Screenplay

INT. QUIK MART NIGHT

A bored male teenage CLERK sits behind the counter of an
empty store, absorbed in some glossy magazine. Crap country
music is playing on the radio.
WHOOSH. The door swings open wildly, as if by the wind, a
blurred shape speeds by before the CLERK even looks up from
the copy of High Times.
The door closes again. Skittering sounds on the floor. The
CLERK sees nothing.
CLERK
What the...
BOOM! A fully armed SWAT COP #1 blasts through the door,
leading with his shoulder, assault rifle slung low.
He skids to a stop in front of the clerk recalling Kramers
Seinfeldian entrances of old.
SWAT COP 1
Where did he go?
The Clerk sets down the copy of High Times gently.
CLERK
(sputtering)
I dont... huh?
Swat Cop 1 raises his rifle.
SWAT COP 1
I said: "WHERE. DID. HE. GO?"
The Swat Cop 1 wheels around on the store, aiming his rifle
quickly over every inch of the shop.
CLERK
Who? Nobody came in here.
The Clerk is becoming a little indignant. He sweeps the copy
of High Times off the counter, out of sight.
CLERK
I dont know what youre talking
about. And anyway, you cant just
come in here with a...)
Swat Cop 1 wheels around on the clerk, pointing the rifle
directly at his forehead.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 2.
SWAT COP 1
I do not recall asking you what I
could or could not do.
CLERK
(GULP)
SWAT COP 1
Do you see this?
(indicates badge)
Do you think they just hand these
things out as second prize at the
church bake sale?
CLERK
Uhhh... uhh... No?
SWAT COP 1
Theres a highly dangerous suspect
on the loose, a BAD GUY, and I
think he may be hiding out in here.
You...
He prods the Clerk in the chest with the rifle.
SWAT COP 1
... are going to give me the grand
tour.
The Clerk walks around the side of the counter, Swat Cop 1
gets behind him as they go towards the store room.
The front door opens. Its Swat Cop 2.
SWAT COP 2
Whats your copy, rodger?
SWAT COP 1
Over Alpha, Tango Louie.
SWAT COP 2
Affirmative, reconoiter foxtrot
when tango louie is assimilated.
SWAT COP 1
Like a harvey wallbanger.
Dismissed.
Swat Cop 2 chuckles and exits the Quik Mart.
Swat Cop 1 shoves the Clerk forward with the butt of the
rifle, toward the rear of the store.
Sirens and choppers can be heard outside.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.
SWAT COP 1
Nobody came in huh?
Swat Cop 1 dramatically crouches quikly around a potato chip
display, swinging his weapon around it like Osama Bin Laden
is on the other side. Nothing.
CLERK
Like I said, nobody came in.
SWAT COP 1
And Im sure, if a fugitive had
come in, he wouldnt be hiding...
Swat Cop 1 does a 180 degree spin that looks like a martial
arts move, now aiming behind the counter.
SWAT COP 1
HERE!
Nothing there.
Outside, the sound of a concussion, maybe a gunshot, maybe a
dumpster lid slamming shut.
Swat Cop 1 does an acrobatic but utterly ridiculous barrel
roll across the floor, coming up with his gun pinting at the
entrance, then at the chip display, then at the clerk.
SWAT COP 1
Whats in back?
CLERK
Storage room. Cooler.
Swat Cop 1 motions with the barrel of his rifle for the
Clerk to open the storage room door. The Clerk does,
standing there holding it open.
The storage room is dark.
SWAT COP 1
On three, I want you to flip that
light switch and get the hell out
of the way.
ONE... TWO.....
CLERK
Fucks sake.
Clerk flips on the light.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 4.
Gung ho Swat Cop 1 goes charging blindly through the door
roaring and swinging his rifle but into shelves full of
cheetos, pallets of gummi bears, mountains of empty
cardboard boxes. Nothing.
SWAT COP 1
Im sick of your shit. Where is the
fugitive?
Swat Cop 1 again points the rifle right at the Clerks head.
CLERK
I told you nobody came in.
SWAT COP 1
I am only going to ask you. ONE.
MORE. TIME
Swat Cop 1 grits his teeth, clenches his jaw. The clerk
rolls his eyes.
CLERK
Maybe hes in the cooler.
SWAT COP 1
LETS GO!
The Clerk steps two paces across the hall, opens the
refridgerated units heavy door.
Swat Cop 1 gets on his belly and does a green beret style
belly crawl towards the door, Clerk holding it open for him.
Swat Cop 1 is at the transom training his rifle hight up
into the cooler.
SWAT COP 1
Come out. With your hands up.
Nothing moves, there is no sound except the cooler humming.
Swat Cop 1s breath is visible.
Three seconds, ten seconds, half a minute. Nothing.
Swat Cop 1 pops up, fires a shot into a 2 liter of coke,
angry.
SWAT COP 1
Maybe you were telling the truth.
They go towards the front of the store, the heavy door
swinging shut.
5.
INT. QUIK MART COOLER NIGHT
A 2 liter of Pepsi bleeds out soda.
Immediately next to it, a plume of breath is visible in the
frigid air, a gasp for breath.
Something weird is happening, like a digital overlayment is
being removed to reveal a young black child, as though he
just removed a cloak of invisibility.
As he fully removes it, we can see this cloak interact with
the environment, like a chameleon, all but invisible, like
tiny pixelated refractions of the reality it covers. All
invisible that is, except for a neon tag that reads
"Property of the U.S. Army."
The 10 year old child marvels at it in his hands for a
moment, then lunges across the cooler to put a foot in the
heavy door before it swings shut.
The Pepsi bottle empties until there is no sound but his
breathing.