BLACKOUT Joe Penna

EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - MORNING TITLE January, 1941. A rabbit forages for food amidst plants trying to survive the winter. A layer of snow coats pine trees in the background. We rack focus back to a MAN (late-30s) drawing an oldfashioned bow and arrow. We see the laser focus in his eyes as he aims for the rabbit. He is slender with an unkempt, bushy beard. Hes wearing a ragged hat and dirtied snow jacket, no care about how he looks. He breathes out slowly, then releases the arrow. We stay on his face as the arrow flies. He puts the bow down; a weary look in his eyes. EXT. CABIN - LATER THAT MORNING The man roasts the rabbit over a rusted metal FIRE PIT outside his cabin in the wilderness. The cabin is structurally sound but equally unkempt. Suddenly, he catches a movement out of the corner of his eye. The man hurriedly grabs a large metal disk and covers the fire pit. He dives behind a snow bank up the hill and pulls out a small pair of old binoculars. He sees glimpses of TWO HIKERS far in the distance through bushes and pine trees. The man looks back toward the cabin and sees the BOW AND ARROWS hanging on a nail outside the cabin. As he begins to stand up, headed towards them, we hear an unnatural, reverse-gated RUMBLING SOUND. The man winces and touches his forehead, in pain. He drops the binoculars and hurries to open his coat. The man fumbles into his pocket and pulls out an unmarked bottle of tiny, BRIGHT YELLOW PILLS. We cant quite read the typewritten label on the corked, clear medicine bottle. He dumps a pill in his glove. The brightly colored pill starkly contrasts the earthy tones around him. He puts the pill in his mouth and swallows it dry. The RUMBLING SOUND immediately disappears.

2. The man turns around and looks through the binoculars once again; the hikers are gone. He heaves a sigh of relief. He collapses the binoculars, puts them back into his coat pocket, and walks back toward the cabin. MONTAGE We see the man in his daily life, tending to his cabin. He lives a completely naturalistic life. He eats the rabbit, then buries the leftovers in a bucket of salt. He grabs water from a river. He nails a piece of wood to patch up a hole on the roof. He digs up fingerling potatoes from a small garden in the back, chops firewood, etc. INT. CABIN - NIGHT The interior of the empty cabin is not fancy by any means, but is surprisingly organized. The small bed is made, twine next to it holds his clothes, there is an extra pair of boots by the door. The man cleans his feet before walking in with a lantern. He sets his LEATHER BACKPACK down on a small table and places the bow on a hook on the wall. He tends to a small plant on the table. Above it, he looks at a single BLACK-AND-WHITE PICTURE attached to the wall. No picture frame. His hair is slicked back, his beard is nicely kempt. He is embracing a pretty woman wearing a fur coat. They look happy. The man SIGHS. He sets some other things down: his wind-up watch, a folded map, a compass, his almost-empty bottle of pills. He shakes the bottle to see that there are only a couple pills left. He walks over to a LARGE CHEST and opens it. There are DOZENS OF CORKED MEDICINE BOTTLES full of brightyellow pills, much like a golden treasure chest. Theres also a WAD OF CASH and two REVOLVERS. He takes one of the bottles and puts it on the small table. As the man walks to the fireplace, we hear the unnatural RUMBLING SOUND again. He hurries back to the table to grab the nearly-empty bottle of pills, until... BLACKOUT TO: The man looks around a bit confused - where am I?. Hes in bed, ready for sleep. Once again, a sigh of relief.

3. He looks up at the picture one last time and turns the lantern off. CUT TO BLACK. FAINT SOUNDS of the wilderness. Out of nowhere, we hear LOUD FOOTSTEPS outside. INT. CABIN - MUCH LATER IN THE NIGHT The man turns the lantern back on. He scrambles to his feet and quickly grabs the bow. As hes fumbling around the cabin looking for an arrow, he sees the chest with the revolvers inside. The RUMBLING SOUND rises much more quickly this time... BLACKOUT TO: Hes already pointing the gun toward the door. The FOOTSTEPS get closer and theres a small THUD at the door. Scared, he holds the revolver up at it. MAN (yelling) Stop! His voice is shaky at first, since he doesnt talk much. Silence. Nothing from the outside. MAN (CONTD) Whos out there? A FAINT VOICE from the outside, then back to silence. He builds up some courage and slowly walks to the door. He throws the door open, takes a step back, and holds the revolver back up, ready to fire at a moments notice. Theres a GIRL at the door. Shes wearing a thick coat, snow pants, and scarf over her head. She cant be over 25, couldnt hurt a fly. She looks terrified... then dazed. The man looks confused. He lets the gun down a bit, but still holds it toward her. Help. GIRL

A moment of silence. Then, she passes out onto the floor.

4. The man drops his gun to his side and rushes toward her, still suspicious. Once more, we hear the RUMBLING SOUND rising quicker than ever. He only has time to look at the pills before... BLACKOUT TO: INT. CABIN - NEXT MORNING The man looks around, confused. Its the next morning. Whats he doing? How did he get here? Hes feeding the girl some rabbit stew. Shes barely awake. He immediately stops what hes doing and runs over to the small table. Trembling, he takes another yellow pill. He looks back toward the girl. Shes unconscious. He sets the stew down and realizes he had been rummaging through her backpack on the table. He looks at a foreign passport, then at her. Juliana. MAN

Then, he sees some black-and-white pictures of her accompanied by a young man at various trails/mountaintops. Finally, he walks back towards the bed. The bedside table is open, with scissors and gauze above it. Bloodied bandages litter the floor. He notices that the girls face and arms are scratched. She is also bleeding through bandages on her stomach. He pulls the bandages on her stomach back, revealing a nasty injury. Definitely some sort of animal. He looks away, wincing, then changes her bandages. LATER The man is looking at a MAP. He finds the location of the cabin. He starts tracing trails with his finger, farther and farther away from the cabin. Finally, he sees a symbol for a RANGERS STATION with a red cross symbol next to it. The man looks worried. I cant. MAN

5. EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - LATE MORNING On a hill, the man is looking out with his binoculars. MAN Where are you? He looks down at the guy on her picture. Theyre embracing on a mountaintop. They look happy. INT. CABIN - LATER Still holding the picture, he stares at the girl. He looks at his own picture on the wall. He turns around and starts drawing a route on the map, when we hear the RUMBLING SOUND. The man doesnt even have time to reach for the pills before... BLACKOUT TO: EXT. CABIN - MORNING What am I doing? - the man is holding a combination wrench in front of an upside-down wheelbarrow. He reaches into his pocket and takes another pill. He looks at the map in his pocket. A carefully planned out route with markers along the way. He begins removing the wheels on the wheelbarrow. MONTAGE BEGINS - He saws a 2x4 piece of wood in half. - He removes a long plank of wood from the roof. - He nails some of these pieces together. - He makes two holes on top with a hand-cranked drill. - He ties the straps of an old backpack to the holes. INT. CABIN - MONTAGE - The man feeds Juliana. She looks a bit more awake.

6. - He wheels the contraption into the cabin. Its a sort of angled gurney attached to a backpack. - He covers it with the sheets he slept on last night. - He takes the pillow out from under her neck and places it on the gurney. - He carefully picks her up and puts her down onto the gurney. - He straps her in. MAN Is this okay? She looks scared. T okay. JULIANA

For the first time, he notices the foreign accent. - He puts the backpack on backwards. - He goes around the cabin and puts the survival necessities into his backpack: flint, knife, water, food, etc. - He grabs the NEARLY EMPTY PILL BOTTLE from his coat pocket. Only a couple left. - He puts the compass, watch, and FULL PILL BOTTLE from the desk into the backpack, then looks over to the chest. Better be safe. - He opens the chest and puts a SECOND FULL PILL BOTTLE into the backpack. We rack focus back to Juliana. She saw him do that. For some reason, he looks a bit ashamed. MAN I dont usually need them this often. She looks away. - He sees the revolvers in the chest. He looks back at her; shes looking away. He picks one up and checks the chamber: its full. After considering his options, he puts the gun into his pant pocket.

7. EXT. CABIN - MORNING, MONTAGE ENDING The man looks ridiculous as he schleps the baby-bjorn supplies and backpack-gurney out of the cabin. Its a lot heavier than he imagined it would be. He gives her a bit more water and covers her face with her scarf. He looks back at the cabin right behind him. Theres a RUMBLING SOUND as the CAMERA PANS AROUND his contraption. In one shot, as the camera gets back to his face, we see that the cabin is nearly out of sight. He realizes hes had another blackout. He takes another pill and marches on. EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - MONTAGE - Various shots of the man wheeling Juliana. - The sun is going down through a light snowstorm. - The man following a high trail next to a cliff. - He is exhausted from hauling the cargo. EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - A COUPLE OF HOURS UNTIL DUSK Through the bottom of a glass bottle, we see the man drinking a tiny bit of water. He then pours the little thats left over the girls lips. Weakened, she spills some of it. Hes set the gurney down near a tree. He takes out the bottle of pills from his jacket - only a few left. He rummages through the backpack: a full bottle of water, some dried meats, a small bunch of bandages, and TWO FULL BOTTLES of pills. As he takes bites off the meat, he looks at the map. He takes out a full pill bottle and, right before he places it in his pocket, CRACK! A sound from the woods startles him. He drops the pill bottle back into backpack. He takes his binoculars out. Its just an animal. He double-checks the map, then looks at hilltop. He doesnt take his eyes off the hill.

8. MAN (hushed) Were close. He starts walking in that direction. No! She looks panicked. MAN Shh. Ill be back soon. Fear in her eyes. MAN (CONTD) (putting one finger up) One minute. A small nod from her. He leaves everything and starts walking slowly up the hill. Hes stepping lightly, careful not to make noise. Hes dodging from tree to tree, hiding. When he finally gets to the top, we see the majestic view of the mountains behind him and a look of terror on his face. EXT. BUILDING FOUNDATION - CONTINUOUS On the summit of the hill, theres a small concrete foundation laid on the ground. Rusted metal bars stick out from the concrete square. The ranger station was taken down ages ago, or maybe it wasnt ever finished. The man drops to his knees, then rolls onto his back. He closes his eyes, then chuckles at himself in disbelief. EXT. WILDERNESS - MINUTES LATER The man angrily crosses out the ranger station on his map. He furrows his brow at Juliana, almost as if it was her fault. She breaks eye contact. A silent argument. He traces various trails away from his current location. The next ranger station is in the opposite direction. He closes the map angrily and puts it back in the bag. He grabs the backpack with one hand and the top of the gurney with the other. JULIANA

9. Like a person trying to carry all of their groceries at once, he waddles awkwardly to the side of the hill. MAN Well set up a tent next to th-A RUMBLING SOUND... BLACKOUT TO: A while later: The man is right edge of the cliff. The sudden height startles him and he loses his footing. He slips backward and hits his head. The RUMBLE again. BLACKOUT TO: Seconds later: The man, backpack, and gurney are all quickly sliding toward the edge. He thinks quickly and grabs both at once. At the last second, he is able to latch onto shrubbery with his foot. We hear a CRACK from his foot, and he CRIES OUT in pain. Now, both the gurney and the backpack are inches away from the edge. He looks at both, then back at his foot as the shrubbery starts uprooting under the weight. The RUMBLE comes back in, but goes away as he focuses hard on the task at hand. He needs to make a decision quickly. He carefully lets go of the backpack, which teeters on the edge. GRUNTING, he pulls the gurney up with all his strength. Visibly, the shrubbery begins to come off the ground. The man pulls harder. Another cry as we hear a CRACK from his foot. As the gurney is about to be safe, one of the wheels hits the backpack which sends it teetering over the cliff. The man tries to grab at it, but its too late. It falls over the precipice. Disillusioned, he stares at the backpack tumbling down hundreds of feet against the side of the cliff. He goes back to pulling the gurney up. The RUMBLING SOUND comes in again... BLACKOUT TO: Seconds later. They are higher up, away from danger.

10. He quickly grabs his pills. There are only 2 left. The RUMBLE sound comes back in. He tries to will it away again. He looks at the bottle, then the path forward. He cant hold it in. As hes uncorking the medicine bottle, we hear the RUMBLING SOUND. He quickly opens it, but the pills drop to the ground. He reaches for it... BLACKOUT TO: EXT. RIVERBED - NEXT MORNING Where am I? - the mans jacket is on the ground. His undershirt has one sleeve torn off. Hes soaking the sleeve with water from the river. He looks around, no clue where he is. The SOUND, then... BLACKOUT TO: The river is a few feet behind him. Hes standing up now. Juliana! MAN

No answer. No sign of where she could be. JULIANA! MAN (CONTD)

He darts around frantically, limping. He is still carrying the wet sleeve. LONGER BLACKOUT: The river is far behind him. Finally, he sees an old, DILAPIDATED MINE far off in the distance. He thinks for a second, then limp-runs as fast as he can towards it. The SOUND comes back as hes running. LONGEST BLACKOUT: Hes near the cliff where the backpack dropped. He sees two dirtied pills on the ground. The RUMBLING SOUND starts growing louder, but he grabs one of the dirty pills from the ground and scarfs it down. He puts the other back into the bottle, dirt and all. He runs as fast as can toward the mine.

11. EXT. DILAPIDATED MINE - MOMENTS LATER Shes under a makeshift tent inside the mine. A campfire is fizzling out. Relieved, he walks over and sits next to her, panting. He regains his breath and looks out into the distance. Silhouetted, a complete view of the mountains. He sees the rangers cabin: its on the peak of a mountain very far away. LATER The man has just finished re-bandaging and strapping her in. We see a completely bloodied bandage off to the side. Shes barely alive. He looks exhausted and thirsty. MAN Well just keep heading north until we find the ranger. (beat) This is last river for the rest of the way. Hes basically talking to himself. He wrings the wet sleeve to pour some water over her lips. He straps up and marches on. EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - MONTAGE / CROSS DISSOLVES - The man carries the gurney with Juliana on it. - One of the wheels comes off as hes pushing the gurney uphill. He starts dragging that side. - He takes his final pill and throws the bottle away. - He falls down, as one of the straps breaks on the gurney. - The man is forced to leave the gurney behind and carry her. EXT. WINTRY WILDERNESS - LATE AFTERNOON Beyond exhausted, the man places her on the ground and collapses. He rolls onto his back next to her and looks up at the sky. The girl is unconscious. He has given up. Until... he puts his hand up and touches something. A fence.

12. We hear some INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER in the background. He turns around and, through the bushes, sees a young PARK RANGER (early 20s) near a well-maintained cabin. He DIPS DOWN quickly so the ranger doesnt see him. He continues peering through the bushes as the ranger walks in. The man then gets up and drags Juliana to the front of the cabin. He turns around and immediately attempts to run away. Hey! PARK RANGER (O.S.)

Exhausted, the man collapses to the ground. The ranger walks up to Juliana. Holy... PARK RANGER (CONTD)

He pulls out a canister of water and tries to give it to her. The park ranger runs up to the man on the ground. Hes trying to crawl away with all his strength. PARK RANGER (CONTD) We found her boyfriend a couple of days ago. Weve been searching for her. The ranger takes a close look at the man. Hes halfunconscious on the ground. The ranger runs inside. INT. RANGERS CABIN - CONTINUOUS He grabs the transmitter of a CB radio. PARK RANGER (barking into radio) San Gabriel Base, this is Santa Susanna Pass. I found the girl. (beat) Shes alive but we need backup immediately! The park ranger notices something on the wall. RADIO CHATTER Santa Susanna Pass, great to hear that. A car should be up in 45.

13. PARK RANGER (still looking at the wall) Roger, Base. See you in 45. The wall is full of flyers and posters. He moves one of them to uncover a poster with the picture of the man outside. WANTED. $4,000.00 - Cunningham, Joshua. He runs out of the cabin, fumbling for his gun. EXT. RANGERS CABIN - CONTINUOUS The ranger sees Cunningham still on the ground. Hes much further away, still attempting to crawl to safety. PARK RANGER Cunningham! Dont move! We hear the RUMBLING SOUND slowly build up. The ranger points his gun at Cunningham as he crawls forward excruciatingly. PARK RANGER (CONTD) (panicking) PUT YOUR HANDS UP! The ranger pulls the hammer of his gun back. Cunningham is breathing faster. As the SOUND gets unbearably loud, he winces and touches his forehead, in pain. He closes his eyes... LONG BLACKOUT: A void behind Cunningham. The scene around him fades in. INT. CABIN - MORNING Cunningham is sitting on the ground of his cabin. Julianas bloodied bandages everywhere. His small plant is wilting. He pulls out his revolver. Hands trembling, he pours the bullets from the chamber onto his hand. One bullet is spent. Cunningham ponders the consequences of his actions. The RUMBLING SOUND gets louder. Then... CUT TO BLACK.