(VOICE ON RADIO;
I have urgent news to report on the
following rescue stations, so please pay close attention.

INT. WFPR RADIO STATION – DAY – CONTINUOUS

ERNIE BRADLEY sits at the console.

ERNIE
County Hospital and the High School are no longer operational as safe havens. Do not attempt to go there for assistance. Instead, try to make your way to the Riverton Warehouse on Dock Street. It’s the only rescue station still able to guarantee your safety.

It has been determined that it is no longer safe to stay at your place of residence. The government has declared martial law and everyone must now go to the nearest rescue station. I will not be sending any more news from here. I am going to shut down. Remember, the old Riverton Warehouse is the only rescue station still operational. May God be with you.

Ernie kills the microphone and goes to the main lobby. A generator DRONES from the basement. FELICIA, 27, slim, blond, lies on a coach, a blanket up to her chin. Ernie carefully pulls it away.

ERNIE
(whispers)
Wake up.

Startled, Felicia’s eyes fly open and she sits upright.

FELICIA
What time is it?

ERNIE
It’s time to go.

FELICIA
Did they come?

ERNIE
No. No one’s coming to relieve us.
We’re leaving anyway.

Felicia follows Ernie to the door. Outside, several Ghouls mill about, currently unaware of Ernie and Felicia.

FELICIA
Are we going to the rescue
station?

ERNIE
Yes. We’ll get help there. When
I open this door, run straight
to my car. There’s only a few
of them out there.

Felicia calms and nods. Ernie opens the door and they run.

EXT. RADIO STATION - CONTINUOUS

One of the Ghouls turns and begins its arduous shuffle toward the car as Ernie and Felicia lock themselves in.

INT. ERNIE’S CAR - CONTINUOUS

Ernie turns the key but the car won’t start. Engine cranking slows. The battery is dead.

ERNIE
Shit! Are you kidding me?

He glances back at the station, then to the approaching Ghoul. Two more Ghouls join the first. One is a hideously-mangled Man with entrails dangling from an open stomach cavity. They cry out in eerie wails upon seeing Felicia and Ernie. Ernie grabs a tire iron from behind the seat.

ERNIE
Stay here! I’ll take care of
these and we’ll try again.

FELICIA
(grabs for him as he exits)
NO!

EXT. RADIO STATION – CONTINUOUS

Ernie runs to the closest Ghoul, weapon raised. He slams the sharp end into the creature’s chest. It remains standing and puts bloody hands on Ernie’s throat, tries to bite. He stabs it again… It is unfazed.

Felicia sees other Ghouls approaching Ernie. She shouts:

FELICIA
Ernie, look out!

Ernie turns. The Creature he is fighting bites him in the arm. Ernie SCREAMS! The others quickly close in and cover him. When one bites his jugular, ERNIE falls to the ground.

A Creature turns toward Felicia, who’s now standing by the car. It moves toward her. Felicia runs, leaving the ghastly site behind.

She stops at the highway, holding her side, gasping for air. There’s no traffic, only the walking Dead in the distance, who bump into things and each other. A boy pulls a red wagon. A Frankenstein bride carries a wedding dress; a woman carries a dead baby. Felicia crouches out of site to catch her breath.

INT. JIM’S TRUCK – DAY – CONTINUOUS

They are entering town. Several cars that have created a pile-up block the road ahead. There’s no way past. Jim brings the truck to a stop and steps out.

JIM
(looking back into the truck to Amanda)
Stay here.

EXT. EDGE OF TOWN – DAY – CONTINUOUS

The closest car is upright and crushed to the dashboard. Blood paints the webbed windshield. Jim peers inside. There’s no one inside... a sigh of relief.

The second car is on its roof. He gets to his knees to look inside and QUICKLY pulls back. There’s someone inside ... a bloody forehead and eyes that see nothing. He looks back to see Amanda now standing beside the truck. (FOCUS IN BEHIND AMANDA) The street is filling with undead!

Then, the sound of an approaching vehicle from the other side of the pile-up! A tricked out Humvee with barred windows comes to a SCREECHING HALT. Two men leap out. Mick has blond hair and a mustache. Chuck is a wiry, bald, biker type. Chuck takes aim and dispatches the nearest ghouls.

MICK
(motioning to Jim and Amanda)
Come’on… hurry!

As the four make a dash for the Humvee, Felicia stumbles her way toward them. She is noticeably shaken and unkempt in appearance. Chuck mistakenly assumes she's one of the undead and takes aim and fires just missing her.

Felicia WAVES to the others to let them know she's not one of the ghouls, but before she can get close enough Chuck cocks the gun again, aims, but before he fires Mick notices the woman waving and in an instant pushes the end of the rifle upward just as it DISCHARGES. Felicia FAINTS.

Mick runs over to her and is instantly taken by her beauty. He gently picks her up and carriers her to the Humvee.

INT HUMVEE - CONTINUOUS

Mick places Felicia in the back.

MICK
(to Chuck)
You’ve got to be more careful!

CHUCK
I didn’t know. I thought she
was one of them.

Mick caresses the side of Felicia’s face.

INT. SMALL COUNTRY CHURCH – DAY

REV. R.T. PETERSON sits in the front pew and examines a festering bite wound on his left arm. He stands and walks to the pulpit, turns to the empty room.

PETERSON
I am cut off from GOD.

The stained-glass window behind him is broken. He walks to it. Ten feet below, many Ghouls wander aimlessly.

Peterson picks up a bottle of Jim Beam and caresses it before opening it. It’s empty. He tosses it across the room, where it SHATTERS against the wall. He falls to his knees, lifts hands and face toward heaven, and cries:

PETERSON
Why hast thou forsaken me?

He crawls back to the pew on all fours. The barricaded doors REVERBERATE with a pounding. The Ghouls are excited by his rants. He turns on his side and falls into a drunken sleep.

LATER

... Petersen wakes. He walks to a table containing moldy bread, wine, a large knife. He picks up the knife and pulls at his tunic until the cloth rips from his chest.

PETERSON
Forgive me, for I have sinned.
There is no place in God’s
kingdom for a drunkard.

He painfully carves the shape of a cross in his chest. The blood DRIPS and forms a small PUDDLE on the floor.

PETERSON
(drops to his knees)
I repent! Please forgive me.

He sobs for a moment, then gets to his feet and rubs the blood away from the wounds. It is a sign of his faith.

He moves to the church kitchen and pops two codeine tablets into his mouth and chases them with water from a milk jug. A mirror hangs in front of him. His reflection shows a pocked, unshaven face. He looks disturbed as he rubs his face.

FLASHBACK… INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Peterson as a ten-year-old child. His father is strict and abusive. The boy sits at the kitchen table eating an unappetizing meal. His father is an unkempt alcoholic wearing blue jeans and an old tee shirt.

PETERSON’S FATHER
(raises his hand to strike)
EAT YOUR FOOD YOU MISERABLE LITTLE
SHIT!

The boy covers his head with his arms in fear. His father delivers a swift, hard blow to the boy’s head and knocks him to the floor.

PETERSON’S FATHER
(throws him back to the chair)
Your mother died bringing you into
this world. I’ll be damned if I will
allow you to grow up to be an
ungrateful little bastard. EAT YOUR
FOOD!

BACK FROM FLASHBACK INT. SMALL COMMUNITY CHURCH - DAY

PETERSON
(quivering, tearful)
It’s their fault. All of my
failures are their fault. HIS FAULT!
Are you lying in your
coffin now, daddy? Clawing
to escape? Trapped with
unfulfilled desires?

He smiles, then frowns and turns away from the mirror and returns to the sanctuary.

PETERSON
(to no one in particular)
I told them their sins would
lead to death. Oh, I told them.
But my words fell of deaf ears,
Lord. (shouts) My flock has
flown, Lord! Bring them back!

With that said, the pounding on the church’s double doors stop abruptly. The ghouls no longer seek entrance. The Preacher sees it as a sign from God. Peterson quietly moves to the door and listens. Hearing nothing he removes the board from its horizontal place across the inside of the door.

There are no ghouls in sight as Peterson steps outside. It is unusual. They have been pounding at the church for days.

He is watching over his shoulder as he moves to the corner and COLLIDES with one of the ghouls! It’s sunken eyes stares into the preacher’s and it moves on uninterested. Peterson watches incredulously as the creature walks away. He is distracted as he continues to move around the corner. BANG! He runs into another one! Again, it simply moves on without an attack. At first he is puzzled. Then, he stares at the bite wound on his arm. He begins to believe... HE IS CHOSEN.

EXT. RESCUE CENTER

A GUARD at the entrance talks into a handheld radio as the Humvee approaches the parking lot surrounding a large concrete building. An overweight MAN (JON) walks toward Jim, Mick, Amanda, Felicia, and Chuck as they exit the vehicle. GUARDS dot the perimeter.

MICK
(smiles)
Told you I’d get them.

Mick places a shoebox on the hood of the truck and retrieves three pistols and silencers from it. Jim checks out the place uneasily.

MICK
Give one of these to whomever’s
on duty. Tell them to use it.
I’m tired of those things
showing up every time we
have to fire off a shot.

Jon takes the weapon. Through pursed lips he makes the sound of a gun with a silencer. Poof!

JON
This should help. But you
never know. The sons of bitches
may have pretty good hearing.
(looks at the others) Found some
more still alive, huh?

MICK
(walking inside)
Less every day.

JON
Mayor Woods is waiting in the
office. He’s throwing another
one of his fits.

Mick shakes his head ruefully and continues inside.

INT. SAFE STATION

A large room filled with people lying on blankets or engaging in conversation. The room is dim from kerosene lamps. A strong stench of sweat, kerosene fumes, and filth stings Jim’s eyes as they squeeze their way through the crowd to an office area.


INT. RESCUE CENTER – LARGE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

MICK
(to Felicia and Amanda)
Go ahead and find you a spot to set
up camp. There should be some extra
blankets over by the wall.

INT. RESCUE CENTER – OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Mick, Jim, and Chuck, enter the office. The town’s mayor, Stan Woods is waiting… pacing the floor.

WOODS
Did you find anything?

MICK
Yes, we found more people.

The Mayor hesitates for a moment. The fact that more people are now safe has little meaning to him.

WOODS
You know what I mean. Did you find
us another place? It’s not safe here.

MICK
(irritated)
No! We didn’t have time. We did
manage to get some more people to
safety though… Not that that would
mean anything to you.

WOODS
This place is a pigsty! It’s filthy!
If one person gets a cold we all get
it. I won’t have my family subjected
to these conditions!

MICK
You’ll have to deal with what
you’ve got, just like everyone
else.

WOODS
If you’d do your job a little better
we’d all¾

Mick grabs him by the shirt and slams him against the wall.

MICK
(clenches teeth)
You son of a bitch! If you had acted
earlier, we could’ve saved more
people. The only thing you were
concerned with was saving your
own ass. In my opinion, you cost
thousands their lives!

MAYOR WOODS
We didn’t have the facts.

MICK
You didn’t have the guts! You
were afraid of being politically
incorrect, of losing some votes.
If the accommodations here aren’t
to your liking, I suggest you
go into town and get a room. I
hear there’s a few vacancies!

Mick pulls the Mayor close until their faces are inches apart

MICK
Stay away from me, you hear?
You have no authority here.
Not anymore!

Mick pushes him into the wall again before releasing him.

MAYOR WOODS
We’ll see about that.

Woods leaves the office slamming the door behind him.

MICK
I swear, if he gives me anymore
trouble I’ll feed him to one of
those things.

INT. RESCUE CENTER LARGE ROOM

Amanda spreads blankets out on the floor by the wall. A hundred or so other people fill the room. Some lie on blankets of their own, asleep. Others engage in quiet conversation. Mayor Woods is seen storming out of the office and outside.

AMANDA
(to Felicia)
There’s enough room for you to
lie down, too

FELICIA
Maybe in a while. I can’t sleep
yet.

Amanda
Well, I can. Actually, it’s
hard not to.

DR, BRINE, an old man with a white beard, approaches. He leans on a cane.

DR BRINE
Ya’ll just get here?

AMANDA
Yes.

DR. BRINE
How’s it look in town?

AMANDA
Pretty bad.

DR. BRINE
When I got here a week ago, some
people out there was still tryin’
to go about business as usual.

AMANDA
It’s a dead town now. Nothing
but the dead.

DR. BRINE
Yup. I figured.

Dr. Brine begins to walk away, then turns.

DR. BRINE
There’s an old saying. There’s
only two things you can count on:
dyin’ and payin’ taxes. Now, I’m
athinkin’, most of the tax
collectors are dead, and I’m not
so sure ‘bout the dyin’ part either.


INT. RESCUE CENTER – OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

JIM
(steps forward)
Woods may be right.

MICK
Not another one.

JIM
He may be an ass, but this place is
not safe. It’s vulnerable.

MICK
It’s been safe so far. As long as
we stay alert we can handle it. This
shelter is positioned between the
North and South forks of the river.
The only way to get here is across
the bridges.

JIM
If too many of them show up that won’t
matter much. Where we are could also
box us in.

MICK
(sits behind desk)
Yes, well I’m happy to take
suggestions from anyone who might
have one.

JIM
There’s a prison just outside of
town. It should provide us with
better protection.

MICK
The prison?
(glares up at Chuck)
Now why can’t you come up with an idea
like that? You spent almost two years at
that place.

CHUCK
(pockets lighter after lighting
cigarette)
I was there for smoking dope. Don’t
expect me to have a good idea.

MICK
(back to Jim)
What if it’s still operational and
full of inmates?

JIM
If you want to keep these people
safe I don’t see where you have much
choice. They’ll have to make room.

MICK
Maybe we should give them the guns

Jim walks for the door.

JIM
At least they’ll know how to use them.