O N T I L T S T A T U S

written by
Moses Hershberger











EXT. LABYRINTH OF FOREST - NIGHT
Into the labyrinth of forest, a faint rustling grows closer and
louder. A quiet, shallow breathing is heard. This is that of
DYLAN, a member of a group of worn-out survivors, who run hard
and fast enough from a BACKGROUND NOISE of ZOMBIES!!
DYLAN
(to himself)
Oh shit! Shit-shit-shit-shit!!
Fuck. Fuck.
Dylan turns around and fires his RIFLE. As he turns around and
keeps running, popping out of a tree is Moses, also in survival
gear and carrying a RIFLE.
DYLAN
AHH!!!
MOSES
JESUS! Should I run?!!

DYLAN
YES!!!

MOSES
What the fuck happened back there?

DYLAN
I dont know! Were almost there!
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD STREET - NIGHT
Dylan and Moses haul ass down the street of a SHADY NEIGHBORHOOD
and heads towards Dylans HOUSE.
INT. DYLANS LIVING ROOM NIGHT
They burst through the door, stumbling over each other. Quickly
standing up, they shut the door. Blasting through the house is
Enya Sail Away (Orinoco Flow).
MOSES
Get off me, man!

DYLAN
Lock the door!

MOSES
Get off me first! Damn!
DYLAN
Theyre coming!
Moses quickly locks the door and places a chair underneath the
lock. The living room, in fact, the whole house is quite dark
and with the sound of the music, something is totally not right.
MOSES
What the fuck happened back there?

DYLAN
I dont know! I went out to hunt
for some food and then out of
nowhere a hoard just came through.

MOSES
Did you fire your rifle?

DYLAN
I used my machete like a normal
person, dumbass!!

MOSES
Where the hell is Miles?! I told
that asshole to guard the door!
Miles?!!! Why are lights turned
off? HEY! CAN WE TURN THAT DOWN!
Moses goes around the living room, looking around with his flash
light. He finds nothing. He runs to the window peers out through
the curtains. A DARK FIGURE is crossing the lawn, coming toward
the house.
MOSES
Oh, shit. This is fucking crazy.
(sighs)
The darkness and light. Brothers.
He then marches on upstairs. Dylan marches over to his stereo to
turn it down. Standing by the stereo is RICKY, who is sitting on
the floor, holding a FLINTLOCK and wearing streaks of war paint
on his face.
DYLAN
Ricky?! Oh, shit, man! You scared
me. Listen. Get your shit. We got
to get the hell outta here.
RICKY
(spaced out)
Do you know why the labyrinth of
the Golden Faun is a never ending
paradox?

DYLAN
What the fuck?

RICKY
For each of us, death is not the
end, but only a cycle. A cycle of
chaos and philosophy thats guided
and led by him.

DYLAN
Who the fuck is the Golden Faun?

RICKY
Hes inside.

DYLAN
Where? Wait...what? In the house?

RICKY
Everywhere.

VOICE (O.S.)
Fuckin A.
Startled, Dylan spins around, RIFLE in his hands and aimed. But
to his petrified astonishment, he finds CHARLES is the f.g.
doing some sort of ALTERNATIVE DANCE. Its obvious he is so
fucking spaced out, he doesnt even know it.
DYLAN
Charles? Yo Chuck? What the hell
are you doing, man? Have you lost
your fucking mind and gone crazy?

VOICE (O.S.)
Wrong! Wrong!
Emerging from the darkness of the hallway is The Prophet. He
is wearing a red bandana, sunglasses and has multiple cellphones
around his neck. Its actually one of Dylans friends.
THE PROPHET
I'll tell you one thing... we are
the children of enlarged minds...
He knows such vast knowledge and
holds infinite wonders. The Golden
Faun. Its all a question of life,
isnt it? An enigma. A perplexity
on the entirety of the universe.
All this new vision is because of
him. The Eater of All Time, Space,
Thought and Memories. He is inside
of you and all of--
Suddenly, from the darkness of the KITCHEN, a BUNCH of BANANAS
are HURLED at the Prophet.
DARK VOICE (O.S.)
You sick animal! You mangy animal!
The Prophet exits down the hallway leaving Dylan alone.
DARK VOICE (O.S.)
Come in.
We move into the kitchen and reveal TOM, standing in the shadows
and we will SEE him in the darkness and shadow throughout the
scene. Tom reaches down and picks up a bowl full of water from
the sink. He splashes water on his face and head.
DYLAN
Tom?

TOM
Tom? Whos Tom?

DYLAN
...Tom... its me...Dylan. Your
little, vanilla boy. Remember?

TOM
A startled faun shows his two
eyes/And bites the crimson flowers
with his white teeth/Stained and
ensanguined like mellow wine...

DYLAN
Oh. Shit.
INT. OUTSIDE THE BATHROOM CONTINUOUS
The muffled sound of a toilet being flushed is heard through a
closed door. Coming out, discreetly is Moses. We can barely see
on this top level of the house that in this hallway, several
doors are closed. Moses, mustering all the bravery he can, opens
every door and looks inside with his rifle first.
Going from doorway to doorway, he reaches the last one and finds
inside of it and finds a pair of legs sticking out from behind a
bed. He begins walk inside, firmly holding the rifle. Getting
closer to the body, Moses realizes who it is. Its MILES! Moses
falls to his knees beside the slumped body. Miles head is
covered in blood. Hes not dead, but hes close.
MOSES
Oh, shit. Miles? Miles? Wake up.
Wake up. No. Dont go to sleep,
man. Dont go to slee--

MILES
(whispering)
Hes gone insane.

MOSES
Wha-- who?

MILES
Tom. Lately, hes been talking to
the sink and the knives. On
occasion, the houseplants, too.

MOSES
What the fuck are you talking
about?

MILES
Stir-crazy. Cabin fever. ALL WORK
AND NO PLAY type of shit.

MOSES
Listen. Ill help you up, but
weve got to get out of here.
Moses stands up and goes over to the window and peers out. Down
below, we see several more DARK FIGURES lumbering about. Moses
goes back to Miles.
MOSES
Theres not that many out there,
but we cant stay here anymore. We
should go, we shouldnt be here!

MILES
How many rounds do you have left?

MOSES
I dont know, less than half,
maybe. Why?

MILES
Dont waste them on the zombies.
You gotta kill Tom.

MOSES
Think ghetto and get serious. Are
you insane? Im not gonna do that.

MILES
Im telling you: dont let him
talk to you. You shoot his ass
down. I tried, but the dogs...

MOSES
What dogs?

MILES
Go old-fashion on his ass. Here.
Take my machete.
Miles reaches from under the bed and pulls out a rusty blade.
MILES
Im gonna die now.
Miles slowly fades away and dies.
INT. DYLANS KITCHEN CONTINUOUS
TOM
...startled by a bullfinch/The
Golden Kiss of the Wood, gathering
itself together again.
Dylan suddenly SLAPS TOM ACROSS THE FACE!!!
DYLAN
Snap the fuck out of it and focus!
There is a hoard of zombies out
there and we need to--
Suddenly, the SOUNDS of POUNDING HANDS against the door enter
into the house.
DYLAN
Fuck! Oh, shit! Aight. Stop
fucking around!!

TOM
Woodland fauns with hairy
haunches/Grin in wonder through
the branches,/Woodland fauns who
know not fear:/Wondering they
wander near...
Dylan SLAPS him again. Tom just looks deep into his eyes.
TOM
I see the astronomical outcomes in
your eyes. You were the house
bitch. You've always been the
house bitch. I should know. Ive
always been here.

DYLAN
All right, dude, you gotta get it
together. Come on, let's go.
At that moment, Moses comes down the stairs with both weapons in
hand. He rushes into the kitchen.
MOSES
What the fuck did you do to Miles?

TOM
A lamb to the slaughter.

DYLAN
What are you talking about?

MOSES
Tom killed him. He went crazy.
What about Chuck and... shit!
DYLAN
What?

MOSES
Wheres Malcolm?

DYLAN
Oh, shit. Where is Malcolm?
Of course at that moment, MALCOLM bursts through in the door of
the patio and pushes his way in and knocks a still dancing
Charles to the ground. Malcolm enters the scene, out of breath.
DYLAN
Dude!!

MOSES
Where the fuck did you go?

MALCOLM
They fucked up the fence, bruh. I
went and checked it out. Were
gonna die if we dont leave right
away. Let's get out of here! What
are you guys doing? Smells like
malaria and nightmares. Ah, shit!
Whats wrong with Ricky?

MOSES
Toms pretty much killed everyone
in the house.

MALCOLM
What?

DYLAN
Yeah.

MALCOLM
...and...Miles.
Moses stands there quietly and shakes his head. Malcolm stands
there, silent. Then he darts a look at Tom, raises his BAT and
just as hes about to SWING... BOOM!! From the doorway, the
SOUNDS of POUNDING HANDS slam against the house again. Its
grown LOUDER. Moses helps Ricky get to his feet. Ricky seems to
be snapping out of his trance.
DYLAN
No!! Save your energy!

MALCOLM
Fuck that! This biscuit-eatin
country ass killed my brother!

DYLAN
He's on tilt status.

MALCOLM
What're you talking about?

DYLAN
He's teetering in between.

MOSES
Come on, guys!! We really need to
go!!
Suddenly, a WINDOW BREAKS!! Fully alarmed, Moses and Malcolm
take up their arms and position themselves.
Malcolm and Moses moves to the broken window and SMASHES with
the BUTT of his RIFLE against the unseen ZOMBIE.
Moses pulls his trigger.
DYLAN
Youre gonna focus up and say it.
It's me, Tom!

TOM
It's me, Tom.

DYLAN
Yes! Now, Tom who?

TOM
Tom who? I don't know. Who are
you?
INT. ROOMMATE ROOM CONTINUOUS
Ricky, in the meantime, is in the Prophets room and stabs him
in the back of the neck, multiply times.
INT. KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
TOM
You're scared.

DYLAN
Scared of what?

TOM
Of whom?

DYLAN
What?

TOM
Whom?

DYLAN
Who?

TOM
The yous and whos are emerging.
Ricky comes out of the room, now wearing the red bandana and the
sunglasses. Hes back.
RICKY
Jesus. What's going on?

TOM
Were told by advisors to sign up
for electives for easy points, but
then our Rumba instructors fail us
for not appreciating the art and
philosophy of the dance because
it's obscene.

RICKY
WHAT?!
Like a BATTERING RAM, the zombies push into the door. Not even
attempting to barricade the door, Moses watches with despair.
MOSES
Its all over. I mean, whats the
point?!! ITS ALL OVER!!

DYLAN
You know what?! FUCK THIS!! AHH!!!
Dylan raises the machete and brings the blade down and starts
hacking away at Tom, hitting him first on the shoulder, then all
over.
DYLAN
DIE, YOU SON OF A BITCH, DIE!
Tom falls to the ground. Dylan stares at him. Lying on the
floor, Tom is whispering something...
TOM
...the...the...the...
He DIES. Dylan then looks at his hands, realizing whats done.
He falls to his knees and stretches upwards for life, like
Wilhelm Dafoe in Platoon. All the noise left that we can hear
is that of the UNDEAD entering the house. There is nothing left.
T H E E N D