t know anything. (Leaves)

(Sage is walking down a street. Clyde pulls up next to him in a pickup truck.)

CLYDE: Hey, Sage. Let’s take a ride.

(In an abandoned building, BC is talking to Sage while his three friends look on. Sage is staring at the floor.)

BC: Clyde here tells me he saw you up at the house on Willow Street. You were with that girl from out of town. Yeah? What were you two doing up there?

SAGE: Nothing.

BC: You tell her about the house? The people that died?

SAGE: Yeah.

BC: How did they die, Sage? ’Cause, um...I forget.

SAGE: Generator shorted out.

BC: That’s right. It was a coupla days after the Pulse and all the lights went out. But you’re probably too young to remember that, aren’tcha?

SAGE (looking him in the eye): No. I remember when the lights went out.

BC: What else do you remember?

(He lights a cigarette; Sage doesn’t answer.)

BC: Why you lookin’ at me like that? Don’t stare, kid. It’s not polite. (Sage doesn’t move) I said don’t stare.

(BC slaps Sage across the face. Sage falls to the ground. As he sits up, we see his nose bleeding.)

BC: Now you listen to me. You stay away from that girl. You don’t know her, you don’t need to be talkin’ to her. You got it?

(Sage nods tightly and BC helps him up.)

BC: Good. (Ruffles his hair) Now get outta here.

(Sage runs away.)

(Max knocks on the door of Trudy’s house.)

MAX: Sage? Trudy? Anybody home?

(Sage enters the yard, sees Max, and starts to run away. Max catches him by the arm and sees the dried blood on his upper lip.)

MAX: Sage! What happened?

SAGE: Nothing.

MAX: Who did this to you?

SAGE: Nobody.

MAX: Tell me.

SAGE: Leave me alone!

(He starts to run off again. Max reaches out and catches him by the shirt, which rips. Sage stops, and Max sees a burn scar on Sage’s chest. He looks down and touches it. She takes his hand, looks at his palm, and sees a scar that matches the engraving on the doorknob. She flashes back to the bedroom and to the burned-down house.)

SAGE (in flashback): I have a secret too.

(Max remembers first the look of terror on his face when he held the doorknob, then Sam’s headstone.)

SAGE (in flashback): I see him sometimes. At night.

(Max looks at Sage. He turns and runs into the house.)

(That night, under a full moon, Logan shines a flashlight on Max as she stands in a hole in the ground, digging.)

LOGAN: Max, this is insane.

MAX: It’s the only explanation.

LOGAN: No, it’s grave-robbing.

MAX: The scar…the fire…

LOGAN: What scar? What fire?

MAX: I get it now. Even the ghost makes sense.

(The shovel strikes something hard and she drops it.)

LOGAN: Ah, the ghost makes sense. So, what, now you’re avenging restless spirits?

MAX: They lied to him all this time. He was at the house.

LOGAN: Who? What house?

(Max brushes some dirt off a wooden object.)

LOGAN: Why are you doing this? What do you expect to find?

MAX: Nothing.

(She pulls off a couple of pieces of the wood and looks inside.)

MAX: See? It’s empty.

LOGAN: Max, what the hell is going on here?

MAX: He didn’t die in that fire. He’s alive. Sage. Sage is Sam Gilan.

(The camera pans out and we see that they’re working in the light from Logan’s car headlights. A short distance away, Clyde is watching them from the darkness.)

(In Trudy’s office, she is pacing angrily between her desk and the window. Max and Logan are sitting in front of the desk.)

TRUDY: Where do you get off digging up that poor boy’s grave?

MAX: Where do you get off burying an empty coffin?

TRUDY: We wanted to give him a proper funeral. It was empty because his body had never been found.

LOGAN: According to the death certificates, which you filed and signed, the remains of John, Emily, and Sam Gilan were retrieved from the site. We know you falsified the documents…and we know who Sage is.

TRUDY: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

MAX: The burns on his body?

TRUDY: He was in a car accident when he was little.

MAX: The scar on his hand?

LOGAN: He’s Sam Gilan.

TRUDY (no longer angry): Leave it alone. Please.

MAX: Why would you lie to him? Why would you lie to everyone?

TRUDY: Because they would have killed him. Just like they did John and Emily.

LOGAN: Who? Who would’ve killed him?

TRUDY: BC and his friends. The night of the fire, I was the first one up there. They didn’t see me, but I saw them…running off, laughing, yelling. I heard something in the woods. It was Sage…Sam. He was burned all over, in shock. I took him home before anyone else got there. Didn’t know what else to do.

MAX: Why didn’t you go to the police?

TRUDY: What police? They’d all been reassigned to the cities to put down rioting. We were on our own out here. I didn’t have anyone to turn to, and I didn’t know who I could trust. So I didn’t tell anyone anything. Just kept him home, waiting for him to get better.

LOGAN: But you couldn’t keep him hidden forever…so you started telling people he was your nephew.

TRUDY: Things were chaotic back then. No one questioned it. They all had their own problems to worry about. And Sage…he was so traumatized by what had happened…

MAX: He started believing it himself.

TRUDY: The only ones I had to worry about were BC and the others.

LOGAN: And why would they go up there and kill those people?

TRUDY: They did what a lot of people in town thought about doing…attack the outsiders.

(A door slams, and we see Sage running away from the house.)

TRUDY: Sage…

(At the abandoned building, BC is waiting with Benny and Clyde. Dean enters.)

BC: Well?

DEAN: They went over there to talk to her.

CLYDE: We’re screwed. So screwed, man.

BENNY: She doesn’t know it was us who did it.

DEAN: Oh, yeah? Then how come she hasn’t spoken so much as a word to any of us in ten years? Huh? I told you we shoulda killed her back then. Both of them.

CLYDE: Oh, so, what, it’s our fault? Wasn’t it your idea to go up there in the first place?

DEAN: You said they had food.

BC: Is that what you’re gonna tell Herman?

DEAN: You’re the one lost it…started hittin’ the guy.

BC: Well, I thought he knew the Pulse was comin’.

DEAN: Oh, yeah. You and your theories.

BC: So I was wrong. Anyway, we wouldn’ta had to kill ’em if this idiot didn’t grab the wife. (Gestures at Clyde)

CLYDE: Somebody had to teach those A-rabs a lesson. Besides, you had some, too.

BC: Yeah, when you weren’t up for the job.

(Clyde grabs him and they start to fight.)

DEAN: Hey! Cut it out!

BENNY: Guys!

(Benny and Dean break up the fight.)

BENNY: Come on. Maybe she didn’t tell them anything, huh?

CLYDE: Yeah, well, what about the kid?

BENNY: He doesn’t remember anything.

DEAN: This isn’t gonna go away because you want it to!

CLYDE: Now stop yelling at—

(They start to scuffle again and BC breaks them up.)

BC: Shut up! Just let me think. Benny, your foot’s bothering you again. You’re gonna pay a visit to the doc. Suss out what she may have told them. Clyde, I think it’s high time you volunteer for watch duty. Find out what Herman and his stormtroopers know about the grave. (To Dean) You’re with me.

DEAN: Where we goin’?

BC: We’re gonna remind the kid that good little boys don’t talk to strangers.

(Max and Sage are standing at the gate to the cemetery. Sage is crying.)

SAGE: It’s not true. It can’t be!

MAX: It is true. In a way, you’ve always known. I know it hurts…but you can’t hide from it anymore.

(Sage hugs her and sobs.)

(At the house, Max lights a fire as Sage and Logan watch. Max starts to walk away, but she has to grab the railing as a seizure shakes her.)

LOGAN: You okay?

MAX: Whoa.

(She continues shaking. Logan hears a truck, looks out the window, and sees BC and Dean pulling up. He goes over to Max and whispers.)

LOGAN: We’ve got company. Take him in the bedroom and stay there. Okay? Do it. (To Sage) Hey, Sage…

MAX: Okay.

(Max and Sage head for the bedroom, Max leaning on Sage as she shakes. Logan pulls out a gun from his bag and loads it. Max hears him chamber a round and glances back at him on her way into the bedroom. Logan goes out to the porch as BC and Dean approach it.)

BC: We’re lookin’ for Sage.

LOGAN: He’s not here.

BC: So you don’t mind if we just come in just to—

(Logan crosses his arms so BC can see the gun he’s holding.)

LOGAN: Guess you’ll have to take my word for it.

(Herman’s truck pulls up to the house. Logan hides the gun under his arm and Herman gets out.)

HERMAN: Got a call from Trudy. Said Sage was missing.

BC: Yeah, they got him inside.

(Herman looks at BC and Dean.)

HERMAN: What are you doing here?

BC: Just tryin’ to help find the kid, that’s all.

LOGAN: He’s found. So why don’t you get lost?

HERMAN: Go on.

(They don’t move. Herman brushes his jacket aside to reveal a gun in a holster.)

HERMAN: Don’t make me tell you again.

(BC and Dean look at Logan, then at Herman, and start to walk away. Suddenly they jump Herman and begin fighting with him. Logan pulls out his gun, but can’t get a clear shot. Dean wrests Herman’s gun away from him and shoots him in the gut. Herman stumbles a few steps and collapses. Dean grabs Herman’s gun, which has fallen to the ground. Logan fires at him. Dean ducks behind BC’s truck and returns fire. Max hears the gunfire and starts getting up. Logan and Dean keep shooting at each other. Max’s seizure makes her stumble. Logan goes into the house and closes the wooden door; a bullet pierces it. Sage helps Max back into bed and runs out to Logan.)

SAGE: She’s getting worse.

LOGAN: Get back in the room and give her her pills.

(Sage runs back to the bedroom. BC uses Herman’s gun to shoot out the radio in Herman’s truck, along with one of its tires.)

BC (handing Dean the gun): Here. I’m gonna go get the guys. You block the end of the driveway and make sure no one comes up. And make sure they don’t take off to get help.

(He climbs in his truck and drives away. Dean runs into the trees, headed for the end of the long driveway. Once they’ve left, Logan comes out and approaches Herman, who is lying on the ground. Herman sits up a little, bleeding from the corner of his mouth, and Logan checks his chest for the gunshot wound.)

HERMAN (gasping): I don’t know who gave the order…but…

LOGAN: It doesn’t matter now. Don’t try to speak.

HERMAN: We…we all did the shooting. All of us.

(He grabs Logan and looks him in the eye.)

HERMAN: Kill or be killed.

(Herman’s eyes roll back and he collapses, dead.)

(In the bedroom, Max is lying on the bed, seizing violently. Logan and Sage are beside the bed.)

MAX: Must be the implant. Piece of junk’s still stuck in my head.

LOGAN: It’s affecting your balance, making your seizures worse.

MAX: It’s okay. It’ll pass. Always does.

LOGAN: In the meantime, neither one of us is in any shape to make much of an escape.

MAX: They’re coming back, Logan.

LOGAN: And I’ll be ready for ’em. (To Sage) And you’re getting out of here.

SAGE: I’m not leaving.

MAX: Listen to him.

SAGE: I’m done hiding. I don’t want to do it anymore.

(Outside, Logan peers into Herman’s truck and sees that the radio has been shot out. Sage opens a toolbox in the truck bed and hands Logan a bulletproof vest and a shotgun. Logan unscrews the cap to the gas tank, inserts a plastic hose, and begins to siphon gasoline into a bucket. Sage hands him a propane tank. Logan cuts a length of fishing line and hands it to Sage. Logan boards up a window, inside the house, as Sage paints a big X on the wall below the front window. Logan straps a bulletproof vest on Sage.)

LOGAN: Ready?

SAGE: Ready.

(That night, as BC’s truck pulls up to the house, Sage remembers the night shortly after the Pulse, looking out a window as BC and his friends approach his house with guns. Sam’s mother joins him at the window.)

BC (in flashback): Hey, Johnny! C’mon out. We wanna talk to ya.

(In the present day, Logan cocks the shotgun. BC and his friends duck behind Herman’s truck and aim their guns at the house. Logan shoots above their heads from a side window.)

LOGAN: We are armed. Leave now, or you will meet with forceful resistance.

BC (laughing): All right, we’ll just be leaving then, man. Just gotta tie up a few loose ends first.

(Logan sets down his gun and lights a cigarette lighter that was sitting on the windowsill. BC sniffs the air and the ground.)

DEAN: What’s that?

BC: Gasoline.

(Logan drops the lighter on the ground outside the window, igniting a trail of gasoline leading away from the house. BC and his friends run away. The flames soon reach Herman’s truck, and the truck explodes. Max hears the explosion and starts to get up. BC and his friends duck behind his own truck.)

BC: Benny, go around the side of the house, man.

(Sage turns off the power inside the house.)

LOGAN: Good. Now go back and take care of Max.

(BC and his friends shoot at the house. Logan fires back, and then backs away from the window just before a bullet shatters it. Benny uses his gun to smash through the glass of the front window. Sage, watching, remembers his father trying to defend the family as someone smashes through their window with a gun. His mother rushes him to a closet and closes him into it.)

LOGAN: Go!

(Sage ducks under a table. Benny fires at Logan. Logan fires back and hits him in the shoulder. Benny sits on the porch to reload. Max gets up and heads for the bedroom door, but the seizures make her sit on the floor. When Benny stands up and takes aim again, Logan fires at the X below the window. The bullet goes through the wood and hits a propane tank sitting outside, and the porch explodes into flame.)

BC (to Clyde): You take the front. All right? (To Dean) Go around the back. I’m gonna take the front window.

(In the bedroom, Max passes out. Logan goes up the ramp as Clyde uses his gun to start smashing through the front door. Sage remembers BC and his friends busting into the Gilans’ house as he watches through the slats in the closet door. BC jabs the gun into John Gilan’s gut as Emily screams.)

BC (in flashback): What are you lookin’ at, rag-head? (Punches John) You knew it was comin’, didn’t you? Huh? (Kicks him)

(In the present day, Clyde breaks through the door. Logan aims at him.)

LOGAN: Put it down!

(Clyde goes to shoot, but Logan shoots him first, and Clyde collapses. Sage remembers watching from the closet as Dean kicks John.)

DEAN (in flashback): It was you camel jockeys set off the Pulse, wasn’t it?

(Clyde grabs Emily.)

EMILY (in flashback): No! Please!

DEAN (to John, in flashback): Where’s your wife now, huh?

(In the present day, Dean opens the side door.)

DEAN: You’re gonna pay!

(Logan rolls down the ramp. Dean goes to follow, but is caught by fishing line strung across the way, and he falls. BC jumps through the shattered front window and shoots Logan in the vest. The force of the bullet knocks Logan backward, onto the floor. B.C. kicks him a bit to see if he moves; Logan doesn’t, and his eyes remain closed. BC sees the bloody fishing line and Dean lying dead on the floor, throat slit. BC lights a cigarette as Sage watches from under the table. Sage remembers BC lighting a cigarette with a match and smiling.)

BC (in flashback): Let’s torch this sucker.

(In the present day, BC pours gasoline out of a water bottle and drops his cigarette. A fire starts. Logan opens his eyes and quietly retrieves his pistol from his overturned wheelchair. He shoots BC in the leg. BC falls on top of him, and they fight. BC wrestles the gun out of Logan’s hand and pulls out a knife. Logan grabs BC’s wrist, preventing him from using the knife.)

LOGAN: Thing about the wheelchair…builds upper-body strength.

(Logan turns BC’s wrist and uses it to jam the knife into BC’s gut. They roll over, and BC groans. Logan looks at Sage.)

LOGAN: Sage! Fire extinguisher!

(In the bedroom, Max is lying unconscious on the floor as smoke fills the room.)

LOGAN: Sage! Get the fire extinguisher!

(Sage shakes his head. He remembers his parents lying on the floor, reaching to him, as the house burns. He remembers watching wide-eyed through the closet door as they die.)

LOGAN: Sage!

(Suddenly Sage uses the fire extinguisher, and the fire goes out. He and Logan look at each other.)

(Later, Logan’s car is being loaded onto a truck. Max, wrapped in a blanket, is sitting with Sage on the steps of the porch. Logan is sitting in the yard a short distance away, while Deputy Hallahan paces around him.)

HALLAHAN: We didn’t know what happened up there that night. All the evidence was destroyed in the fire. Sure, I’d heard what the people were saying—“Why are they the only ones who’ve got food and power? They must’ve known the Pulse was coming.” You could see that house of theirs from miles away. Only thing lit up. I know it sounds crazy now, but back then…when people would say they must’ve known it was comin’…somehow it made sense.

LOGAN: Didn’t help that the Gilans weren’t from around here?

HALLAHAN: Never thought anybody’d go through with it.

(Trudy enters the yard.)

TRUDY: Sage.

(On the porch, Sage looks up but doesn’t get up.)

MAX: She went though a lot for you. You’re lucky to have someone like that in your life.

SAGE: Yeah. (Glances at Logan) You too.

(Max looks at Logan and smiles. Sage kisses Max on the cheek, walks over to Trudy, and hugs her. Max gets off the porch and approaches Logan.)

MAX: It’s good to know that when the superhero’s otherwise occupied, the sidekick’s ready to step in.

(Logan looks up at her.)

MAX: How you feeling?

LOGAN: Okay…considering I’ve never killed anyone before.

MAX: Sometimes you have no other choice.

(He nods.)

(Later, the truck drives away. The Aztek is mounted on the back, and Max and Logan are riding in the cab with the driver.)

MAX (voiceover): I guess Logan must’ve figured it out. You can get more than you bargained for when you go looking for where the bodies are buried...

(In the cemetery the next day, Sage is putting daisies on his parents’ headstones. We finally see that his father was born in 1984 and his first name was Jahanshah.)

MAX (voiceover): ...even when they’re not buried after all.

(We see there is no longer a third headstone.)

MAX (voiceover): They say you can’t raise the dead. But sometimes, if you’re prepared to go through a little bit of hell, maybe you can.

(Sage takes Trudy’s hand. They smile and walk out of the cemetery.)