i do not own the the crow salvation Chip Johannessen does. i just changed stuff around abit
INSIDE THE BENZ Nathan Randall, father of the victim comforts Erin Randall, seventeen year old sister, as she looks up in terror at the bodies pressed against the car, the throng between the car and the prison entrance. The car stops.
ERIN Why are there so many? RANDALL Just hold on to me. THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD--a Protestor's poster visible. "Remember the Victim."
With a picture of LAUREN RANDALL, the deceased, who bears a striking resemblance to surviving sister Erin. And another sign--"Happy Birthday Alex."
ERIN It's because they're doing this on his birthday. She takes a deep breath, they get out of the car and...
WITH THE RANDALLS as they make their way through the throng toward a special entrance marked "WITNESSES," nearly within reach when WHOMP.
Erin shields her face as a BRIGHT LIGHT comes on. DEATHROW - NIGHT CLOSE on a BIRTHDAY CAKE, twenty one candles flickering as it makes its way past deathrow cells, held waiter style on one hand by MERCER, a MUSTACHED prison GUARD. INT.
GARRISON PRISON - ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT CLANG. The barred door opens and the cake swoops in, landing on a small table next to a CHESS GAME in progress and an untouched last meal. ADJUST to find... ALEX CORVIS. Twenty-One today. Disarmingly appealing. Peaceful. Simple clothes. He looks up from the game, at... PETER WALSH, Alex's pro-bono attorney and only friend, trying not to explode at this shit-eating stunt.
WALSH He didn't order that.
MERCER We found the man with the scar. Despite himself, Alex looks up.
Mercer gestures at... THE CAKE in the middle of the candles, an arm made of frosting with a large ZIGZAG marking on the forearm, also frosting.
FAVORING ALEX looking from the cake up to Mercer, who nods at the candles. MERCER (CONT'D) Go ahead. Make a wish.
WALSH (intense whisper) Get it out of here. Alex focusses on the chess board. Tries to anyway.
GARRISON PRISON - WITNESS ENTRANCE -A nervous, not to say shifty looking THOMAS "TOMMY" LEONARD, thirty five year old key witness in the trial, talks to Gonzalez under the hot video light.
TOMMY I don't fault him saying I lied on the stand. Facing the chair, you do what you gotta do. But I saw those two fighting that night. Tommy shifts uncomfortably, silent as we HOLD a long beat.
TOMMY I didn't lie. ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT CLOSE. A Chess piece, a CASTLE, shoved at CAMERA. ALEX. He breathes deliberately, trying to hold it together. His hand shakes as he removes it from the piece.
WALSH You ok? Alex gets up, crosses to a small ledge on the other side of the cell that holds a few books and pictures. He finds... A PICTURE OF LAUREN AND ALEX In a grove of tall trees. A self-portrait by autotimer. Arms around each other. Her head on his shoulder. Happy. RESUME Alex staring at the photo, taped to the wall.
ALEX What's been holding me together is the hope that maybe you do go someplace. And I'll be seeing her again soon. Only what will I say? That I was too stupid to find the guy who killed her? That he's down here laughing?
WALSH Tell her... we'll get him.
ALEX We won't.
WALSH Someday he'll surface and I'll get him for both of you. I promise. I'll find the guy with the scar.
ALEX'S CELL - NIGHT Alex still gazing at the picture of Lauren. At the board, Walsh moves a piece. MERCER I was facing the hot seat, I'd want my attorney banging down the door of the Supreme Court, not playing board games. But maybe that's just me. They look up as Mercer appears outside the barred door to the cell, starts to unlock it. WALSH Your move. MERCER No. It's time. It really is. Other prison personnel arrive outside the cell in various uniforms: A MINISTER with clerical collar, the WARDEN, two GUARDS. Waiting. Walsh crosses, very emotional how. Gives Alex a huge hug. ALEX I don't want you to watch. I don't want to give them the pleasure. The two friends exchange a long last look. MERCER Ok. C'mon now...
As Alex exits past Mercer, Walsh sits down on the cot. He's hard to read a second until he lashes out, flips... THE CAKE against the wall where it hits, slides down, still semi-intact as it hits the floor.
DEATHROW Dead Man Walking. A mini parade past the cells of the condemned. One guard flanks Alex, another follows. The Warden and Minister out in front. HANDS extend from the other cells as Alex passes. Unable to touch, but he reaches for them, a gesture of solidarity. Mercer catches up with the group, flanking Alex cell-side. Alex drops his hand, cut off even from that. The parade continues down another hallway. NIGHT The CHAIR, an atavism, sits alone a moment before the entourage enters and begins a surprisingly well choreographed last dance. The Warden gestures, and Alex is escorted to his place in the chair. The Guards move in, death attendants now.
MINISTER The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want... THE MINISTER CONTINUES as... Handstraps tightened. WHOP. WHOP. Alex squirms despite his resolve. Through an act of will, calms himself. Looks up at... THE PHONE. On the wall. A last possibility of reprise. Trouser legs slit. Footstraps tightened around bare ankles. Electrodes checked. Chest strap tightened. Yanked again for good measure. ALEX gasps. It's hard to breathe now with the strap tight across his chest. Copper mesh. Pieces of sponge jerry-sewn onto it, the irregular stitching giving it an unsettling natural appearance. ADJUST to REVEAL this is the electrode in the odd leather HELMET tightened now on Alex's head. THE EXECUTIONER. Pulls a hood over his own obscured face. Moves behind a half curtain at the side of the room.
MINISTER and I will dwell in the house of the Lord. Forever. SLAP. The Minister shuts his bible. Some weird sin. Alex strapped into the chair, unable to move. The guards exit, jobs done. The Warden nots and...
ALEX'S POV - THROUGH PLEXI - THE OBSERVATION ROOM REVEALED as the CURTAINS OPEN. Two dozen observers crammed into a space the width of a singlewide trailer. Erin. Her father. The Cops. Tommy Leonard. Gonzalez and other media types. Prison personnel. Every seat occupied. Sweaty and surreal. All looking at him.
IN THE DEATH CHAMBER The Warden steps forward. WARDEN Alexander Frederick Corvis. Do you have any last words? A thick silence. Alex looks unprepared, uneasy as he scans a sea of hostile faces, settling on Erin and her dad. ALEX I loved Lauren. I still do. I'm innocent. Erin shakes her head, disgusted. Looks away.
ALEX'S POV - THE LAST SECONDS OF HIS LIFE SLOWING in his inner perception, movement ramping down as Alex scans the disbelieving faces. The Phone. Silent. No reprise. The Observation Room witness door opens. A Guard in the back row deferentially offers his seat to the NEW ARRIVAL, a man in dark clothes, his face obscured by REFLECTIONS in the plexiglass. As he UNBUTTONS his shirt cuff... The warden steps to the side of the room, nods to the executioner who lifts a COVER off a large switch. The New Arrival pulls his shirtsleeve back over his forearm, exposing a scar for Alex, THE SCAR, an odd zigzag pattern of raised welts, a pattern deliberately formed of skin. The Executioner throws the switch.
ALEX SHAKING violently as he fights to stay alive, time extremely subjective now as he chokes out... ALEX screams Murderer! The word bubbles up as if from underwater, audible only to Alex. Alex wrenches his head, a superhuman act of will trying to ID the Scar Man through the reflections.
THE HELMET starts to smoke. Then a burst of FLAME at Alex's head.
A BOTCHED EXECUTION made worse by Alex's struggle to see, to stay alive.
IN THE OBSERVATION ROOM The observers panic, horrified. Only the Scar Man calm as he covers his arm, rebuttons his shirt. Face always obscured.
IN THE DEATH CHAMBER Alex in electro-spasm, smoke filling the room, the warden in real time now as he runs to pull the curtain closed. It JAMS partway across. ALEX expires in the char, grotesquely burned,
EYES OPEN as the Warden finally yanks the curtain closed. IN THE OBSERVATION ROOM The Scar Man slips out, but the rest remain, transfixed, horrified. Erin and others in tears. HOLD a long beat, their GASPS faintly audible. Then... MERCER Cruel, who's to say, but it sure was unusual. MORGUE HALLWAY - NIGHT Two guards push a gurney down a reverberant hallway far from the in-your-face security of deathrow. GUARD ONE Look at this. Goddamn helmet melted down.
MERCER That, my friend, is a deterrent. They WIPE past, Alex's charred remains visible a moment, parts of the helmet fused on his face and head, his body convulsed in a pugilistic attitude. MORGUE - NIGHT The guards swing the gurney to a stop by a steel locker, one of several. Mercer opens the locker door. The unceremoniously slide the body into the locker and... BANG. The body hits the open door. Convulsed as it is, the body won't really fit through the door.
MERCER Whoops. CRUNCH. The sound of something breaking as the SHOVE Alex into the cubby hole.