(Two men are fighting in a ring. The ring is surrounded by people sitting on bleachers, yelling, and waving money. Normal is among the crowd.)

NORMAL: Come on! Kill him! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah. Get him, tubby. Oh, yes! (One fighter gets thrown to the mat.) Oh, no! Come on!

(After the fighter is kicked a few times, the bell sounds and he is helped out of the ring.)

NORMAL: You bum! You bald, large bum!

(A woman enters the ring and addresses the crowd.)

WOMAN: And now it's time for the main event of the evening. Grand prize, five thousand bucks. (The crowd cheers.) First, the champion. With a record of forty-five wins and no losses, standing six foot ten and weighing in at 260 pounds, Stan "The Mangler" Miller!

(A large man enters the ring and raises his arms to the crowd.)

WOMAN: And now the challenger. Undefeated in his three times in the ring, he hails from parts unknown. Standing six feet tall, weighing in at a lean 178 pounds, Monty Cora!

(Alec enters the ring. Normal hands a man some money.)

NORMAL: Three hundred dollars on the good-looking one.

OPPONENT (to Alec): I'm gonna tear your head off and stuff it up your ass.

ALEC: Shouldn't we shake hands first?

(Alec half-heartedly offers his hand and laughs. His opponent hits him in the head and he reels, landing against the cage in front of Normal.)

ALEC: I'll take that as a "no."

NORMAL: Hey, he jumped the bell! He jumped the bell!

(The bell rings.)

NORMAL (To Alec): Go get him, tiger. Come on!

(Alec gets up and uses his speed to run behind his opponent and elbow him hard in the small of his back.)

NORMAL: Oh, yeah!

(The opponent tries to land some punches, but Alec uses his speed and strength to give him a good beating, including kicks as well as punches. Finally Alec pins his opponent's arms to his sides and they stand face-to-face.)

OPPONENT: What the hell are you?

ALEC: Better.

(Alec head-butts him and releases his arms. The opponent staggers and Alec fells him with one large punch.)

NORMAL: That's the ticket! Yeah! That's what I like to see!

(The woman enters the ring and raises Alec's hand.)

WOMAN: The champion!

(The crowd goes wild. Later, in the locker room, Alec is getting dressed while talking to the woman.)

WOMAN: What do you mean, this is your last fight?

ALEC: I'm done. Gonna retire undefeated.

WOMAN: Retire? They love you out there. We've done twice the business since you showed up.

ALEC: Look, Annie, as much as I enjoy beating people up, I've got bigger plans for my life. And this is gonna help me get started.

(Annie hands Alec a wad of money.)

ANNIE: If you change your mind, you know where to find me.

(Annie leaves and Alec finishes dressing. Two men in suits appear.)

ALEC: What do you guys want?

(One of the men uses a taser on Alec and he falls unconscious to the floor. A man in a suit steps over him and we see it is White.)

WHITE: Take him out the back.

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 kitchen, Logan stands at the counter chopping vegetables while Max sits on another counter and watches. They are smiling and laughing. Some sauce is heating on the stove.)

LOGAN: So the mayor of our fair city calls the cops and tells them somebody ripped off his TownCar last night.

MAX: Wasn't me, swear.

LOGAN: Found it over in sector four with five hundred hits of ecs in the trunk.

MAX: What, a drug dealer stole it?

LOGAN: No, the drug dealer got it from a hooker he pimps. The hooker got it from His Honor, as a gift. The mayor sobered up the next morning, forgot all about it, except she had the signed pink slip. Said she'd tell the press everything unless he dropped the charges against her boyfriend, and she said she'd really like to keep the car.

MAX (laughing): Where'd you hear this touching story?

LOGAN: I have my sources. (Indicates the sauce.) Stir that for me, will you?

MAX: All right. So this is what the Eyes Only Informant Net has been reduced to, huh? Trading information about crooked politicians' sex lives?

LOGAN: Well, you know, you can only fight corruption and injustice so many hours in the day. Every once in a while you gotta kick back.

(Max stirs the sauce, uses the spoon to taste it, and puts the spoon back in it.)

MAX: Mmm. This is great.

LOGAN: Thanks. It's a family--

(He turns around and sees what she has done. She notices his look and turns to look at the sauce.)

MAX: I can't believe I just did that.

LOGAN: You know, it's okay, because if you just turn up the flame, heat kills pretty much anything.

MAX (angrily dumping the sauce in the sink): Salmonella, maybe, but not a Frankenstein virus targeted specifically to your DNA. You know, it's bad enough they made it so we can't touch. Now we can't even have dinner.

LOGAN: You can still have some.

MAX: I'm gonna go.

LOGAN: Wait. We have bread; we have salad. I'm sure I can rustle something else up. Please.

MAX: I can't do this. It's too hard. (Leaves the kitchen.)

LOGAN: Max! (Chops the knife into the counter in frustration.)

(In the other room, Max is heading for the door but turns around.)

MAX: My jacket.

(She goes to pick up her jacket from the computer desk and sees Logan standing on the other side of the frosted glass, touching it. She touches the glass where his hand is, then turns and leaves. He sighs.)

(Outside a building that night, a hand touches the address numbers--542--and we hear a low growl. Inside, a man is taking pictures of a woman. She pretends to do household chores while striking sexy poses.)

MAN: Ooh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, baby. Oh.

WOMAN: Meow!

MAN: Good kitty. Good kitty.

WOMAN: Hot stuff.

MAN: Beautiful. Oh.

WOMAN: Baby, do me. Uh-huh.

MAN: Beautiful!

WOMAN: Ooh! Oh!

MAN: Oh. Okay, show daddy what you got. Come on, show daddy. Yeah!

WOMAN: Oh!

MAN: Ooh, ooh. That's nice. Let's get some shots of you vacuuming the sofa.

WOMAN: Okay.

MAN: Ooh. (She turns the vacuum on.) What are you turning that on for? Nobody's gonna know the difference.

WOMAN: Yeah, but I might as well get it done, right?

(She turns the vacuum off. A man creeps outside their window and she hears a noise.)

MAN: Thanks. Good, good.

WOMAN: What was that?

MAN: What? Oh, yeah.

WOMAN: There's something outside.

MAN: Relax, baby. Nobody here but me and you.

(Joshua bursts in the door, growling.)

JOSHUA: Where is he?

(The woman screams. The man turns around and snaps a picture of Joshua before dropping the camera and holding up his hands.)

MAN: Holy mother...

JOSHUA: Who are you?

MAN (whispering to woman): Call the police.

(The woman runs to the phone.)

VOICE ON PHONE: You've reached Seattle Emergency. No one is available to take your call right now.

(Joshua growls and steps into another room.)

JOSHUA: Where is he?

VOICE ON PHONE: Please continue to hold.

(The man grabs a baseball bat and stands by the doorway.)

JOSHUA (emerging): Not here.

(The man whacks Joshua in the gut. Joshua growls and throws him to the floor. Then he leaves.)

WOMAN: What the hell was that thing?

(The man uncovers a Polaroid and it develops into a picture of Joshua's face.)

MAN: Good question.

(The next morning, Logan's cell phone rings. Logan wheels into the room and answers it.)

LOGAN: Hello.

LYDECKER: It's Lydecker.

LOGAN: I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you again.

LYDECKER: Don't sound so happy about it.

(We see Lydecker calling from his SUV, parked on a street.)

LOGAN: Well, if you're calling to follow up on our previous conversation, Max made it back fine.

LYDECKER: She always does.

LOGAN: Mmm. That's high praise coming from a man who spent the last ten years hunting her down.

LYDECKER: Those days are over now. Tell Max I'll be in touch soon. I'm working on a lead.

LOGAN: Oh, no. Okay, I'm done taking down these cryptic messages for you. I want to know what's going on.

LYDECKER: They did a DNA assay on Max when she was back at Manticore. There's something unusual about her genetic makeup...something even I didn't know about.

LOGAN: What does it mean?

LYDECKER: I don't know yet. But Renfro must've thought it was important. I found the test results in her briefcase, along with a employee I.D. from a company that, as far as I can tell, doesn't exist. Tell Max I'm looking into it.

(Lydecker holds up Renfro's I.D. card. It is from RCF DEMOLITIAN & DISPOSAL and the name on the card is Elizabeth Renfro.)

LOGAN: I'll pass it on.

LYDECKER: Thanks. I appreciate your help.

LOGAN: Yeah? Then maybe you can help me with something.

LYDECKER: I'm listening.

(Max and Logan are standing in a run-down apartment while a man peers nervously out the window. He is the same man who "helped" Zack escape from Manticore last year so he would lead Lydecker to Max and the others.)

LOGAN: Lydecker said you worked as a lab tech at Manticore?

TECH (smiling): I'm the one who spliced your DNA to the virus substrand.

MAX: Keep bragging about it, I'm gonna kick your ass.

TECH: Do you want my help or not? 'Cause as soon as I scrape enough cash together I'm leaving town. They're trying to kill me and anyone else who worked there.

LOGAN: How much?

TECH: Ten grand.

MAX: You gotta be kidding me.

(She looks at Logan and sees him opening an envelope full of cash.)

MAX: Where'd you get that?

LOGAN: Sold some stuff. (Hands the money to the tech.) Half now, half when you deliver.

TECH: Gonna need a blood sample. (Opens a case full of vials.) Gimme a couple of days to figure out how to kill this virus of yours, and then you two lovebirds can get back to sucking face.

(Max enters Crash, looking glum, and sits next to Original Cindy at the bar.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: What's up, boo?

MAX: Logan found an ex-Manticore tech thinks he can cure the virus.

ORIGINAL CINDY: When you gonna let your face in on the good news?

MAX: I don't know. I'm starting to think things between me and Logan are...never gonna...

VOICE: Hey, Max.

(Max turns to see the woman who helped Logan at the V.A. office approach the bar.)

WOMAN: I didn't know you kicked it here.

MAX: Yeah. I'm practically a regular. (Making introductions) Original Cindy, Asha.

(Asha and Original Cindy greet each other. Sketchy approaches and leans on the bar.)

SKETCHY: Max, we're having a disagreement at the table. Maybe you and your fine new friend here can referee?

MAX: Sure, Sketch. Break it down.

SKETCHY: The guys are dissin' on Eyes Only, sayin' that Manticore place that burned down and let out the superfreaks was really just a V.A. hospital. Come defend the great man's honor.

(Max, Original Cindy, and Asha all exchange looks.)

MAX: I try and stay out of that political stuff.

ASHA: Yeah, me too.

(Sketchy holds up a rolled-up tabloid.)

SKETCHY: Says right here they're out there, looking to feed.

ORIGINAL CINDY: One too many forties and now he's seeing zombies among us.

SKETCHY: Not zombies. Creatures made in labs. Some look just like us; some don't. They all got barcode transmitters on the back of their necks so they can beam information about us to the main headquarters.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Wigga, you faded. News said it was some terrorist group called SW1 that burned the place down and killed a bunch of vets. Period point blank.

ASHA: Uh, it's the S1W, and they would never do anything like that. But, I mean, come on. You can't believe anything on the government news anyway, right?

SKETCHY: If I was making creatures in a lab, I'd make 'em look just like you.

(They all laugh.)

ASHA: Really? That's--that's really sweet.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Leave her alone, fool. (Bonks Sketchy on the head with the tabloid.) And stop reading this trash, before you ruin what's left of your brain cells.

(Max glimpses the cover story and grabs the tabloid.)

MAX: I gotta go.

(Max walks through the bar and Original Cindy follows her.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Max! What's the matter?

(Max shows her the front of the tabloid. It has a picture of Joshua growling--the one the man took with the Polaroid the night before--and the headline says "MUTANT ATTACKS CONTINUE...CREATURE ON THE LOOSE.")

ORIGINAL CINDY: This somebody you know, shugga?

MAX: His name's Joshua. He helped me escape from Manticore. This is bad.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Nobody believes this stuff anyway.

MAX: Not yet.

(In an abandoned warehouse, Alec wakes up to find himself in a cage suspended from the ceiling. White stands nearby.)

WHITE: That was a very impressive display last night.

ALEC: It's so nice to have fans.

WHITE: Tell me, 494, have you been in contact with this girl? (Holds up the digital picture of Max. Alec shakes his head.) We know that you were breeding partners back at Manticore.

ALEC: It was just a summer fling.

WHITE: What about any other transgenics?

ALEC: I make it a point not to fraternize with automatons. They slow me down. So what are you? FBI? NSA?

WHITE: Let's just say that I've been sent to wipe out all evidence that Manticore ever existed, and leave it at that. (To a man standing nearby.) Make sure you take a DNA sample before you dispose of the body.

ALEC: Wait. Killing me isn't gonna solve your problem.

WHITE: You're right. I have to take out all of them.

ALEC: You gotta find 'em first. I can help.

WHITE: Is that a fact?

ALEC: Who better to hunt transgenics than another transgenic?

WHITE: You expect me to believe that you would turn against your own kind?

ALEC: Try me.

(White nods at the man standing nearby and the cage floor opens under Alec. He falls out and lands on the floor below. Immediately several guns are pointed at him.)

(A short time later, Alec is sitting in a chair. The men with guns are still standing nearby and White faces him in another chair with a watch in his hand. A man uses an instrument to insert something into the back of Alec's neck.)

ALEC: What was that?

WHITE: Just a little something to make sure that you don't run off on me, as you were undoubtedly planning to do. (Holds up a marble-like object.) Microexplosive. (Steps on it and it pops.) Not much punch to it, really, but enough, considering it's lodged against your brain stem. If it goes off, you will never know what hit you. Locate and kill three transgenics, and I'll disarm it.

ALEC: How long do I have?

WHITE: The explosive is timed to detonate in exactly twenty-four hours.

ALEC (laughing): A day?

WHITE: You come through, I have three less freaks to worry about. You don't...(makes a popping noise)...your head explodes.

(He stands up and hands Alec the watch. It says 23:59 and is counting down.)

WHITE: Time's a-wasting.

(Alec looks at the watch but doesn't move.)

WHITE: I'd get started, if I were you.

(Alec stands up and starts to walk away.)

WHITE: Oh, one more thing. Bring back their barcodes. Proof of purchase. (Tosses Alec a folding knife.) Happy hunting.

(Alec leaves. White sits back down and remarks to the man standing next to him.)

WHITE: This could prove to be a very interesting little experiment.

MAN: Think he's lying about not knowing the girl?

WHITE: Always assume they're lying. You'll live longer.

MAN: We could get lucky. He brings in her barcode, we scrape it for DNA...answer a lot of questions.

WHITE: Either way...I win.

(In Logan's apartment, Max stands near the window while Logan sits in his wheelchair across the room and looks at the tabloid.)

LOGAN: Looks pretty dangerous.

MAX: He's not. Don't judge him because of the way he looks.

LOGAN (tossing the tabloid on the coffee table): Well, fine, but apparently he is breaking into people's houses. Any idea why?

MAX: Maybe he's looking for a place to sleep, or something to eat. I have to get to him before something really bad happens.

LOGAN: I'll see if I can get a hold of those police reports, find the addresses on the break-ins. They're probably all in the same area, near wherever he's hiding.

MAX: Should narrow things down, at least.

LOGAN: I can boot up my police scanner, monitor the calls. If he shows up somewhere else, maybe you can get to him before the cops do.

MAX: Thanks. He's so not ready to be out there in the world. I put him there. If something happens, it'd be my fault.

(Alec appears in the doorway behind Logan.)

ALEC: Don't be so hard on yourself, Max. You put me out in the world, and I'm loving it.

LOGAN: Don't you people ever knock?

MAX: What are you doing here?

ALEC (entering the room): Looking for you. The fact is, I should be with my own kind. Was wondering if you hooked up with any of the others.

MAX: You looking to start a support group?

ALEC: Ah, just bored, really. Ordinary people are so ordinary. (To Logan) No offense.

MAX: I'll set up a play date later. Kind of in the middle of something.

(She grabs Alec to escort him out and he picks up the tabloid.)

ALEC: Whoa. Isn't this your dog-boy pal? Looks like he's gotten himself into quite a jam. Guess you're gonna swoop in and save the day, huh?

MAX: I was thinking about it.

ALEC: Well, you're gonna need a hand.

LOGAN: She's got two of her own, but thanks.

ALEC: This affects me, too, you know. People catch wind that stuff like this is out there, it's exposure for all of us. Today the tabloids, tomorrow the nightly news. (Puts the tabloid back on the table.)

MAX (after a pause): Logan's tracking down a few leads. In the meantime, thought I'd check out Terminal City.

LOGAN: Max...

MAX: It's where I'd head if I was looking to lay low.

ALEC: Why? What's--what's Terminal City?

MAX: Come on. I'll show you.

(Max and Alec approach a fence that has a sign on it, saying "BIOHAZARD--DO NOT ENTER--BY ORDER OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE." They step through a broken part of the fence.)

ALEC: What's the deal with this place?

MAX: Used to be a bunch of biotech labs out here, and then when the Pulse hit, the power went down. A few of them lost containment. Some pretty nasty stuff got out.

ALEC: Kinda like you and me, huh?

(They walk past some broken-down buildings.)

MAX: City couldn't afford to clean up the mess, so they just sealed off the area. Nobody goes out here unless they got nowhere else to go and nothing to lose.

ALEC: Lucky thing they made us immune to your common biowarfare agents. Hey, speaking of bioagents, how's that thingy with you and Logan? (Max gives him a look.) I was just asking.

(In another part of the city, Lydecker stands across the street from an abandoned building. On the fence around the building is a sign that says "R.C.F. ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP & DISPOSAL." Lydecker glances at Renfro's I.D. card for "R.C.F. Demolitian & Disposal." He checks to make sure his gun is loaded and tucks it in his waistband, then enters the building. It is dark inside. He walks on a catwalk and sees a man sitting in a chair below him, reading something. Lydecker draws his gun, walks down the stairs, and approaches the man from behind.)

LYDECKER: Got a light?

(As soon as the man turns around, Lydecker knocks him out. He grabs the man's flashlight and looks around. In a pile of dirt and rubble he finds some small skeletons and takes pictures of them. On the wall he sees a painted image. We see flashbacks of the Manticore logo; the painting on the wall resembles it.)

(At Terminal City, Max and Logan approach two homeless men, one of whom is holding a small dog.)

FIRST MAN: You two lost?

ALEC: We're, uh, looking for someone. Maybe you've seen him around.

SECOND MAN: What's he look like?

MAX: Um...really tall, wears an Army jacket, kind of...uh...

ALEC: ...hairy. Lots of growling, some barking...

(The man's dog barks.)

FIRST MAN: Hush, Bongo.

ALEC: Like that.

SECOND MAN: Sorry.

FIRST MAN: Saw a lizard guy the other day, though. Remember, Bill? I told ya.

BILL: You were drunk!

FIRST MAN: Maybe he's a friend of yours, too.

MAX: No, but we wouldn't mind talking to him.

FIRST MAN: Check the sewer. That's where he went, along with his panther lady friend.

MAX: Thanks.

(Max and Alec walk through the sewer.)

ALEC: Well, this is hands down the most disgusting sewer I've ever been in.

MAX (seeing some bloody remains): What's that?...Ugh, it's a dog.

ALEC: Something big took it out.

MAX: Not Joshua.

ALEC: What, he wouldn't turn against his own kind?

(Max's pager beeps.)

MAX: It's Logan. I have to get to a pay phone.

ALEC: Wait, wait, wait. (Tosses her a cell phone.) Come into the twenty-first century, will ya?

(She dials and Logan picks up.)

MAX: Logan, it's me.

LOGAN: I just hung up with my police contact. He managed to find the address of Joshua's last break-in.

MAX: Where was it?

LOGAN: Across town in sector six, 542 McCallister. Name's Sandeman.

MAX: Sandeman?

(Max flashes back to her first meeting with Joshua, then to Renfro's words in the lab.)

JOSHUA (in flashback): Father...Sandman. He made us all.

RENFRO (in flashback): Find...Sandeman.

(End flashback.)

LOGAN: Does that name mean something to you?

MAX: Joshua called him Father. Got a feeling he founded Manticore or something.

LOGAN: Well, if that's true, then why would he turn Joshua away and report him to the cops?

MAX: Think I'll ask him. Later. (Hangs up.)

ALEC: Did you get a lead on dog boy?

MAX: Sorta. Come on.

ALEC: You go ahead. We can cover more ground if we split up.

MAX: Right. Hit me up if you find him.

ALEC: You got it.

(In their apartment, the man who was taking pictures before is comforting the woman with a brand-new deadbolt lock on the door.)

MAN: There you go, honey. Safe and sound. Ain't nobody gonna get through there.

(Max bursts in the door and the woman screams. Max grabs the man by the neck.)

MAX: You Sandeman? (He grunts.) You don't look like the father of my country. Name Manticore mean anything to you?

MAN: Honest, lady, I don't know what you want.

MAX: Hey! I asked you a question. You got any kids, any little mutant kids?

MAN: I don't know what you're talking about.

MAX: You don't know anything about genetic enhancement?

WOMAN (indicating her breasts): He got me these.

(Max drops the man and leaves.)

(Alec walks through the sewer. He glances at his watch, which now says 13:47, and hears the man above ground looking for his dog.)

MAN: Bongo, where are you, boy? Come on, boy!

(Alec peers around a corner and sees a woman about to chew on a dog. It is Bongo and he is yipping.)

ALEC: You're not really gonna eat that, are ya?

(She turns and growls at him. We see that she has a panther-like face and is covered with dark fur.)

ALEC: Come on, sister, have a little dignity.

(She looks at him hungrily.)

ALEC: Yeah, that's right, dinner bell's a-chiming. Come and get it.

(She approaches, slashing at him, and he kicks her down. She gets up and bites his arm.)

ALEC: Oh! Bitch!

(He slams her against a wall. They struggle for a minute until he pulls out White's folding knife and stabs her. She howls and falls dead.)

MAN'S VOICE: Bongo!

ALEC: Oh, shut up! (Notices Bongo whining nearby.) Come here.

(He picks up Bongo and pushes him up through a drainage grate. Bongo barks and the man hurries over.)

MAN: Bongo! There you are! Come on, fella.

(Alec turns the woman over to reveal her white barcode and begins to remove it with the knife.)

(In his apartment, Logan is sitting in a desk chair and Max is sitting in another chair facing him. Voices come over Logan's police scanner in the background.)

LOGAN: If this guy Sandeman founded Manticore, how come you don't know his name?

MAX: It's not like there was a statue in the quad. I never heard of the guy until Joshua and then Renfro said something. Some crap about me being the one they're looking for.

LOGAN: I wonder if that's what Lydecker was talking about. He called. Said something about your DNA being unusual.

MAX: Whatever.

LOGAN: Not whatever. There's something going on here.

MAX: Yeah, Joshua's out there and he needs my help. What about the other addresses? Did you get them?

LOGAN: Yeah, and they don't add up. None of the others are named Sandeman.

MAX: It doesn't make any sense.

LOGAN: Plus the addresses are all over town. No pattern at all.

MAX: So we've got nothing.

(Logan nods. Max looks up and sees an empty spot on the wall where a painting used to be.)

MAX: Don't tell me you sold your Hockney to pay that lab tech creep.

LOGAN: Yep.

MAX: Grandmother left that to you.

LOGAN: Small price to pay. The creep called; says that he analyzed the blood sample you gave him. Thinks he's close to a cure.

MAX: Are you serious?

LOGAN: Mm-hm. (Hands her an envelope of cash.) Wants you to come by tomorrow.

MAX: Whether he comes through or not...I'm kicking in for half of this.

LOGAN: It's okay.

MAX: I want this too, you know.

LOGAN: Get it to me when you can.

(A voice speaks up on the scanner and Logan turns up the volume.)

VOICE: Says he has a crazed dog cornered in his garage. Make that a guy. No, make that a dog.

SECOND VOICE: Whatever. We'll check it out.

FIRST VOICE: 349 Whitney.

LOGAN: Hey, do you think that--

(He turns to find that Max has already left.)

(In a garage, a man is pointing a gun at Joshua, who crouches behind a motorcycle and growls.)

MAN: One move and I'll blow your head off!

(A police car pulls up and a male and female officer get out.)

MALE OFFICER: What is it?

MAN: Don't ask me. I found it rummaging through my garbage.

FEMALE OFFICER: Maybe you should've called Animal Control.

MALE OFFICER (to Joshua): Stay back. I'm warning you!

(Max enters on her motorcycle and uses it to knock down the female officer. She kicks the male officer down while Joshua takes the opportunity to jump through a window. Max takes a threatening step at the man and he runs away. Max runs to the window and calls out.)

MAX: Joshua?

(Joshua is gone.)

(Alec walks down a street and finishes putting the panther woman's barcode into a small notebook.)

ALEC: One down, two to go.

(He tucks the notebook in his jacket and checks his watch. It now says 7:59. He walks past a group of homeless people and recognizes the face of a young man sitting wrapped in a blanket. The young man recognizes him as well. He scrambles up, tossing the blanket aside, and we see he is wearing a Manticore shirt and fatigues. He addresses Alec loudly.)

YOUNG MAN: Sir! Are we remobilizing?

(The other homeless people turn around and look at them.)

ALEC: Follow me. Don't make a big deal out of it.

(He follows Alec into a narrow alley.)

ALEC: Where's the rest of your squad?

YOUNG MAN: We got separated when the fire broke out. Then I saw the signal--the one that told us to go to ground.

ALEC: So you're alone?

YOUNG MAN: Yes, sir.

(Alec glances around and grabs him by the neck. A moment later the young man stops struggling and drops to the ground, unconscious. Alec turns him over, looks at his barcode, and takes the knife to it.)

(That night, Lydecker is sitting in his SUV, looking at prints of the pictures he took in the RCF building. He is talking on his cell phone to a man who is sitting in an office and looking at some papers.)

LYDECKER: What are we looking at here?

MAN: A Kiloma Indian burial site, probably from the early 1800s. These pictures...they're just like in the stories.

LYDECKER: Stories?

MAN: Legend has it that a group of white fur traders kidnapped a young girl from the tribe--forced her to have a child for them.

LYDECKER: With who?

MAN: A boy they had with them. He was only fourteen, but described as being over six feet tall. The baby was stillborn, terribly deformed. (As the man talks, Lydecker looks through the pictures of the small skeletons.) They forced her to have another, nevertheless. They weren't satisfied until the third was born. They took the child away--

LYDECKER: --and they killed the mother. Why was this child so important?

MAN: I don't know. I always assumed it was just a story.

LYDECKER: What about the last picture--the one with the painting on the wall?

MAN: It's not a Kiloma design. I've never seen anything like it.

LYDECKER: I have.

MAN: I might be able to tell you more if I can see the original photos.

LYDECKER: I'll bring them to you...tonight.

(In the warehouse, White is looking through Alec's notebook. The young man's barcode has been stuck to another page, next to the panther woman's barcode.)

ALEC: So I got two. I just need more time to get the third.

WHITE: We had an agreement.

ALEC: Just a few hours.

WHITE: That's not what I'm talking about. I told you to kill them.

ALEC: Yeah.

(White nods to a man standing nearby. The man hits a button on a remote control and the floor of the cage, which is still suspended from the ceiling, opens. The young man Alec met on the street drops down, dead.)

WHITE: Someone left him outside an emergency room with a bandage on the back of his neck.

ALEC: He was just a kid.

WHITE: You disappoint me. Now apparently you had no trouble with whatever this was! (Indicates the panther woman's barcode.) But him...one of your own...you couldn't do it. So now you're a dead man.

ALEC: I can do it. Give me another chance.

WHITE: All right. I'll let him count against your final total. But you still owe me one more. Say thank you.

ALEC (through gritted teeth): Thank you. Can I have more time?

WHITE: No. But you can have this. (Hands him a taser wand.) Maybe if you don't have to listen to them beg and scream, you can actually go through with it. Tick tock.

(In Logan's apartment, Max stands looking out the window at the nighttime skyline as Logan works on his computer in the other room.)

LOGAN: I think I figured it out--why the addresses don't add up. (Removes a sheet of paper from the printer as Max joins him.) Joshua's been looking for Sandeman, all right; it's just his information's out of date.

MAX: What do you mean?

LOGAN: Well, I ran the addresses I got against the listings in a pre-Pulse directory. Ten years ago, people with the last name Sandeman lived at all six addresses.

MAX: Joshua must've gotten his hands on an old directory and not realized it's no good anymore.

LOGAN: He's going through 'em one by one, in order.

MAX: Any left?

LOGAN: Two more. (Hands her the printout.)

MAX: Thanks, Logan. I'd hug you, but..

. LOGAN: Maybe in a couple days.

(Max walks down a street, reading the printout. Alec suddenly steps in front of her.)

ALEC: Max.

MAX (gasping): You scared me.

ALEC: We need to talk.

MAX: Wish I could, but I don't have time right now.

ALEC: I'm afraid you're gonna have to make time. (He fingers the taser wand in his back pocket.) It's a matter of life and death--mine.

MAX: Look, I don't know what your drama is, but I got a lead on Joshua and I'm outta here, now.

ALEC: Joshua?

MAX: Yup.

(She bends over her bike and Alec glimpses her barcode. He checks his watch, which now says :59.)

ALEC: I'll go with you.

MAX: Fine. Ready?

ALEC: Yeah.

(He gets on the bike behind her. They ride two one of the two addresses left and pull up next to a fence. They step through a hole in the fence.)

MAX: This is the right address. Guess they tore the place down.

(She sees a figure sitting amongst the bushes and rubble, and smiles.)

MAX: Joshua!

(Joshua turns and approaches her.)

JOSHUA: Max.

(Max hugs him.)

MAX: Hey, big fella.

JOSHUA: Hey, little fella.

MAX: How you doing? I've been worried.

JOSHUA: Father not here...not anywhere.

(Max notices a rumpled piece of paper in his hand.)

MAX: Where'd you get that?

JOSHUA: Took it, uh, from people upstairs, after Father left.

MAX: See, those addresses are old. That means that those people may not live there anymore.

(He glances at the paper and points to it.)

JOSHUA: One more.

MAX: Okay. We'll check it out.

ALEC: I hate to be a killjoy, but nobody's going anywhere.

(He pulls out the taser wand and zaps Max with it. She falls to the ground, shaking. Joshua swings at Alec but misses. Alec zaps him. Joshua swings again, Alec zaps him again, and Joshua falls to the ground, gasping. Alec turns him over and looks at his neck, which is bare.)

ALEC: Where is it? Where the hell is your barcode?!

JOSHUA: No barcode. I was first...special.

(Alec zaps him again and Joshua growls. Alec turns to Max and tosses the wand away.)

ALEC: I'm sorry. There's no other way. (Pulls out the knife.)

MAX: Alec.

ALEC: I don't want to die.

(He kneels over Max and holds up the knife. He pauses for a minute, then stabs. Alec falls to the ground next to Max and we see he has driven the knife into the ground on her other side.)

(In the lab tech's apartment, Alec sits in a chair while the tech looks at his neck. Max paces in front of them. Joshua stands nearby.)

TECH: Yeah, thought so. Planted a few myself back in the day. Mind my asking how you ended up with one of these pop guns attached to your brain stem?

MAX: Because he's a cold-blooded, opportunistic showoff who thought he could run his game on a major bad guy who, it turns out, is an even bigger scumbag than he is! That about cover it?

ALEC: Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened.

MAX (sarcastically): Oh, before I forget, thanks so much for not killing me.

JOSHUA: Me too.

TECH: I can disarm it. It'll cost you ten grand.

MAX: That the only number you know?

ALEC (handing him a wad of cash): I can get you the rest later.

TECH: Need it up front.

(Alec jumps up and pins him to the wall by the throat.)

ALEC: Where the hell am I gonna get that kind of cash in the next five minutes, huh?

MAX: Wait. You're paying me back.

(Max pulls some money out of her jacket. Alec releases the tech and sits back down.)

ALEC: No problem.

TECH: Great. I can leave town tonight.

MAX: What?! You haven't finished my job!

TECH: Have I not mentioned that my life is in danger?

MAX: I'll make sure nothing happens to you.

TECH: Not good enough. Look, you can have the work that I've done so far. Take my analysis. You can find some other Manticore geek to help you finish it off.

MAX: Where?

TECH: Don't know. If they're smart like me, they're probably already on their way out of town. We got a deal? This guy's got like two minutes to live.

(Max pauses. She looks at Alec, then at the lab tech.)

MAX: Do it.

(She hands him the money and he hands her some papers. A short time later, Alec glances at his watch while the man works on his neck. The watch has eight seconds left.)

ALEC: Time's almost up, pal.

TECH: Don't distract me.

(The tech removes the microexplosive and holds it in the air as it pops. Alec jumps at the sound and turns around to look.)

TECH: Congratulations. You're not dead.

(Max looks at the papers in her hand. Alec rubs his neck. The tech closes a suitcase and heads for the door.)

TECH: That's it. I'm out of here. (To Max.) Sayonara.

(He leaves. Max looks at Alec.)

ALEC: I owe you, Max. I know I screwed things--

MAX: Shut up! And listen, 'cause I'm only saying this once. That guy was the last chance for me and Logan. He's gone, and it's your fault. Don't think I'm ever getting over that.

ALEC: I know.

MAX: Just...do me a favor, all right? Go away. I can't even look at you right now.

(She turns away. Joshua growls at Alec, who takes the hint and heads for the door. He picks up his jacket and pauses.)

ALEC: I'm sorry, Max...for everything.

(He leaves. Joshua stands behind Max.)

MAX (voice breaking): I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up anyway. I just wish I knew what I was gonna tell Logan.

(Joshua puts his hands on her shoulders and she looks down.)

(Lydecker is driving his SUV. A larger SUV suddenly gets behind him, tailgating. Lydecker grabs the wheel and the other car hits him.)

(The next day, some workers are pulling an SUV from the water while police stand nearby. Lydecker's pictures float in the water.)

MAN: Body must've been thrown clear. Guess we're gonna have to drag the river.

(Max and Joshua enter an abandoned house. The room they're in has papers and books strewn across the floor.)

MAX: This is the last address.

(Joshua picks up a book and looks around.)

JOSHUA: Father's house.

MAX: You sure?

JOSHUA: His books...I remember.

(He smiles. A moment later, he spots a cane lying on the floor and shows it to Max. The top end of the cane is carved into the same shape as the Manticore logo and the painting on the RCF wall.)

MAX: The Manticore symbol. (Points at a Manticore logo on Joshua's jacket.) See?

JOSHUA: No. Father's.

(Max flashes back to a man using this same cane and approaching her when she is very young. She is wearing a Manticore gown. He reaches down and picks her up. We do not see his face.)

MAN (in flashback): There she is. My little one. My special little one.

(In the present day, Joshua attempts to get Max's attention.)

JOSHUA: Max. Little fella. Max. (Max looks at him.) Father not here.

MAX: Nope. Looks like he hasn't been here in a long time. I'm sorry. I know that wasn't the plan.

JOSHUA: Joshua and Father. That's the plan.

MAX: Max, Joshua, and Father. That's the plan. You wanna find him, I'll help you. I got some questions for this guy.

JOSHUA: He'll help you. Just like the man helped your friend.

MAX: You think he can cure this virus thing?

JOSHUA: He made us. He'll make you better. And that's what you tell Logan...to have hopes up.

MAX: Okay.

(Later, Joshua lies sleeping on the floor while Max watches him. Then she extinguishes the candles around them and kisses him on the forehead, smiling.)