Recollection

Written By
Jacob Ayers

FADE IN
EXT. WOODS - LATE AFTERNOON
David lies on the ground, handcuffed. His eyes slowly open
as he starts working his way towards a standing position.
Dirt and soggy leaves stick to his clothes as he makes his
way off of the ground. He nearly trips from dizziness.
FADE WHITE
INT. HOUSE - MORNING
Jack wakes up from a nice soft bed. He sniffs the air.
He leaves the bedroom and makes his way towards the kitchen
where he finds David cooking canned beans from a portable
gas stove.
Light comes in through the windows; contrasting with the
dreary world that they live in.
Jack enters the kitchen and sees David's map laid out across
the dinner table. He notices a house that is circled.
TEXT:
Jess' House.
Jack lets out a audible sigh, which signals David.
DAVID
Morning.
JACK
Morning.
Jack makes his way towards the food.
DAVID
Hold up, before you do that, I want
you to take a look at what I found.
David points towards the dining room table that has a
gas-container.
DAVID
I think we should finally put that
generator to use.
JACK
(mockingly)
How many times have you said that?

DAVID
How many times have I cooked your
breakfast?
Jack doesn't have a response.
DAVID
While you were sleeping in, I ran
down to a store and found this.
David throws Jack a tube that has been cut at a length in
order to get fuel from a car's gas tank. He then hands Jack
the gas container. David changes the temperature of the
stove from high to low.
DAVID
Now go earn your handout.
JACK
(smiling)
Okay.
David and Jack make their way towards the front door. David
grabs an empty duffel bag on his way out.
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - MORNING
He starts making his way down the sidewalk. Everything on
earth seems very stale from a lack of activity and sound.
CUT TO:
INT. GARAGE - MORNING
Jack has the plastic tube in the gas tank of a car and
starts sucking on the plastic tubing to get the fuel out.
Jack nearly gets a mouthful of gasoline in his mouth. He
panics and moves the plastic tubing.
He suddenly realizes that the fuel is going everywhere and
then makes sure the hose starts pouring the fuel into the
gas can.
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE - MORNING
David opens the door to the house and is immediately met by
the unbearable smell of old corpses and food that has been
rotting.
David backs away, starts coughing, and spits to get the
taste out of his mouth.

CUT TO:
EXT. HOUSE - MORNING
Jack is getting fuel out of a different car that is parked.
David walks by as Jack gets distracted and sucks in a
mouthful of fuel.
DAVID
Mmmm... Yummy.
Jack spits out the fuel, coughs a bit, and laughs with
David.
David makes his way into the house.
INT. HOUSE - MORNING
David grabs a hand towel.
CUT TO:
EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE - MORNING
With the towel covering his mouth, David makes his way into
the house. It appears normal on the inside.
David makes his way towards the kitchen and sees a
refrigerator that appears normal at first, but has a
mysterious brown liquid that has both pooled and dried on
the ground beneath it.
David shifts his attention over towards the cabinets. He
grabs whatever hasn't been rotted by time. Once his duffel
bag is packed with everything he can get his hands on, David
makes his way towards other rooms in the house. One of the
items is a small canister of Tang.
David makes his way towards a bedroom. Lying on the bed is a
rotting female corpse. Her skin is pale with dried vomit
latched onto the corners of her mouth.
On the night stand, next to the bed rests a hand-crank
radio. David grabs it and puts it into his bag.
CUT TO:
EXT. HOUSE - MORNING
Jack is outside, eating beans, as David approaches.
DAVID
Are they both filled?

JACK
One is, as I've told you before,
most of the cars are dry...
DAVID
Well go turn the generator on and
we'll be in business.
JACK
Sir yes sir.
David goes inside and puts all of the food that he found
away into his cabinets. He then goes to one of his other
bags and pulls out a stack of DVDs.
The sound of a generator running can be heard. It puts a
smile on David's face.
The films are: The Big Lebowski, Monty Python and the Holy
Grail, and Pulp Fiction.
INT. DAVID'S OLD HOUSE - NIGHT
The "English motherfucker, do you speak it?" scene from
"Pulp Fiction" ends as David drifts off to sleep.
FADE BLACK:
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
It is before the apocalypse.
The dancing scene in Pulp Fiction is playing on the
television as David and his girlfriend are laying out on
their couch.
His girlfriend lets out a cute laugh as Vincent and Mia are
dancing. David laughs with her. David begins stroking her
hair behind her ear.
FADE BLACK:
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
The car crash scene with Butch and Marsellus abruptly wakes
David up. He looks down towards his hands and finds them in
the position of which he was brushing his now dead
girlfriend's hair back.
David relaxes his hands and sets them down. His eyes swell
up with tears, but they don't flow.
David stands up and sees a sleeping Jack. He walks over and
turns the television off. He then goes back over towards the

couch to go back to bed.

He is a bit stirred up from his dream to go immediately back
to sleep. He hears the sound of the gate around his house
being closed.
David quickly gets up and walks over towards the kitchen. He
looks out of the window just in time to see a silhouette run
out of his view.
EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT
David rushes out of his house and looks towards the
direction of where the person ran. He gets a quick glimpse
of the boy running down the street.
David starts making his way inside, when suddenly the
generator starts making some loud noises in the background.
DAVID
Dammit.
David looks back towards the direction where he thinks that
the silhouette ran.
He decides not to pursue, and goes to check the generator.
INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
David sees that Jack is awake. David goes and lays back down
on the couch.
JACK
What's up with you?
David doesn't respond.
David turns around and is ready to sleep.
DAVID
We'll get more fuel tomorrow, it
also looks like the belt got fucked
up. And I wanna see Lebowski.
Jack notices that David has some tried tears on his cheek.
JACK
You good dude?
David turns his head towards Jack.
DAVID
Yeah, just pissed that the
generator ran out of fuel.

JACK
(unconvinced)
Alrighty.
Jack slightly rolls his eyes and lets out a long breath.
DAVID
Lay off.
JACK
David... I didn't say anything.
DAVID
I am sick and tired of this
condescending shit Jack. You need
to fucking stop belittling my
relationship with Jessica. She was
the one things in my life that made
me happy andJACK
(Interrupting David)
Everyone hasDAVID
Don't interrupt me you lazy sack of
shit! Everyday I drag your weight
on my shoulders to keep my sanity
in check. The last thing I need is
your resentment towards my dead
girlfriend. Now do me a favor and
FUCK OFF!
There is a moment of silence
Jack has nothing to say. David heads off to sleep and so
does Jack.
FADE BLACK:
INT. HOUSE - MORNING
Jack slowly wakes up. He can hear food on the portable gas
stove.
He makes his way towards the kitchen and finds David cooking
some sort of canned food.
JACK
Any mo' tasks fo' me mastuh David?
DAVID
(chuckling)
(MORE)

DAVID (CONT'D)
No.
David serves up a plate for Jack.
DAVID
Want some fresh squeezed Tang with
that?
JACK
(chuckling)
Sure.
David scoops some of the powder into David's water canteen.
He closes the cap and shakes the bottle up to spread out the
powder.
JACK
So what is the plan for today?
David pulls out a map and looks down at it.
DAVID
I figure that we should go down
that hiking trail that connects to
the suburbs that we haven't checked
out yet. Pretty sure that it has a
hardware store where we could find
parts to fix the generator.
Jack takes a bite of food.
JACK
Sounds good.
DAVID
Oh and... I also forgot to mention
that I found one of those
hand-crank radios while I was doing
my supply run yesterday.
JACK
Really? Lemme see.
David makes his way towards the duffel bag and pulls out the
radio.
He makes his way back towards the kitchen.
DAVID
I haven't dedicated any time to
fiddling with it yet. I figured it
to be more convenient than a normal
(MORE)

DAVID (CONT'D)
radio.
David begins cranking the radio to get it to turn on while
Jack is chewing on his food.
David gets it to turn on.
DAVID
There we go!
JACK
Right on.
He then begins to flip through the channels. They don't get
anything back but static.
Disheartening, but expected.
DAVID
Anyways, it gives us something to
do while we are walking around.
JACK
True.
FADE BLACK:
EXT. DIRT PATH - AFTERNOON
The path runs along a forest.
David is fiddling with the radio.
DAVID
Here.
David hands the radio to Jack.
Jack looks at all of the buttons on the radio. The antenna
is already out. He puts his hand on the crank.
JACK
Jesus David, I didn't know a person
could sweat so much from the palms
of their hands.
David doesn't acknowledge what Jack says.
Jack opens up a rubber tab on the side where he finds a
whole bunch of ports for different kinds of electronics.
JACK (CONT'D)
Holy crap!

DAVID
What?
JACK
Hold up a moment.
DAVID
Why?
JACK
Remember that MP3 player you were
nagging to me about holding onto?
DAVID
Yeah.
JACK
Well take a look at this.
Jack pulls out an MP3 player out of his bag and begins
charging it off of the hand radio.
FADE BLACK:
EXT. DIRT PATH - LATER
Jack is listening to music with both earphones in, the radio
is in one hand, and the MP3 player is in the other.
Meanwhile David is looking at the map.
David gets Jack's attention and shows him the map. Jack
takes out one earphone.
DAVID
If we take a left here, and go
straight through we will hit some
suburbs that we haven't been to
before.
JACK
Yeah, I know, we already discussed
this.
FADE BLACK:
EXT. WOODS - AFTERNOON
David and Jack walk along the woods. Jack is still listening
to music as David tests out other radio frequencies.
David looks out and appears shocked by something.
David quickly pulls Jack behind a tree for cover.

JACK
(Obnoxiously loud due to
the ear buds)
What?
DAVID
(whispering)
Keep your voice down.
Jacks pulls out his earphones.
JACK
Why?
David points into the distance and it is revealed that there
is a group of four people walking around in the woods.
Jack puts the mp3 player into his pocket without turning it
off.
JACK
What? They're just a group of
fellow survivors.
DAVID
Just let them pass.
JACK
What? Why? We haven't seen other
people in a month.
DAVID
Let them pass.
JACK
David that is your problem, even
before everyone died you were
paranoid.
DAVID
Let's just let them pass, scout out
the suburb, and be done for the
day.
JACK
Calm down, it is not like all of
the food and water is gone from the
world and they have resorted to
cannibalism.
DAVID
It isn't worth the risk.

JACK
There isn't a risk David. Let's see
where they came from and where they
are going. We don't need to join
their group or anything. They may
have some information on the
suburbs that we are heading to.
DAVID
(aggressively whispering)
No, drop it.
David gets up and starts making his way in the opposite
direction of where the other group is walking. He makes
sure he keeps out of their line of sight. Jack stays behind.
JACK
David, what are you doing?
David keeps on walking.
JACK (O.S.)
(towards the other group)
Hey!
David begins running.
David makes it across the stream before he turns around to
check on what has happened to Jack.
FADE WHITE:
EXT. WOODS - LATE AFTERNOON
David looks around the woods. He looks over his shoulder and
sees Jack lying on the floor.
David begins frantically looking around where Jack is lying.
The cold metal cuffs clang against his wrists.
FADE WHITE:
EXT. WOODS - AFTERNOON
Jack is approached by the group.
GROUP MEMBER 1
Where is your friend running off
to?
JACK
I... I... Don't have an
explanation.

The group doesn't respond.

EXT. WOODS - ACROSS STREAM - AFTERNOON
David is looking back towards where Jack is. He sees Jack
shift his attention towards David's direction. One of the
group members apprehends Jack by hitting him in the back of
the legs with a bat. Jack drops to his knees.
David is hit for a moment by shock. He turns around to start
running again but is then tackled by a group member named
JOHN that wasn't walking with the rest of the group.
John drags David across the stream and back towards where
Jack and the rest of the group await. David attempts to
resist every bit of the way. (This will be filmed as a
tracking shot.)
EXT. WOODS - AFTERNOON
John finally gets David to the destination and strikes him
with the bat out of rage. The strike knocks David to the
floor.
John is angry about the whole ordeal.
JOHN
(pointing at David)
Put some damn handcuffs on that
one.
Group Member 1 puts handcuffs on David.
JOHN
(to the group)
None of you even considered to help
me?
The group is clearly intimidated by John.
JOHN
Take what you can off of them.
Two of the group members look through David's bag and his
pockets. Group Member 1 finds his hand crank radio. David
notices a girl from the group hear the slight sound of music
coming from the mp3 player in Jack's pocket. She pulls
Jack's MP3 player out of his pocket.
She shows it to John. John takes it from her. He turns it
off and on again, and then hands it back to her.

JOHN
(directed towards both
Jack and David)
Where did you find power to charge
it?
Neither of them respond.
JOHN
(pointing towards Jack)
Stand him up.
One of the group members brings Jack to his feet.
John gets up close to David who is still stunned from being
hit by the bat.
JOHN
How did you power that device?
Group Member 1 notices Jack glance at the hand crank radio.
MALE GROUP MEMBER 1
John!
JOHN
What?
MALE GROUP MEMBER 1
That one looked at this radio.
John walks over towards Group Member 1.
JOHN
Give it here.
Group Member 1 hands John the radio.
John fiddles with it for a while until he finds the part
that holds the charging cords.
JOHN
Neat.
John hands the radio back to Group Member 1.
JOHN
(whispering to Group
Member 1)
Give me the key to the handcuffs.
Group Member 1 complies. He lets out a sinister smile.

JOHN
(towards Jack)
Hey.
John throws the keys to David's handcuffs towards Jack. Jack
doesn't catch them. Jack quickly turns around to try and
find where the keys landed.
JOHN
Knock them out.
Two of the group members take their belts off to strangle
Jack and David. They strangle them to the point that they
pass out, not till the point that they die.
FADE WHITE:
EXT. WOODS - LATE AFTERNOON
David wasn't able to find the key from his frantic
searching. His eyes are now ruled by rage. He looks down at
an unconscious Jack.
He looks down at his handcuffs.
David presses his knee against Jack's back to pin him to the
floor. This action jolts Jack awake. David wraps the icy
handcuffs around Jack's neck and begins pulling upwards.Jack
flails around helplessly. As he is being strangled by David
he sees a slight glimmer of the handcuff key propped under a
leaf in the distance.

FADE OUT:
CREDITS
A shot of the key propped under the leaf persists as the
credits roll over.