M I L L E N N I U M "THE TIME IS NOW" Ep. # 2.23 [MLM-223 (5C23)] Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong Directed by Thomas J. Wright Edited by James Coblenz Transcribed by Dan Owen [ Second Season ] [Complete Transcript] U.S. Air Date: May 15, 1998 ===================================================================== TEASER Trademark music cue as we: FADE IN FROM WHITE: EXT. CATHERINE'S GARDEN - DAY A beautiful afternoon, the garden in full bloom. FRANK, CATHERINE and JORDAN are present... Frank stabs a small makeshift cross bearing the word KENNY into a patch of soil. FRANK Bye-bye, Kenny. CATHERINE Bye, Kenny. JORDAN Bye. The trio stand together at the small gravesite. JORDAN How does God choose when it's time for someone to die? We notice Jordan's two front teeth are missing. CATHERINE Well, a lot of people think that they know the answer to that, but... no-one really knows but God. JORDAN If God is so great... couldn't he make it so nobody ever dies? FRANK Honey, there must be a reason that all things die - there must be. CATHERINE We'll all know the reason someday. Sometime. JORDAN Is the time near? HARD CUT TO: INT. DAVIS RESIDENCE - NIGHT El Cajon, California A hazardous materials team (haz-mat team), dressed in yellow biohazard suits burst into the suburbian household. Each haz-mat member wears a gas mask, and most carry red cannisters/bags. Many are carrying flashlights. Their leader is DR. SORENSON. The team fan out around the house. We see the Davis' half-eaten Mother's Day meal still laid out on the table. Some men squirt a liquid over blood stains on the wall, dissolving them. Another team member carries a meter around, sweeping the area. The device emits BLEEPS. The readout displays a long line of digital numbers, rising rapidly. A bird cage hangs nearby, a haz-mat member shines his flashlight inside to find a dead budgie on the cage floor. The BLEEPING on the meter becomes more urgent, quicker. The team member stops in front of a window, staring ahead. TEAM MEMBER Dr. Sorenson, we're in a hot zone. SORENSON We can't determine that until we collect all the evidence. And corroborate it with the C.D.C at Fort Dietrich. Sorenson has joined his associate at the window. Both staring... TEAM MEMBER We don't have to wait, sir. It's here. We knew it was coming. That it would spread faster than we could ever control it, and now it's here. The time is now. Now we see what they're looking at: on the outside lawn lies a collection of dead birds. FADE OUT. ACT I FADE IN: EXT. YELLOW HOUSE - DAY The bright and majestic yellow house, with its black front gate. Frank, Catherine and Jordan arrive outside. Frank opens the gate and Jordan runs up the garden path happily. Frank holds the gate open for Catherine, who enters. Frank takes a few seconds to stare at the building - realising he's come full circle. EXT. YELLOW HOUSE. GARDEN - DAY Frank is knelt looking at the cracked foundations of the house: earthquake damage. He stands to see Jordan running round a corner with her mother's walking behind. FRANK (to Catherine) There's cracks around back. The foundations cracked, I guess it's all right. Frank SIGHS... CATHERINE This house was damaged long before this morning's earthquake. FRANK Yeah... Bletch. The Old Man. Our family. CATHERINE Maybe now that we found our way back to the yellow house-- FRANK It's time for a new yellow house. Frank hugs Catherine. INT. STAIRWELL PETER WATTS makes his way down some steep, dark steps. He has a flashlight in hand and it reveals a sophisticated door locking mechanism when he reached the bottom. A keypad is displayed. Peter keys in the digits - 1999. A green light illuminates. Peter enters. INT. GROUP ARCHIVE ROOM Peter closes the door behind him. He walks inside slowly, panning his flashlight around. There are lots of shelves and boxes. He notices something on the floor - shines his light on it: a Morley cigarette. He continues into the room, past more metal shelves and finds what he's looking for. A trunk, fastened with a small padlock. Peter kneels beside the trunk. We notice he's wearing white latex gloves. He takes out some plastic safety glasses and a miniature circular saw. Putting on the glasses, he uses the saw to cut through the trunk's padlock. The lock breaks. Peter places the broken lock and saw in his jacket pocket, and takes off the safety glasses. Then, he places a brand new lock on the trunk, half-opened. Inside the trunk is a reel of audio tape and an envelope... INT. YELLOW HOUSE. FRONT ROOM - DAY The room is empty, apart from some boxes. Zager and Evans' "In The Year 2525" song is playing. Catherine enters with some papers in her hand. CATHERINE Frank? Frank, who was playing the song on a small radio, gets up from the sofa. FRANK Yeah. CATHERINE This came for you. Frank has placed the radio on a mantelpiece. Catherine hands him the papers. CATHERINE Henry left you some property. A cabin and a few acres in the Wanachi mountains. FRANK Oh... Frank inspects the papers. FRANK (continuing) We should put this up for sale. I'm not gonna have any use for it. They both sit. CATHERINE It might be nice to have a place to take Jordan out of the city. FRANK No-one's been up there since I was in High School. I'm sure the cabin's barely standing. CATHERINE Well, now that you've left the Group, and you have some free time, it might be a good project for you. Frank stands. FRANK Honey, yesterday... Peter Watts told me that there was going to be an earthquake this morning. Catherine SIGHS, glancing away. FRANK To the magnitude, to the second. The Group knew. There's something happening, events are unfolding. Events that if I understood I could effect. It's a responsibility. That, for the sake of you and Jordan, I can't walk away from. Catherine strokes her hair. FRANK So much in me distrusts their power. I am disgusted by their control over people. I doubt their Christian prophecies. I want to tell them to go to the Hell that they fear so much. But... beneath it all... I believe them. And I can't walk away until I am certain of what the future might bring. Frank waits for a reply. EXHALES. CATHERINE (a beat) The way you feel toward them... describes my feelings toward you. INT. PETER'S STUDY Peter inserts a cassette into a walkman. He presses PLAY. On his computer screen, a window is displayed: VA 1624A PLEASE INITIATE VOICE AUTHENTICATION OLD MAN (V.O) (recording) The time is near. A matching voice pattern appears in the voice ident window. A second later the text 98.96 % MATCH appears and a window appears declaring: ACCESS GRANTED CONNECTING The ouroboros startup screen appears, reading: 'Welcome Old Man, there are 595 days remaining.' A MILLENNIUM INTRANET window appears with many options available. Peter uses his mouse to open the SEARCH option and types in the words: MARBURG VIRUS AND PRIONS in the search field. Clicks SEARCH. INT. MILLENNIUM GROUP COMPUTER ROOM The room is dark. Many rows of computers are switched on... one displaying a spinning ouroboros symbol as a screensaver. Seated at one console is a GROUP MEMBER, busily typing. Behind him a console begins to BLEEP. INT. PETER'S STUDY On his computer screen, a document on the Marburg Virus is displayed. Peter clicks FILE PRINT. INT. MILLENNIUM GROUP COMPUTER ROOM The Group Member walks over to the BLEEPING console. It has displayed a screen, declaring: WARNING - tracking abnormal access - SUSPECTED UNAUTHORISED ACCESS INT. PETER'S STUDY Peter quickly clicks 'LOG OFF' and disconnects. INT. MILLENNIUM GROUP COMPUTER ROOM The BLEEPING console's warning screen disappears. The Group Member looks a little confused. INT. PETER'S STUDY A laserjet printer is busy ejecting numerous sheets on the Marburg Virus. Peter takes a handful and reads through them. INT. FRANK'S STUDY Frank presses a button on his answermachine. BEEP! LARA'S RECORDED VOICE (quick, feverish) Why now? Why now, Frank? Why were we born now? Do you realise the probability - the probability of even being born at all? The changes of any life being here - let alone you and me? If it ends - when it will end - we'll be amongst the 10% of all humans who ever lived. Do you understand the odds of being born at the time it will end? And since the time is now, since the end is here - we're all old. If you compute all the life - of all the life on earth, of all the life in the universe - we're infants. And that's all we'll ever be - all we ever were. Can you calculate the odds of being born - so, so lucky, Frank, to be born now. The things they've told me. The responsibility, Frank, just to know is enough... to see it happen - a chance to witness. I'm so frightened - I had the chance to watch it happen. But we'll be all right we... we can't be born just to die - we knew this was coming, right. We've known for two millennia. (quoting) Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written in it for the time... is near. EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT Frank's jeep speeds down the pier... begins to slow as it approached another car parked to one side; someone sitting inside. Frank pulls parallel to the vehicle. Inside sits RICHARD GILBERT. Frank stops and Richard winds down his window. FRANK Richard, I'm honoured you offered me a job with you and The Trust... but I have to remain with the Millennium Group. RICHARD Can you say why? Frank takes a moment... then shakes his head. RICHARD (a beat) Frank... get out. Get away. When we investigated Lara Means' whereabouts... we made some discoveries about Millennium that scared the hell outta me. They're watching us. Frank looks at Richard closely. RICHARD You should be aware that they've recently begun intense surveillance on Peter Watts. Any group that so closely monitors their own members should be feared. I an certain of one thing, Frank... Frank pays attention... RICHARD (continuing) ... I'd be watching your back. FRANK Farewell, Richard. Richard starts his car and drives away, leaving Frank to sit alone and think. Frank hardly has time -- the ENGINE of another vehicle is heard and two black cars round a corner onto the pier. Lights on. Heading toward Frank's jeep. Frank watches them in his rear-view mirror as they stop inches behind him. Their doors pop open. Frank gets out to greet the four Millennium Group MEMBERS that are waiting for him. Their leader, MR LOTT, steps forward. MR LOTT How is it decided... who lives and who dies? FLASH ON: two red dice hitting a brown/white patterned table, with a BOOM-BOOM sound effect. They roll a 1 and a 3. LOTT (continuing) Maybe, individually, we are allotted only so many days of life. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT A car drives down the winding country road. Behind the wheel sits Richard Gilbert. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) Maybe as a whole mankind is only allotted so many days of life. INT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT LOTT (V.O) (continuing) So you see... in what appears to be the plan for mankind... the death of one individual is absolutely inconsequential. FLASH ON: the falling dice again -- BOOM-BOOM -- they roll a 4 and 6. MR LOTT (continuing) The Millennium Group is not concerned with any single individual life. Do you see where I am going with this? EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT Richard continues to drive... MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) Our responsibility-- Richard notices a lorry is travelling slowly up ahead. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) --and remember that word it will come up again, our responsibility is to the life of the whole of mankind. INT. CABIN A table littered with dozens of pieces of paper - each one full of hand-written numbers. LARA MEANS sits at the table in loose white clothing, dropping two dice, and feverishly writing the results on the notepaper. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) And so we must proceed in a manner that increases the odds of that survival. Sounds like a paradox... EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT Frank has been listening, now he rubs his face. MR LOTT (continuing) ... but it is the very nature of our responsibility. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT Richard's car is driving behind the large truck, labelled MOTEX. The truck driver, visible leaning out his cab, waves Richard by. Richard gestures his thanks... MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) If one life appears to interfere with our protection of billions of lives... (chuckles) ... it really becomes a no-brainer. Richard steps on his accelerator to move past the truck. His car glides out to one side and begins to pass... EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) And the courage to be responsible for all those lives-- EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT Richard's car is signalling as he pulls round in front of the truck. Richard sees he's approaching a bend and presses the brake. It's not working. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) --that is the first thing that you must understand and accept. As you are about to become a member of the Millennium Group... EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT MR LOTT ... there will be a constant danger to yourself: mentally, physically... FLASH ON: the falling dice -- BOOM-BOOM -- they now roll a 5 and a 2. INT. CABIN Lara continues to scribble down her numbers on sheets of paper, rolling her dice constantly. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) ... in the responsibility of the responsibility. Just the simple act of comprehending the reality of the events before us can cause some to break. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT Richard, now panicking, is pumping on the brake pedal. RICHARD Come on... MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) And to those who are not broken by the danger and responsibility of knowing-- Richard swerves round an approaching car... almost smashes into another one, but avoids it. MR LOTT (V.O) (continuing) --comes the intensity of living with that fear for the rest of their lives. Richard's car is inches away from hitting a concrete barrier. EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT MR LOTT And the actions which must be taken to achieve the Millennium Group's success of purpose. EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT Richard's car SCRAPES against the barrier... SCREECHES! Sparks fly up around the hood as he continues to SQUEAL round the corner. Then, he SMASHES into a streetlight -- his car EXPLODES into flames and a brilliant fireball! Huge chunks of debris rains down on the grass bank. EXT. DOCKLANDS - NIGHT MR LOTT This is who we are. FLASH ON: the falling dice -- BOOM-BOOM -- a 4 and a 5. FADE OUT. ACT II INT. GARAGE WAREHOUSE Frank is viewing the mangled shell of Richard's car. The bodywork is dented and caves in along the side. Frank looks through the windows, noticing blood all over the seats. A figure appears: BRIAN DIXON. Frank notices. DIXON Long time. This is no way to meet up again. FRANK Did you examine this? DIXON Of course. Nothing. I was positive this was no accident. All of us at The Trust checked the car with the intent on finding the evidence to prove our suspicion, but no foreign substances or objects in the brakeline... no evidence of tampering on the pads, disk, or wheel drums. FRANK No-one can tell me - that the same night Richard informs me the Group is watching us - he dies in a car wreck. DIXON Frank... death is never convenient - no matter what the circumstances. The timing, need for a reason, sometimes its just as simple as... our time is up. Frank hears what Dixon is saying. INT. GARAGE WAREHOUSE - LATER A worktop cluttered with tools, equipment and spare parts. A radio, amongst the objects, is transmitting a news broadcast: REPORTER (V.O) There are strange reports out of the Eastern region of China near Janon - in which an entire village of farmers and their families were found dead today. Information is sketchy with causes being attributed to everything from mass suicide to a toxic spill. Frank is listening... has a vision: FZZZT! The abrupt TV static. HARD CUT TO: INT. GARAGE WAREHOUSE - LATER Frank is on a trolley underneath Richard's car, using a handlamp to view the underneath mechanics. Someone enters the garage and walks over. It's PETER WATTS. Frank trundles out from underneath the car, looking up at Peter. FRANK You put yourself at risk coming here. PETER We're all at risk. Frank gets up. FRANK Lara Means... He walks, rubbing oil off his palms with a cloth. FRANK (continuing) ... I heard a message. Frank puts on his coat. PETER She's in a volatile state. Sometimes happens after being initiated into the Group. It could happen to you if you intend to become a member. FRANK I'll never stop questioning. Frank walks away... stops as Peter talks. PETER Well, you made me start questioning. (referring to car) You can stop looking for evidence here, they didn't do this. Frank walks up to Peter. FRANK How do you know that? PETER The Millennium Group's occupied with something more important than Gilbert. Frank walks away again. PETER You tried to get information about the Marburg Virus from the Group's database, but it was level blue clearance. FRANK Yes I did. PETER After you showed me the medical tests you had done - which to me indicated that we had been inoculated without our being aware - I needed to know "inoculated against what?" So... since it appears I no longer have level blue clearance... I broke into Group archives and stole some of the Old Man's personal effects: specifically, a recorded transmission and his voice access phrase. I edited the transmission, I matched his voice code, I got level blue and I looked up the Marburg Virus. FRANK What did you find? PETER (sighs) It appears to live in an unknown host, somewhere in the Kaitoon Cave region of East Africa. Frank remembers something: the overhead view of a luminous green jungle from his dream. PETER (continuing) The Soviets - 'biopreperat' - sent men into the jungle to find it. Frank remembers: the monkey SCREEECHING! FRANK Jordan keeps having these reoccurring nightmares about monkeys. PETER Frank, you're daughter doesn't just dream, surely you must know that by now. FRANK (a beat) What about the Russians? PETER (takes a deep breath) The object was to create a devastating biological weapon. The virus is genetically labile - it could exchange genes with plague, anthrax, smallpox, flu strains: which creates variant viruses, against which a human population has no immunological defence. Weapons grade anthrax takes approximately 8,000 microscopic spores to introduce an infection. The Marburg variant they created in the lab takes 3! Peter begins to walk alongside the car wreck. PETER (continuing) Now in 1982 prions were discovered, and a prion is a protein that has no R.N.A; no life. So it would make the perfect weapon: it's immune to antibiotics, enzymes, can withstand the heat of over 600 degrees. A Marburg variant virus which genetically engineered with the prion... thereby creating the biological agent that would kill quickly, spread rapidly, and if the virus were neutralised the fused prion would finish off the host. (a beat) When the Soviet Union fell the bioweapons facility near Pekeb was abandoned. The virus - Marburg variant PRP - a manmade virus that had never been exposed to the environment... leaked. Birds in the area - and birds were especially susceptible - became infected. And over the next three years they migrated to Alaska, to Northern Canada, to the American upper-mid-west. In 1986 a Wisconsin farmer, and his entire flock of hens, died from its effects. So it had undergone 'antigenic drift': it could be transmitted from birds to humans. But then as soon as that happened, the virus disappeared. FRANK The virus... you're telling me it's back? PETER The man we found by the river last week? FRANK Yeah. PETER (continuing) ... family near San Diego, few days ago... village in China yesterday... a town in South America today. Peter SIGHS... FRANK The Group was a vaccine they gave to us. PETER Yeah, after '86 they developed a vaccine that could keep the virus in check once it entered the body. FRANK (quickly) So people could be inoculated. PETER There would never be enough material... to develop a universal vaccine. They only made enough for Group members. FRANK And their families. Peter looks to Frank. FRANK And their families, Peter. PETER It was always about control, Frank. They're gonna expect us to stay with them now that they've protected us from this plague. FRANK So watching our families die... that's protecting us? PETER What are you going to do? FRANK Get your family, I have a place where we can stay. Peter goes, but turns back as Frank speaks. FRANK Lara Means - can you contact her? EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT Peter Watts' car travels down the wet road, at speed. INT. PETER'S CAR - NIGHT Peter has a handgun on the passenger seat, driving with determination. INT. FRANK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Frank is searching his house for something... notices his bookcase crammed with various volumes. He pulls down a copy of The Bible and reads a certain paragraph: LARA'S NARRATION (V.O) The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things... which must shortly take place. Frank puts The Bible down on a table. INT. CABIN - NIGHT Lara sits, playing with two dice in her hand. She stares ahead, entranced. LARA (continuing) And he said, and signified it by his angel, to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God. And the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw. (breaking into tears) Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy-- EXT. MORGAN CREEK HOTEL - NIGHT Peter's car creeps over a small hill, and drives up to a collection of small log cabins. A small neon sign outside proclaims 'Morgan Creek Hotel'. LARA (V.O) (continuing) --and keep those things that are written in it. For the time is near. Peter steps out of his vehicle, closes the door. He moves off towards a small log cabin... then BLAYLOCK, a Group member, jumps in front of him-- BLAYLOCK Forget it, Watts! Like lightning, Peter has his gun aimed at Blaylock - who has his arms raised in surrender. PETER She's coming with me. Peter is grabbed from behind by a GROUP MEMBER. All three struggle, and eventually Blaylock grabs Peter's gun. Peter, his hands free, jabs the other Group member in the stomach, then face. He twists him round to act as a shield against Blaylock... who has the gun barrel pointed at Peter. INT. CABIN - NIGHT Lara sat on the floor... LARA I am the Alpha... and the Omega. The first ... and the last. GUNSHOT from outside! Lara closes her eyes. INT. FRANK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Frank has packed a small box with provisions and is about to leave when the phone RINGS. He puts the box down and jogs over to the phone... enters the room, puts the light on, and grabs the receiver. FRANK Yes? PETER (muffled) Frank!-- FRANK Peter, what's up? Strange sounds - like a struggle - can be heard. FRANK (continuing) Peter? Where are you? What's going on here? Frank HEARS the sound of a car engine and gravel being kicked up as a vehicle drives away. Frank puts Peter on HOLD, then dials 55-1212. The phone RINGS and is picked up: FRANK Giebelhouse! Listen, I need you to track Peter Watts' cell-phone. No, no, now. Now! All right - call me back? Frank goes back to Peter's line. FRANK Peter?! EXT. CABIN - NIGHT A small window... a shadow moves slightly inside. FRANK'S PHONE VOICE (O.C) Where are you? We see Peter's cell-phone on the floor... FRANK'S PHONE VOICE Where are you? INT. FRANK'S HOUSE - NIGHT Frank, near-frantic... FRANK Peter! EXT. CABIN - NIGHT We notice the cell-phone display shows the number 555-1236. FRANK'S PHONE VOICE Where are you? FADE OUT. ACT III FADE IN: EXT. MORGAN CREEK HOTEL - NIGHT The log cabins, silence... INT. CABIN - NIGHT Lara is staring at two red dice on a brown/white patterned table. Next to the dice is a large white mug. Lara just stares. The mug is full of boiling water. Lara places a teabag inside the mug. Patti Smith's "Land" song begins to play. It plays throughout these scenes. Lara looks sad. She watches the mug, her eyes staring. Fixedly staring. The boiling water. Eyes almost hypnotised by the sight... watching. Lara begins to break into tears as the MUSIC swells. The area fills with white light. The boiling mug begins to move... travelling slowly backwards... Lara watches in silent fascination. FLASH ON: A stampede of white horses running across a beach. An orange sunset on the horizon. Sand being kicked up. The mug continues to glide backwards, reaches the edge of the table and tips off-- FLASH ON: a distorted image of the Legion demon. The mug CRASHES to the floor! FLASH ON: -- a volcano ERUPTING! -- lightning streaking across storm clouds! -- the inside of an office block shaking in an earthquake! Lara collapses into bed; kicking and thrashing! Now she is staring quietly. FLASH ON: -- the luminous jungle scene, flying above the trees... -- inside the luminous jungle, the tall trees... -- men running through the jungle... -- a monkey SCREEECHES! Lara (in black and white) lets out a silent scream... FLASH ON: -- a microscopic view of a blood system... -- inside a vein; the blood cells pumping down... Lara (in black and white) hugging herself. Replay the action. Her body spinning round with a time-lapse delay effect. She's now on her bed... then starts grabbing and thrashing on the covers! Strobe lighting effect as she continues to thrash! FLASH ON: another distorted Legion creature. Lara (in black and white) grimacing straight ahead, upset. FLASH ON: a thin tornado travelling across the countryside. Lara silent... then WAILS in agony! FLASH ON: -- a blue lightning bolt! Lara, walking around the room, confused. -- a blue lighting bolt! Lara continues to walk, dazed. -- a blue lightning bolt! Then a volcano ERUPTS! Lara, holding her head, collapses onto her bed. -- a city street being engulfed by volcanic lava! Lara is turning, crying... -- a blue lightning bolt! Lara turning again... FLASH ON -- a bolt of lighting! Another streak of lightning travels around the funnel of a mighty tornado. Lara again... FLASH ON: sheet lightning across clouds! Lara is now sat silently at her table. A bright white light fills the room and an ANGEL appears floating in her cabin. Lara just watches, unemotional. The angel has 7 small glowing orbs in its face. Lara SCREAMS! The angel has blood appearing on its chest... Lara SCREAMS again! The blood on the angel is larger, spreading... Lara SCREAMS at the blood on the angelic figure. Now Lara has a lamp in her hand... throws it across the room... it SMASHES in the corner. Insects pour out of the sink plug-hole! Lara is looking at herself in a mirror, silently. She watches herself. FLASH ON: Lara's face painted black and white in a macabre mask. As Lara watches herself, she begins to tremble... then leaves the mirror looking pitifully vacant. The lock on the cabin door is opened by Lara and she pulls open the wooden door to reveal pure blackness outside. WIND blows Lara's hair. Travelling through the door, the blackness becomes the rolling depths of space... a comet travels across screen... we notice the small speck of Lara's open doorway in the heavens above... the comet flies into the sun... then disappears. The sun EXPLODES, growing bigger. FLASH ON: -- a nuclear bomb detonation! -- a nuclear bomb exploding in the ocean! Lara again. FLASH ON: -- a huge mushroom cloud post-explosion! -- a row of trees bend under the blast! -- a huge smoky mushroom cloud! Lara grimaces on her bed. Now a blue sky appears... white clouds fly past overhead. A BLUE HORSE gallops across the sky... brief glimpse of a naked leg in red petals... a RED HORSE gallops across the sky... flashes in the sky... bomb blasts... a naked body covered in red petals... a BLACK HORSE runs across the sky... the image of an empty riverbed... two thin African children... back to the naked body in petals... a YELLOW HORSE gallops across the sky... a monkey SCREEECHES!... blood vessels... Lara is naked in a bed of rose petals... Now a huge ocean is crashing its waves on a rocky beach. Horses running through the water. Lara has a knife to her wrist, cross-legged on the floor. -- the waves of the ocean. -- some blood vessels Lara's face. FLASH ON: a distorted image of the Legion demon. Lara is floating across a white background. -- a body glimpses through a glass shower cubicle, half full of water. Lara sat on the floor. Now sat in the corner. She has her head in her hands. Now Lara is near the cabin wall, gyrating in agitation. Lara SCREAMING! Lara writes brutishly on a piece of paper with a pen... she is now taking the drawers out of a chest and dropping them, searching... Lara huddled on the floor. Lara is now searching her bed. She grabs her handbag and searches inside. Drops contents to the floor. Lara notices the ouroboros symbol on a computer's laptop screen. She grabs the computer and smashes it! -- the graphic of the ouroboros symbol smashes apart into tiny pieces. The naked body in the shower cubicle, water rising... The cabin door... someone KNOCKING on it. Lara watches in blue light. The door KNOCKING... Lara loads a handgun and points it at the KNOCKING door. The door opens slowly. Lara shoots! Her bullets CRACK into a mirror, which bleeds. Another bleeding wound appears in the mirror. Another wound appears. The naked body in the shower, water level higher... Frank Black enters through the cabin door. Lara sees him as the Legion creature, and shoots -- hitting the doorframe! Frank ducks out of the way. Lara shoots. FLASH ON: a distorted image of Legion! Frank enters quickly and struggle with Lara for her gun. FLASH ON: distorted Legion demon! Lara fights Frank, hysterical. Frank stops her hitting him -- Lara CRYING. The body in the shower is Lara, the cubicle is almost full of water - which now is mixed with black oil. Lara, extremely upset, with Frank. Lara in the shower, the water almost full of oil. The water sloshes over her face. FLASH ON: an oily black macabre makeup on Lara's face! Lara stops fighting Frank. Red-faced. Lara is being held down by two PARAMEDICS, and Frank. She just stares ahead. PARAMEDIC #1 brushes her arm, preparing to inject. LARA No! No! No! No! No! No! The needle is inserted. Lara begins hitching her words, the drug taking effect. Still staring, silent. Lara's naked body in the shower cubicle, now full of black oil. The needle is redrawn. Lara simply stares. The shower cubicle, only segments of Lara' body seen against the glass. Lara now staring upwards from her bed of red petals... The real Lara has an oxygen mask placed over her face. She's on a stretcher, held by the paramedics. They take her out. Frank is left standing in the cabin. He sits in a wooden chair, thinking... stunned by what he witnessed. He picks up some objects from the floor, and finds a paper envelope with the words 'FRANK BLACK' scribbled on it in pen. Frank thinks. He places the envelope in his chest pocket, then throws his coat on Lara's bed. He collects some things, placed them in his coat, wraps the contents together and then goes to the door. Looking back he surveys the demolished cabin: broken and smashed objects, upturned furniture. Frank closes the cabin door. We see the two dice on the brown/white patterned table: a 4 and a 6. The Patti Smith song ends. FADE OUT. ACT IV EXT. YELLOW HOUSE - DAY A bright sunny day... RADIO BROADCASTER (V.O) Since last Wednesday's outbreak is estimated at 500... INT. YELLOW HOUSE. FRONT ROOM - DAY Catherine is listening attentively to the small radio... RADIO BROADCASTER (V.0) (continuing) ... under the advisement of the Center for Disease Control, the federal Government of the State of Washington have declared King, Piers, and Thurston counties quarantine areas until further notice. The C.D.C admits to not having identified an infectious agent or cause of the outbreak. A phone RINGS. The broadcast continues as Catherine walks into an adjoining room and picks up the receiver: CATHERINE Hello? INT. FRANK'S JEEP - DAY Frank is driving, with his cell-phone to his ear... FRANK Catherine? Scenes intercut between Catherine and Frank: CATHERINE Where are you now, I've been calling you all night. FRANK Pick up all the provisions you can - I'll be there in an hour. CATHERINE We need you here now. FRANK I'll load up the van myself - don't you or Jordan go outside. INT. ROOM A small, square room with one small window and door. Lara is lying strapped to a bed, staring straight at the ceiling... blinking occasionally. Frank is sitting with his leg crossed at a chair. FRANK Lara... you're the only one - not my wife, not my family - who ever understood. (a beat) Only you. Lara just stares, peacefully. FRANK (continuing) I've travelled that road, Lara - that you're on. What I saw made me swear that I would rather die than return. Lara is unresponsive. FRANK (continuing) Oh, I know peace can be found there. And if you do - if you do find it - I know you will never return. (under his breath) Thank you. (to Lara, louder) Thank you. Frank gets up and leaves. The room's door SLAMS shut. FADE OUT. EXT. WANACHI MOUNTAINS - DAY Frank's jeep leads the way down a winding mountain road... Catherine's car follows. EXT. HENRY'S CABIN - DAY The rundown little cabin rests with a brilliant view of the mountains in the background. Frank's jeep pulls to a stop outside. Frank gets out, carrying a small radio. Behind him, Catherine's car pulls to a stop parallel. Catherine undoes her seatbelt to get out... Both Jordan and Catherine walk up to Frank, all staring at the derelict cabin. It's derelict and almost falling apart after years of neglect. CATHERINE Our new yellow house. INT. HENRY'S CABIN Frank opens the main door to the empty inside. The Black family stand in the doorway. Jordan doesn't like the smell and looks up at her father: JORDAN Can we go home now? FRANK We're gonna be here for a while, sweetheart. JORDAN Okay. CATHERINE Come on, sweetie. Catherine leads Jordan inside. JORDAN Eugh... Frank stands at the door with the radio. INT. HENRY'S CABIN - LATER All three enter with the last of their provisions: Jordan carries the radio, while Catherine and Frank offload boxes against a wall. JORDAN Mommy, I'll be right outside. CATHERINE Okay, sweetheart. Jordan leaves, closing the door behind her. Frank is stood at a window. FRANK Catherine. Catherine comes over, stands opposite. FRANK In the Middle Ages, during the Black Plague, people used to gather their families - take them to the mountains... or the forest. They'd post guards encircling their camps... and they would kill anybody that appeared. Frank loads a handgun, spinning the chamber. FRANK The ones that practised this behaviour... they survived the outbreak. Frank hands the weapon to Catherine, clasping her hands. INT. HENRY'S CABIN - NIGHT Jordan is fast asleep in a collection of blankets on the floor. Catherine and Frank sit, huddled together, listening to the news broadcast: RADIO BROADCAST (V.O) The early symptoms, which a victim may not recognise, include a sense of disorientation. Monitor any increase in body temperature, be aware of a low-grade fever. Secondary symptoms which may take only hours, or minutes, to appear-- CATHERINE Can we turn it off? Frank SIGHS - turning off the radio. Catherine EXHALES. Both always speak in hushed tones: FRANK Look at her. Both look at the almost angelic Jordan, asleep in her bed. CATHERINE What if she gets sick? Catherine looks at Frank - who doesn't know what to say. CATHERINE (continuing) How can we let her go through that? FRANK We wouldn't. Frank looks at Catherine... CATHERINE If I get sick... I don't want you to watch me die. FRANK Hey... CATHERINE I don't want her to watch me die. Catherine is nearly crying now. CATHERINE (continuing) We would have to... Frank knows what Catherine's getting at: FRANK What? I couldn't do that. I couldn't. CATHERINE You have to. FRANK (quickly) No, no, no. We'll get through this - what are you asking? CATHERINE Wouldn't you want-- FRANK I wouldn't ask you to do that. I'd go out in the woods... I'd just-- Now Frank breaks; not believing they're talking like this - can't bring himself to continue. He hugs Catherine. FRANK I wouldn't ask you to do that - I wouldn't. CATHERINE If we both became sick, I wouldn't... (a beat) ... I wouldn't want to live after that. FRANK I can't get sick. Catherine is surprised. FRANK (continuing) It was done to me and I didn't ask for it - The Group gave me a vaccine. CATHERINE They know what this is?! FRANK I don't know what they know. CATHERINE What are they doing about it? FRANK It's a virus - and it may be it loses it virulence; it becomes... it fades away, or maybe they're going to give it to the Government, I don't know. They told me that... they only have enough for their members. Frank turns away, upset - cups his face in his hands. Can't bear it. Catherine squeezes his arm and he sits back up with a GROAN. CATHERINE Oh my... Frank reaches across and grabs something, places it on his lap. FRANK Lara Means got a sense of what was gonna happen to her. We see Frank has Lara's envelope - marked FRANK BLACK. He opens it... inside is a small syringe marked 'MARBURG VARIANT PRP - VACCINE'. Frank holds Catherine. They look at each other. CATHERINE We gotta give it to Jordan. Right away. (a beat) I love you. They both hug harder. INT. HENRY'S CABIN - LATER Catherine sits up from her blankets. Something troubling her. She stands and crosses to a provision box. Digging inside she brings out a flashlight and illuminates her palm... ... it's creased with blood. In shock, Catherine can only stare. The realisation begins to hit her and she brushes back her hair... on her neck below her left ear is a large black papule. She feels it. We see Catherine's legs cross over to stand in front of Frank, who is fast asleep... she then walks over to Jordan, and bends down... Catherine looks at Jordan's peaceful face, asleep. She manages a slight smile as she looks at her daughter... FADE OUT. FZZZZT!! A brief burst of TV static! HARD CUT TO: INT. HENRY'S CABIN - LATER Frank sits up, wide awake! Senses something's wrong. He grabs a flashlight and scans the cabin for Catherine. The beam shines on blots of dried blood on his wife's pillow. Frank moves across to the cabin window. He looks out at the moonlit forest, nobody around. But he knows... FADE OUT. FZZZZT!! A brief screen of TV static! HARD CUT TO: INT. HENRY'S CABIN - LATER Now Jordan sits up, wide awake. Jordan looks across O.C. JORDAN Where's mom? Jordan notices something. Smiles and GIGGLES. She clambers across the blankets, not seeing the blood on Catherine's pillow... ... to her father: sat on the floor against the cabin wall... his hair has turned completely gray... and he stares into space... Frank absently grabs Jordan and places her on his knee, still staring, saying nothing... Jordan smiles, but gets no reaction. She begins playing with her father's hair, touching it. FZZZZT!! A brief burst of TV static! Jordan sits with Frank, fiddling with his hair... FZZZZT!! Frank stares... FZZZZT!! Jordan and Frank sat together... FZZZZT!! Static and shouting VOICES... Jordan prodding her father's hair, no response... FZZZZT!! Sounds of SIRENS heard through static... The scene begins to flicker between the cabin and the screen of static... FZZZT!... FZZZZT!.. FZZZT!... Zager and Evans' "In The Year 2525" song begins to play over sequence... STATIC VOICE (V.O) We are in desperate need of supplies. Many are dead. This is a general distress call. Send help. The screen stays on the static. FZZZZT... FADE OUT. THE END ============================================================== Cast Lance Henriksen (Frank Black) Megan Gallagher (Catherine Black) Brittany Tiplady (Jordan Black) Terry O'Quinn (Peter Watts) Glenn Morshower (Richard Gilbert) Stephen Macht (Mr. Lott) Daryl Shuttleworth (Brian Dixon) Copyright(c) 1998 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is the author of this motion picture for purposes of copyright and other laws. The characters and names depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Ownership of this motion picture is protected by copyright and other applicable laws, and any unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition of this motion picture could result in criminal prosecution as well as civil liability. ============================================================== Millennium Copyright and TM, 1998 FOX Broadcasting Company ============================================================== First Created: November 8, 1998 Last Updated: November 8, 1998