daria
in
Through the silver screen (horror edition)
What if Daria and her cohorts stepped from the small screen into the silver screen and into movie plots? Let's find out.
Experiment #1: Night of the Living Dead - A George Romero classic, and one of my personal favorites. Many have alluded to this movie, but as far as I know they mostly involve inserting zombies into Lawndale. One big aspect of the movie is the isolation of the group. Another aspect was that humanity wasn't the shining beacon of purity and hope that we like to believe ourselves to be. One survivor even mutters in Romero's remake, during a horrid realization, "We're them…. They're us and we're them." This is a paraphrase of the famous Pogo comic strip, "We have met the enemy and he is us." I think Daria would really 'get' the underlying message these movies portrayed, but living the horror is a far cry from enjoying it on a screen during bad (or good) movie night.
Our first experiment opens in a cemetery in the country outside of Pittsburgh, PA. A car is slowly pulling along one of the manicured lanes of the cemetery, and the Morgendorffer sisters are in the front seat. Daria is driving, while Quinn whines in the passenger seat. (While the characters are the same ones we know and love, to properly set up the story of strangers forced together for protection, assume the characters don't know one another, unless a relationship is noted.)
Quinn: I still don't know why mom insists we drive clear out here to put a wreath on his grave. It isn't like we knew him.
Daria: He was our grandfather, Quinn. Try to show a modicum of respect for the dead. Pretend he invented mascara or something.
Quinn: Geez Daria, even I know the queen of France invented mascara.
Daria: (pulls over and shuts off the engine while giving Quinn an odd look.) Look you don't wanna be here; neither do I. So let's just get this over with and get the hell outta here.
Quinn: (Starts to agree while getting out of the car then gets a thoughtful look on her face) What, you're not 'afraid' of a cemetery are you, Daria?
Daria: (quickly) Me, afraid of several blocks worth of worm food, nah. I just don't like being surrounded by the brain dead, it's too much like being back in high school.
Quinn: (sensing blood in the water) Wait, you're 'scared' of this place. Ga-awd, Daria you're such a wimp.
(Both girls move away from the car and off towards a grave as they are talking. Quinn is carrying a tasteful and very expensive looking wreath and Daria is looking around nervously.)
Daria: Dammit Quinn, I'm not a wimp; I just don't care for cemeteries that's all.
Quinn: Oh sure. (Takes up creepy voice, teasing) They're coming to get you Daria. They're coming, and they want your brains.
Daria: (more mad than scared) Sure Quinn, but if I were you, I'd be afraid. After all they'll be wearing clothes that are years out of style.
Quinn: (crinkles her nose in distaste) Yuck! That is scary. (She spots an older man the audience will recognize) Eww that outfit is just wrong.
Mr. DeMartino: (a cut bleeding on his forehead, he seems to be in shock) They're alive, and they're going to get us! Get OUT of here, or they'll be after YOU too! (He stumbles away.)
(Daria and Quinn share a brief look, scared and concerned.)
Daria: (attention on Mr. DeMartino) Who's coming? Are you ok sir? (He seems to not hear them)
Quinn: How weird can you get? Let's just get this wreath done and get the hell out of here.
Daria: I second that.
(They turn back toward the gravestone, and scream in unison)
Daria & Quinn: GAH!
(There is an obviously dead zombie in front of them, swaying on its feet. The audience may recognize Mr. O'Neill under the zombie effects. The creature lunges for Quinn. Daria shoves her out of its reach. The creature instead grabs onto Daria.)
Quinn: Daria! Get off her you creep!
(She bats at the creature with the wreath in her hand. Then she stabs it in the shoulder with the flimsy metal wreath stand. "Mr. O'Neill" moves towards Quinn now, the wreath sticking out of his shoulder. Quinn turns to run and trips over a low stone. Her head bangs off of a nearby tombstone making a sickening *thunk* sound.)
Daria: (very clearly hysterical now) Quinn, NOOOOOOO!
(She moves to check Quinn, who lays eyes glazed, neck broken, and obviously dead.)
Mr. O'Neill: (begins moving again) aaaaooohhhhggnnaa
Daria: (kicks at his hand reaching towards her and breaks into a run towards the car) (to herself) This isn't happening. This isn't real. It can't be.
(She climbs into the car and struggles with Quinn's purse to find her cell phone. When she does she tries to call for help.)
Daria: (frustrated) Dammit, no signal.
(She throws the phone onto the passenger seat and starts to get out when the creature slams against the passenger window. As she looks two more shambling, rotting creatures move into her view and with a whimper she slams her door closed and frantically searches for the keys.)
Daria: (mumbling to herself) Where'd I put those damned things.
(As she searches, 'Mr. O'Neill' starts banging on the window. Soon another creature joins him. We recognize this one as Ms. Barch. Daria digs between the seats for the keys, and slips them into the ignition just as the third creature moves to bang on the drivers side window. This one we recognize as Ms. Li; her hands flutter over the window, trying to find a way to reach the prize inside. The car roars to life as Ms. Barch slams a piece of brick at the passenger window. The glass cracks at the first half hearted tap, and Daria's resounding "Eeep!" seems to spur her on. The next hit is harder and shatters the glass entirely. Daria finally remembers to put the car into gear as the bitter dead woman lunges in at her.)
Daria: (fending off grabbing hands) Get off of me.
(The car swerves recklessly from side to side as she attempts to dodge Ms. Barch's grasping hands and to dislodge her from the window she's hanging through. The reaching fingers manage to grasp a strand or two of Daria's hair.)
Daria: Oww!
(She turns to push the creature from the window, giving the rotting thing one hard push as she swerves. It falls from the window dragging for a moment or two then loses its grip entirely.)
Daria: (relieved) Thank God.
(She turns back to the road only to realize she's going to hit a large old oak tree. She spins the wheel to the left and taps on the brake, but all she manages is to avoid a major head on collision with the tree. Instead the car scrapes along the passenger side, going off the road, and as it continues forward the front tire starts squealing and the front of the car shudders as it slams through underbrush and small trees. The squealing gets louder and louder, and when she tries to avoid driving over a drainage ditch she realizes the steering has locked up. The car slams into the mucky water, and Daria smashes her head off the steering wheel. She is knocked out. As we look at her one might note the clock on the dashboard reads 4:54p.m. Fade out.)
(Fade in, with a close-up on the dashboard clock. It reads 5:17)
Daria: (a cut bleeding on her forehead, coming to) mmmhuuuh, whaaa, what happened.
(She tries to restart the car. It won't start and she sees movement in the rearview mirror. Ms. Barch and Ms. Li are coming down the long rambling path she made with the car, slowly ambling closer and closer. Daria lets out a low moan of panic then frantically starts grabbing at the cell phone. She slips it into her jacket pocket, and then climbs out of the car, which is listing badly to the front passenger side. She moves to the drainage ditch, takes a look at it calculating the short span, and then moves back a few feet for a running jump. Once she lands on the other side she checks the position of the two walking corpses. They have started moving a little faster upon seeing fresh meat, but only a little. Their shambling gait would be comical if they weren't so deadly.
She turns and starts making her way through the trees. Over the next few moments we see her moving through the woods stopping to check the cellular for a signal once or twice, and muttering a few choice curses when it fails to work. Finally, she tops a hill and sees an old farmhouse in the distance. Beyond it lays a long gravel lane and several outbuildings, including what looks to be an old gas station.)
Daria: (pocketing the cellular phone) Please be home.
(As the sun reaches the horizon, and prepares to set, Daria reaches the back door of the farmhouse.)
Daria: (knocking, then banging louder and louder as no one replies) Hello, anyone home? Is anyone here? Help! I need to use your phone! Please answer. Please! (One of her knocks causes the door to creak open) Oh hell. This goes against every horror movie I've ever seen. (She turns to leave, then remembers just how far out into nowhere she is, and slips into the house.) Is anyone home? I just need to use the phone. There's something going on outside. It's dangerous. (She spots a telephone on the wall and attempts to call 911, but there is no dial tone.) Dammit!
(She moves from the kitchen in past a dining room to a front hall and staircase calling out hello. Daria moves towards the living room, when a door behind her silently creeps open, and we see Mrs. Johansson, zombified. She has what appears to be chocolate on her face as well as blood, and is wearing a pair of stained denim overalls and a flannel shirt instead of her standard muumuu. Slowly she shuffles, arms raised, towards Daria, who is looking around the living room. Off in the distance we hear a car engine sputtering along. Daria moves toward the window just as the dead woman strikes.)
Daria: Gah! Get the hell off of me.
(Daria struggles to get away; reaching with one hand, straining to reach the rack next to the fireplace, the other trying to hold back the dead woman. Her searching hand knocks the rack over and both the small shovel and the poker fall onto the hard wood floor. Daria grasps the poker in her hand firmly and starts hitting at it. Several hits to the thing's shoulders do nothing but goad it on. Then a well placed blow to the head splatters grey matter, bone, and blood across the area rug the creature falls down across.
Daria, in shock and revulsion sinks slowly to the floor. Breathing raggedly and pale, except for two spots of high color on her cheeks, she pushes herself away with her boots; putting as much space as she can between herself and it. Suddenly the engine noise dies out and there are footsteps heard just outside the front door. It is jerked open and a young African-American man rushes in, and slams the door, locking it. We recognize him as Mack. A baseball bat held up and at the ready, he moves through the house, heading first towards the living room.)
Mack: Hello? Are you okay? Do you have a phone? (As he speaks he moves closer to Daria; making sure not to get too close to the thing oozing blood onto the rug. He walks close to Daria.) Are you with me here? Come on, I need to talk with you, snap out of it. I need you to get it together. (He snaps his fingers in front of her face, and when that fails, smacks her lightly across one cheek then the other. Finally, her eyes stray from the thing she killed, and focus on him. He speaks slowly as if to a child.) Are you hurt?
Daria: It didn't get me. (The reality of the situation sinks in to her a little) We've got to get the hell out of here. I tried the phone, but it's dead and my car's totaled. Those 'things' killed my sister. We have to get the hell out of here. (Edging towards hysterical again)
Mack: I've got a truck, but no gas. We won't get more than a quarter mile down the road on it now. I saw the old gas station. I was hoping it still had some gas in the underground tanks, or that someone here might have gas cans for a mower or something. There's an old gas pump but it's got a padlock on it. (He starts looking around the room, checking drawers and cabinets as he talks.) Is this your place? Is there a key for the pump? Do you have any guns or any weapons?
Daria: (shaking her head) This isn't my place. At a guess, I'd say it was hers. (She gestures to the woman on the floor.)
Mack: If we can't get help, and we can't get out, we need to check this place out. We need weapons, and to secure this place. I noticed some wood outside. If we could find some nails and a hammer this place shouldn't be hard to board up. Then we would be safe for a while.
Daria: Why would we do that? Why can't we just head towards the nearest town? This can't be everywhere. Can it?
Mack: I don't know about everywhere, but I came from Grove City. I was at a diner, and those things came out of nowhere and surrounded it. Ten, fifteen or more; they started batting at the plate glass windows. We started putting tables up in front of the windows when these three guys started fighting and arguing with each other. They went out the door, God, I think they were gonna fight those things. They were ripped apart. People started panicking, and before anyone could do anything four of those things were inside ripping and tearing at people. Everyone ran for the other exit; right into the rest of those creatures. They trampled a waitress on the way out the door. I tried to get to her to help her up, but those things got to her first. Finally I did the only thing I could, I ran. I jumped in my truck. I tried to getting other people, but there was no one left. They were all dead or gone. I just drove; there wasn't anything else I could do.
Daria: I'm sure you did all you could.
Mack: I saw guys herding these things into trucks, like they knew what they were going to do with them. They opened the door to let another one in, and those things just came stumbling out. There were too many of them to stop. This one had to have taken ten shots to the body. I saw him jerking and stumbling, but he never actually stopped until the guy got in a head shot. By the time the guys realized they had to shoot'em in the head, there were just too damn many, too damned close to stop.
Daria: It's starting to get dark. We need to check this place out while we can, and get started on boarding it up. I've got a cell phone, but it isn't getting a signal way out here.
Mack: That's good. After we make sure the place is safe we can try it from upstairs. You might get better reception from up there.
(They move towards the stairs. Mack holds up the bat and is heading upstairs when Daria stops him.)
Daria: Wait! There's something up there. (She points towards a blood stain dripping from the ceiling below the upstairs landing)
Mack: You wait down here. Yell if you see or hear anything, and keep that poker handy. Unless we find a gun cabinet, that's probably the best weapon we'll find around here.
(Mack moves up the stairs slowly, bat held up and at the ready. As we get up stairs we see a dead body, its head gone. A shotgun is propped between its legs.)
Mack: Someone's up here. He's shot himself, and he isn't moving, so I'm going to check the other rooms.
(He moves past slowly and checks the remaining rooms. When he opens the second bedroom door he finds a closet door open revealing a gun rack. There are two empty slots and one very expensive looking hunting rifle, with a scope. Scattered beneath the rack are several boxes of ammo. He grabs the boxes of ammo. Mack turns to leave then after looking at the boxes in his hands; he spins back around and searches through the clutter on the closet floor again. He pulls out a small handgun that apparently matches one of the boxes of ammo in his arms. Stepping back over the body, Mack moves down the stairs.)
Mack: (giving her the handgun and bullets) I'm fairly sure these people are card carrying members of the NRA, thank God. If this isn't a second amendment situation then I don't know what is. Do you know how to handle a gun?
Daria: I grew up in Texas. I've shot a pellet gun, and seen real ones, but never handled them. I of course know the basic mechanics of one. Aim, pull trigger, and watch out for the kick. Oh and if it has a safety, take care of that before you try to shoot.
Mack: (starts moving through the first floor, looking around) That's pretty much it. Just remember to hold the gun with both hands. It will keep your aim closer to true and help with the kick. I've gone target shooting with my dad a couple times, and he's got a small collection. So I know how to get these things loaded, and I'm a fair shot, but if more of those things show up we're going to need more than one fair shot.
(They move through the first floor, and Mack checks the windows and looks around each room. They turn on all the lights in each room, leaving them on when they move to the next room. One of the doors they check refuses to open no matter how hard they try. Finally they move back into the living room and silently Daria starts wrapping the area rug around the woman she bludgeoned with the fireplace poker.)
Mack: What are you doing?
Daria: We may need to stay here for awhile waiting for help. I don't want her in here with us, or her friend upstairs either.
Mack: (moves to start helping wrap and then to carry) You're right. Let's get them both outside.
(Silently the pair begins moving the rug wrapped woman out the front door. In the failing twilight Mack grabs an old coffee can that has nails and three hammers sticking out of it and hands it to Daria. He picks up a sheet of plywood and the heavy circular saw and slowly negotiates his way back inside.)
Mack: We need to move the wood inside. There are only a couple full sheets of plywood, but there are plenty of scraps we can use. While I get the guy from upstairs why don't you try and bring some of the scraps in. If you see anyone give me a yell.
(Mack moves up the stairs as Daria continues to bring large pieces of wood, keeping her eyes open all the while for any of those things. Mack wraps the hall runner over the nearly headless corpse. He slowly drags it down the stairs and out the front door placing it with the other covered body. He then moves over to carry in more pieces of wood into the house. As Daria passes the grandfather clock in the hall we note that the time is 7:06pm. Fade out.)
(Fade in with a close-up on the face of the grandfather clock, the hands read 8:32pm. The sound of hammering is heard along with the occasional curse word or two when someone has missed their mark and hit their thumb. A look around the room reveals that almost all the windows have been boarded up. The pile of scrap wood they had made is almost gone. Mack has stopped hammering and moves to the television sitting in the corner.)
Mack: (clicking buttons on the many remotes) We need to see if there is anything on about this. If anyone knows what's going on, or how to stop it.
Daria: (hammers in one last nail on the board she was working on then moves to sit down) That's a good idea. Try the local channels, and if she's got it, CNN.
Mack: (flipping through channels) It might actually be easier to get CNN. This is a satellite receiver; the people who lived here might not have local channels on their service package. Wait, here it is.
(The screen shows a logo for the Emergency Broadcast System as well as the station logo, in this case KDKA 2. The screen is accompanied by a loud keening wail, and then words start scrolling across the screen and a voice announces:
THIS IS NOT A TEST; THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) HAS ISSUED A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR THE ENTIRE VIEWING AREA. AN EPIDEMIC OF MASS HOMICIDES HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN AREAS RANGING FROM AS FAR NORTH AS TORONTO, CANADA AND AS FAR SOUTH AS THE FLORIDA KEYS, AND FROM THE ENTIRE EASTERN SEABOARD TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. IT IS UNKNOWN WHAT IS CAUSING PEOPLE TO BEHAVE THIS WAY, BUT IN EVERY REPORTED INSTANCE THE SUSPECTS HAVE BEEN SAID TO BE IN A TRANCE LIKE STATE AND OFTEN HAVING AN UNKEMPT OR UNHEALTHY APPEARANCE. THESE PEOPLE ARE CONSIDERED BY AUTHORITIES TO BE VERY DANGEROUS. DO NOT APPROACH THEM FOR ANY REASON. STAY IN YOUR HOMES! LOCK THEM UP TIGHT AND REMAIN INSIDE. STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR FURTHER UPDATES.
The annoying wail starts up again for a moment then the message repeats for a few words before Mack hits the mute button.)
Daria: (shocked) My God.
Mack: (equally shocked) This thing is huge. I thought it was some weird isolated thing. (now determined) We've got to get this place fixed up tight. Then, maybe we can get someone on that cellular phone. Right now the people who could help us have their hands full. We'll reinforce this place, and then maybe we can get some help. (He gestures to the remaining wood.) I'd better look upstairs for something more we can use. If need be, we can pull a couple doors down to finish the job. Keep watch; I'll be right back.
(He moves up the stairs and down the hall. Daria turns back to the window she had been working on. As she resumes hammering we hear a slow creak and see the previously locked door slowly opening. Daria reaches for another piece of wood and catches sight of something. She turns to face it screaming, and bringing her hammer up as a weapon as she does, forgetting the gun in her pocket momentarily.)
Daria: (loud) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
(Our view changes and we see Brittany, carrying a shotgun, and Linda Griffin who is hefting an aluminum baseball bat. Mack comes running down the stairs gun drawn. Daria remembers the handgun lying on the table near her and picks it up pointing it towards the floor under the newcomers.)
Daria: (still obviously shaken, but attempting to regain composure) Who the hell are you, and where did you come from?
(Mack enters the room covering the pair from the rear as he does. Brittany is wearing a flannel shirt tied just under her chest with worn blue jeans and sneakers; Linda is wearing a dark blue business suit, a string of pearls and sensible blue pumps.)
Brittany: (rushed and squeaking as usual) Don't shoot! We're human, not one of those thingies.
Mack: Where the hell did you two come from, and who's we?
Brittany: Me, I'm Brittany Taylor. This is Mrs. Griffin. (points at Linda) Her husband, Tom, and her daughter's downstairs. Her girl's been hurt; One of those 'things' bit her. Oh, and my friend Stacy Rowe's down there too.
Mack: How'd you get here?
Brittany: This is my Aunt Regina's place. Me an' Stacy stopped in to rest on our way up to the lake and found cousin Artie. He was really upset, something about aliens and chocolate and um, about Aunt Reg being dead.
Linda: (interrupting) She wasn't dead; she couldn't have been.
Brittany: (a little angry) She was; I saw her, I felt her pulse. Hell I even opened a Hershey's bar. She was dead, dead and cold. (calming down) I told Artie we had to call 911 and we came downstairs to do that when her and her family showed up. I tried to call but the phones where out. Right then Aunt Reg, she was walking towards us. Her eyes were glazed over, and she just, she (near tears) started to go after Artie. I grabbed one of the shotguns, but it was Aunt Regina; I couldn't shoot Aunt Reg. Artie, he grabbed one of the other guns and, well, he shot himself. I didn't see him, but I know he did. He could never have shot her either. I got everyone downstairs. That was my idea and it is pretty safe down there.
Mack: (gently) You did all you could. (to Linda) How'd you get here?
Linda: (bitchy) Car. A mile down the road. Sitting on a flat. And none of these yo-yo's had a car. (eyeing Mack then Daria) What about you two; neither of you look the neighborly sort. Either of you have a car?
Mack: (gestures at Daria) Her car is off
the road and busted up, and the truck I got here in is outside. The tank is almost on empty.
Mack: Why didn't you come up when we first started moving around up here?
Linda: (looking at Mack like he is stupid) We were in the basement, it's the only safe place. Besides how were we to know you weren't more of those things.
Mack: (looking at Linda) Didn't you hear us talking up here? We could have used some help. (Linda looks at him in disdain as he continues.) We need to work together in order to make this place safe.
Linda: (getting annoyed) The basement IS safe. It's the only safe place. We need to get some supplies and get back down there, before more of those things show up.
Mack: (examining the hidden door) I'm not sure it's the safest place. Enough of those things get in here they could pop it right open.
Linda: (almost, but not quite in Mack's face) So these windows are gonna keep those things out?
Mack: (struggling to maintain his temper) These windows are being boarded up. I don't like the idea of being trapped down there with no way out.
Linda: (cutting him off) A way out is a way in. We need to get back downstairs, all of us, before those things hear you banging away up here, and come to check it out.
Mack: (exasperated) Look, I'm not bottling myself in down there unless I have to. It's not a smart move. We won't be able to get help or information if we're huddling in that basement like rats. You want to go back down there go ahead. You want to be the boss, well then you can be the boss down there; Not up here. (to Brittany) What about you? Are you going to join her in the basement? Going to put your head in the sand and hope for the best?
(Brittany moves back towards the hidden door. Mack practically growls in frustration until Brittany stops walking and yells down the stairway.)
Brittany: Stacy, come on up here, we need your help.
(As Stacy comes up the stairs, Linda shoots a dirty look at them all and slams past her, heading to the kitchen. Stacy lets out a small "eep!" before slipping into the room. She watches the newcomers warily and waits for Brittany to tell her why she is needed.)
Brittany: (using a very soothing voice, as if she expects Stacy to bolt) We need to help these people board up the house so it's safer for us in here.
Stacy: What should I do?
Brittany: (still with the soothing voice, but one might notice a slight irritated edge to it.) Aunt Regina had some tools and stuff in the kitchen; go see if there are any more hammers in it, or nails. Meanwhile (looking at Mack) you and I should see if we can take some of the upstairs doors down and use them.
(Daria has been drifting away during this exchange. She is peeking out past their makeshift window coverings.)
Daria: (emotionless) There are more of those things outside. (Stacy tries to head for the stairs but Brittany has her hand and moves towards the window pulling Stacy along. Mack moves up behind them. Daria points out the creatures shambling aimlessly around the landscape.) Two over behind those trees and another one just came over the hill.
(Brittany and Mack lean in to get a better look and suddenly a bloodied fist slams against the window. They jump back as Linda re-enters the room. Mack moves towards the door gun in hand as Linda realizes what's going on.)
Linda: (eyes wide) Let's go downstairs everyone, before it finds a way in. (She notices Mack unlocking the door.) WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?
(Mack grips the door handle, pops it open quickly and then checks both directions before slipping through it. He aims the gun, and when he has a clear shot takes out the zombie. Again looking both ways he slips back inside, and relocks the door.)
Mack: (reloading the gun, very matter of fact) I was keeping those things from building up on us. We keep their numbers down, we stay safe. Simple logic ma'am.
Linda: (absolutely livid) What if there were more of those things on the porch? What if they had gotten in? Don't just take it upon yourself to decide things for the rest of us. That little stunt could have gotten us all killed. My husband and little girl are downstairs. He's unarmed and she's sick. Just one of those things could kill us all because you had to play G.I. Joe.
Mack: (backing up realizing how scared she is) Look your right, and I'm sorry. We need to fix up this place before more than one of those things finds its way inside. Then we have to decide together what we do next. If we could find the keys to that gas tank down the road we could try and get the hell out of here. (turns to the others) There are more windows to cover. We're starting to run low on wood. Just get them up, we can reinforce later.
(Everyone except Linda gets busy trying to board the place up. We zoom in on the face of the clock one more time and it reads 9:04. Fade out.)
(Fade in on the clock again it reads 9:31. The sound of hammering is heard from various points of the house. The wood that had been brought in is gone and other things have been nailed to the windows. As we pan though the room we see an old wooden child's sled along with what appears to be parts of the end tables nailed across window. Mack and Brittany are removing the legs from the dinning room table. They move to put it up across a large window. Stacy looks out a window off to one side of the big window they are covering.)
Stacy: Omygod! Brittany, look!
(As Brittany moves to look, the crash of broken glass is heard and one of the creatures is pushing its way the window Mack was attempting to cover. A pale and dead, but well manicured and accessorized, hand snakes in the crack between the tabletop and the window frame. It flutters around briefly then grabs a hold of Mack as he struggles to nail the table top into place. There is a moment or two where no one moves except Mack and the grasping hand that is trying to pull him out, then almost as one both Brittany and Daria move towards him, Brittany hefting a hammer, Daria, the rifle. Brittany tries to hammer at the hand but very nearly hits Mack. Daria tries to use the gun but can't get a decent angle on the owner of the groping hand.)
Daria: (Breathing heavily) Back up and let it in!
Linda: (She is barely heard and not acknowledged at all from her vantage point of the basement doorway.) You're all crazy!
(Slipping out of the thing's grasp, Mack pulls back and lets the table top fall to the floor. Standing in the window, clutching a small stylish purse, stands Tiffany. Except for the bite marks along her arm, the dried leaves in her hair, and the obviously rotting flesh, she looks quite like her normal self, vacant stare and all. Again everyone seems to freeze a moment, contemplating this new visitor. Suddenly she lunges forward toward Mack. As she does, the whip crack of a rifle shot is heard and she falls onto Mack, her much questioned brains are now splattered along one wall, and on a shocked Stacy.)
Stacy: (Now completely hysterical) You shot her; you shot Tiffany!
Daria: (Getting angry now) She was one of those things. She was going to attack Mack. Would you rather I let her?
(Mack moves the body out the window and drops it. He pulls back suddenly as another figure lurches into view. It's nude from the waist up and displays a roughly sewn up y cut that is the obvious results of an autopsy. One can barely recognize the corpse as Tommy Sherman. He scans the room with and lumbers a step or two towards Brittany and Stacy.)
Daria: (Angry) Is he dead? Is he? (She shoots him in the chest and he falls back with the impact briefly, but then starts towards the girls again.) You're all seeing this. Is he dead? (another shot) Well? (Spins towards Linda) What about you, convinced yet? Is he dead? (she shoots him one more time in the chest, again he slams back with the impact and immediately starts forward again.)
Mack: Daria, get it together. You can't start losing it now.
Daria: (Coldly) I've already lost something to these bastards. I DO NOT plan on losing anything else. (She fires one shot to the ex-quarterback's head, causing him to drop immediately.)
(While Daria and Mack board up the broken window, Brittany leads Stacy to the bathroom to clean up. They finish and move on to the next window before the two girls return. Brittany moves towards the television, turns the volume up, and slips into the seat in front of it, as the newscaster begins talking. When they hear his voice, everyone slowly moves to the television, and settle in to watch in near silence.)
Newscaster: … The White House has been host to experts in the fields of microbiology and virology, as well as specialists on chemical warfare and officials from NASA and the director of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Rumors about what is causing this now nationwide epidemic of homicidal activity are flying rampant. A nationwide State of Emergency has been issued, and U.S. military personnel, as well as Nation Guardsmen, are all under orders to report for duty, both to suppress the murderous masses that are attacking, and in order to attempt some measure of control over the current situation.
We have reports coming in from a group of scientists from the Center for Communicable Disease's in Stovington, Vermont. They claim… (Scoffs and looks amused despite the grim situation) They claim that the bodies of the recently deceased are coming back to life and feeding on the flesh of the living. Yeah, right. (Talking off screen to unseen news director) You might want to actually screen out some of this crackpot stuff as it's coming in.
Anyway folks, for now the instructions are this. If you have the means, attempt to get to one of the designated Red Cross stations. There you will find food, shelter, and protection by National guardsmen. The list of stations should be starting up again in a moment or two. If you do not have a safe way to reach one of these stations, burrow in. Board up your windows, lock your doors, conserve food and water, and above all else remain indoors.
Stay tuned to KDKA News Channel 2 for continuous updates.
(When the screen went back to the studio logo and an ever updating list of cities and Red Cross stations Brittany turned the volume down and they all look at one another. Daria and Mack look worried and shocked, Brittany calculating, Stacy looks quite out of it, and Linda looks stunned.)
Linda: That's IT? That's the ONLY thing they have to tell us. These are the people PAID to deal with this type of crap!
Mack: I don't think anyone has ever had to deal with this type of crap.
Linda: Of course YOU'D stick up for them, wouldn't you?
Mack: (clearly angry) What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?
Linda: What the hell do YOU think I mean? I mean that that sorry excuse for a news anchor has told us to do what YOU want.
Mack: Just because they know a good idea when it jumps up and bites them on the a-
Linda: (interrupting) Oh REAL GOOD idea. It's their backup plan. It doesn't mean THIS place will hold off more than a couple of those things. We NEED to get back to the basement, or to figure a way to get to one of those stations.
Mack: Well since you're dead set against staying up here, why don't you just make yourself useful, and try to find the keys to the gas pumps. Maybe then we can get out of here.
Brittany: Look, instead of standing around arguing
all day, we need to get the rest of these windows boarded up.
Linda: (fed up) Fine, you just do that, Cupcake.
(She leaves the living room, and wanders from room to room. She eventually goes up stairs and we see her looking at what seems to be a dropdown ladder for attic access. After a few moments randomly poking around in the upstairs rooms she returns to the first floor. The sound of hammering is constant and people are moving back and forth as they need material.)
Linda: I didn't see anything resembling a key upstairs. I guess I'll, like, look around down here.
(She begins poking around in drawers and tables around the room, and comes across the cellular Daria has set down while she works. A furtive look on her face, Linda picks it up and after seeing the lack of signal, starts to slip the phone unto the pocket of her suit. She turns to walk away and walks straight into Mack who is blocking her path.)
Mack: (Barely repressed rage) Where the HELL do you think you're going with that?
Linda: (Attempting, badly, to look innocent) Wh-what are you talking about?
Mack: Don't act like you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. The cell phone; you just took it.
(He grabs her arm and pulls it up revealing the phone. Furious she jerks out of his grip and the phone slips out of her grasp. It flies across the room and slams into the fireplace, busting up into several pieces.)
Linda: Look what YOU did. Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you put your filthy hands on me?
Mack: (no longer repressed at all) You, lying, thieving bitch! You try to steal the one thing that might get us some help and take it down into that death trap with you, and then you have the nerve to blame it on me.
Linda: (getting in his face) I was not taking it downstairs.
Mack: Sure you weren't after all that's the 'only safe place' isn't it? You figure you'll hedge your bets; let us hold them off up here, let us take the risks, and all the while, you sit down there with your family, knowing you have a way to call out, and the rest of us to act as a shield.
Linda: (yelling) I WAS NOT TAKING IT DOWNSTAIRS!
Mack: Yeah, right.
Linda: You moron! There is no damned reception in a basement. I was not taking it downstairs.
Stacy: (interrupts, yelling, mad as hell) JUST. SHUT. UP. The both of you! This isn't your house. This is our house, this is Brittany's house. Where would the two of you be if we didn't let you stay here? Where would you be if we told the both of you to get the hell out?
Brittany: (scarily enough the voice of reason) No one is getting thrown out.
Stacy: This was your aunt's house and now it's your house, and they don't need to be fighting over it like a couple of schoolyard bullies. So either shut up or get out.
(Daria watches the events unfold, but when Stacy talks she gets a strange look on her face. She walks toward the door, picking the rifle up on the way. The sound of the bolt being slid back gets everyone's attention, and they all move towards the door.)
Stacy: What the hell is she doing?
(Daria cautiously opens the door checking both directions then, gun out and pointed at the ceiling, moves towards the pair of corpses they had dragged outside earlier.)
Daria: (to Brittany, gesturing at the corpses) Is that your cousin and your aunt? (Brittany, looking sick, nods) Do you think one of them might have the keys?
(Brittany nods and both Linda and Stacy rush forward to check the bodies over. Stacy pulls a jingling set of keys out of the chest pocket of 'Aunt Regina's' overalls.)
Stacy: (triumphant) I got'em.
(As they move back through the door Daria looks out through the yard at the slowly gathering dead. There are now more than ten visible from where they stand. They are slowly shambling towards the 'living'.)
Daria: (softly) They're so slow. We could walk right past them.
Mack: What?
Daria: (normal voice) They're so slow. We could just walk past them. (Mack gives her an odd look.) What? I'm not crazy. We have the guns. If we moved fast, and watched each other's backs, we could make it. You KNOW I'm right.
Mack: What about her kid, Linda's kid. She's hurt.
Daria: We could leave them here, locked in, and bring back help.
Mack: We have the keys now. We'll see about getting the truck gassed up, and getting the hell out of here. We need to be smart about this.
(Daria takes aim with the rifle and shoots the two nearest zombies dead in the head. They both fall over.)
Daria: I am being smart about this, but you're right the truck would be our best bet. (Just then another zombie comes into view. It's Mr. O'Neil, the wreath still in his arm. With a cry of anguish Daria takes aim again through the scope of the rifle and shoots. There is an explosion of grey matter and blood from his head.) Alright, we're starting to draw a crowd. Let's get inside.
(They re-enter the house and lock the door again. Once inside they find seats in the living room.)
Linda: What are we waiting for? Let's get the tank filled and get out of here.
Mack: We need to be figure out how we're going to work this. We have plenty of ammo, but we need to work out who takes what gun, and how we're playing this.
Brittany: Mack, you drive, I'll pump the gas. We go alone down to fill the tank and back. Once that's done we worry about getting the others out of the house.
Mack: Can you handle it?
Brittany: (insulted) You think because I'm a girl I can't handle myself out there?
Mack: You're right and I'm sorry. You seem to be very capable. I just want to make sure you know what you were getting into. If you're sure, then I guess it's you and me.
Daria: I'm coming too.
(Mack pulls her off to one side and quietly talks with her.)
Mack: I want you in here covering us with that rifle. You seem to be the best shot with it, and I don't want any locked doors between me and her. (tilts head toward Linda)
Daria: (nods) Yeah, you're right.
(They return to the main sitting area.)
Stacy: I'm going too.
Brittany and Mack: (simultaneously) NO!
Mack: We can't protect you out there, stay here with the others and be ready to move fast once we've got the truck gassed up.
Brittany: He's right, Stacy.
Stacy: No, he isn't. You need someone to drive, someone to pump, and someone to shoot. In other words, you need three people.
Mack: Alright you're the third. (He hands her a set of keys from his pocket.) Now, about the weapons; We leave the rifle here. It's only good for long range really anyway. Daria can cover us as best she can from one of these front windows. There are a couple breaks in the boards big enough if you knock out the glass. Stacy, Brittany, can you both handle shotguns? (They both nod yes.) Good. I'll take the handgun. It holds more bullets, but it's a bit harder hit them with it. That means as soon as you stop the car, one pumps, while the other guards with the shotgun. Meanwhile, I'll pick off what I can. We fill the tank if we can, then get back here as quickly as possible. We're going to need some light out there.
(He picks up a couple of towels and begins to wrap them around a leg from one of the tables they had cannibalized to cover the windows, creating a torch. With a bit more rummaging, he turns up a small butane lighter and charcoal starter fluid. He douses the torch's end liberally with the fluid, and then lights it. Gun in one hand he moves towards the door. Brittany and Stacy, guns in hand, follow him.)
Brittany: Keep it tight and cover each other's flank. Don't let them get close to any of us, and keep your mind on where you're shooting. We don't want to shoot one of us instead of them. Stacy, aim for groups of them; each shot will do more damage that way. Mack, usually I'd say aim for center of mass, but it doesn't really play here does it?
Mack: (smirking just a little) No, not really.
(Torch held to one side carefully, the three of them make their way outside. Daria slams the door behind them and locks it, then takes up her post at the window. Stacy quickly gets in the truck and tries to start it. There are over twenty zombies nearby, and they are slowly moving in on the small group. Brittany and Mack put down seven zombies between themselves by the time Stacy gets the truck moving. They climb into the bed of the pickup and they speed off toward the gas pump. Mack's homemade torch lies on the truck bed while he reloads his gun. Stacy swerves sharply to avoid one of the undead and Mack is thrown from the truck. Unaware, Stacy speeds to the pump and skids to a halt.)
Brittany: (frustrated and frantic) You lost Mack.
Stacy: (shocked and guilty) What?!? Why didn't you tell me?
Brittany: There wasn't time. Just go back and get him. (She turns and begins trying keys on the lock.) Oh god! These are the wrong keys.
Stacy: No, those have to be the ones.
(She climbs from the truck, pulls the keys from Brittany, and begins trying them in the small padlock. Brittany, however, is distracted by something in the distance. We see a zombified Kevin in the field off to one side. Shambling next to him are several cheerleaders.)
Brittany: (Enraged) You two timing sonofa- (She brings the shotgun up and carefully aims at Kevin. She fires and takes down both Kevin and two of the cheerleaders.) Take that you lowlife cheating zombie scum. (She looks amazingly satisfied at the results.)
Stacy: None of these keys work.
(Stacy pulls her shotgun up and aims it at the locked pump. Brittany turns around right then.)
Brittany: (as Stacy shoots) Noooooo!
(The shot ruptures the hose and gasoline shoots out dousing the two girls and the truck. The burning torch in the bed of the truck ignites and with in a few seconds there is a massive explosion. Mack had been fighting his way to the truck from where he landed and is thrown backwards by the blast. Both Daria and Linda see the explosion. Daria is near tears while Linda has a hardened expression on her face. Daria quickly reloads the rifle and begins to clear Mack a path back to the house. He does the same, shooting anything that comes too close. When Mack is nearly to the porch Linda moves behind Daria and tries to grab the rifle. They begin to struggle back and forth.)
Daria: What the hell do you think you're doing?!?
Linda: I need this. We have to get to the basement. It's over. The plan failed. Now we do it my way.
(While they struggle for the gun a hand grabs at Daria through the hole she'd been using to cover the others. As she tries to pull away Linda gets control of the rifle and moves towards the basement door. She attempts to shoot the zombie trying to pull Daria, but the gun is out of ammo. Linda tries to load the rifle, but is slow while she is figuring it out. Daria is yelling for help and struggling with the arm tearing at her throat. Meanwhile, Mack is on the front porch, out of ammo, and trying to get inside. He pulls the zombie that is attacking Daria and throws it over the railing into the yard. Daria rushes to the front door and lets Mack in. They struggle to shut the door on another zombie.)
Mack: Back up!
(They let it in. You may recognize it as the deputy from 'Speedtrapped'. He is in uniform, and wearing a pair of pistols and an ammo belt on his hips. Mack is about to hit it with the butt of his now empty handgun when Linda shoots it. She hits it, but not in the head, when it stumbles from the shot Mack smashes it in the head. After it collapses both Mack and Daria scramble for the guns it carried. Each takes a gun and, after grabbing a few bullets, Mack passes Daria the ammo belt.)
Daria: Hurry! We need to get him out, and this door shut now.
(While they struggle with the body, Linda is inching her way to the basement door. We see her start down the stairs only to back up quickly, a stunned look on her face. She stumbles to the stairs a look of horror on her face. 'Sandi' shambles into view from the basement doorway, fresh blood shining on her lips, chin, and powder blue shirt. She grins hungrily at her mother, then catches sight of the rooms other occupants and moves towards them. Daria and Mack look up from their task, and catch sight of the clearly dead girl.)
Mack: Shoot it Linda. (Mack is steadily loading his gun; Daria is fumbling to load her own.)
Linda: (Shaking her head) I can't; she's my daughter.
Mack: Shoot it. That's not your little girl anymore Linda, now its one of the things that killed her. Shoot it.
(Sandi is moving towards Daria, who drops the shells she's attempting to load into the gun.)
Linda: (Slumps against the wall, mumbling) She's my daughter.
(Mack snaps the chamber closed and takes a two handed shooter's stance. He aims at Sandi.)
Linda: (Aims the rifle at Mack and shoots.) NO!
(Mack's shoots, but it goes wild as he is hit in the right shoulder. He falls to one side, behind a chair, clutching his shoulder. Daria turns to help him, but she is grabbed by Sandi. She struggles to keep the girl at bay, while Mack tries to get a clear shot. Linda shoots at him again, blasting holes in the overstuffed chair Mack has taken refuge behind. Mack gets off a couple of shots, this time in the direction of Linda instead of Sandi. Daria is meanwhile losing the struggle with the zombified girl. Her blood covered teeth are inches from sinking into Daria's shoulder, when Mack fires one shot into its head.)
Linda: NOOOO!
(Linda abruptly stops screaming and begins firing at the corner where Mack is huddling. Mack is hit again, this time along his right ribs. He fires at her again, hitting her in the arm. She runs up the stairs and out of sight. In stunned silence Daria tries to check Mack's wounds, but the door is still stuck open, now with two bodies stopping it from closing. The walking corpses are beginning to move towards the opening. Daria tries to pull Mack to his feet. He shoves her away, and pulls his gun, holding it on her this time.)
Mack: There's no helping me now. Get the hell out of here.
Daria: Are you crazy, I have to help you. We have to get someplace safe.
(He pushes her away as hard as he can and brings the gun up again.)
Mack: There is no safe place here anymore. Take the gun, the extra bullets, and try to get help. (When she doesn't move he brandishes the gun in her face.) Run NOW.
(Daria struggles to shut the front door, the bodies are closing, blocking it solidly, and the mobile corpses are closing in.)
Daria: (tears slowly flowing down her face) I'll bring back help. I promise.
Mack: Just go.
(She tries again desperately to shut the door, but it won't move. Behind her we see a full moon rising through the trees. A zombie reaches for her, and she silently runs. Once she's away, Mack struggles to his feet and moves towards the open basement doorway. Behind him we see the windows they spent hours boarding up being forced open in various places. Zombies begin forcing their way through various places and through the now open front door. Mack makes it to the basement doorway, and just manages to shut the basement door before the throng of creatures reaches him.
Upstairs we see a bleeding Linda looking frantically for a safe place. We can hear the groans and crashing about downstairs, and know it's only a matter of time before they find their way upstairs. She looks up and sees the pull cord for a dropdown staircase that we assume leads to the attic. She pulls it down and climbs up it. She pulls the stairway and its cord up after herself.
Outside, Daria has nearly reached the gas pump. Zombies are pulling at a pair of burned corpses. Hyperventilating, Daria leans to one side dry heaving for a moment or two, before approaching creatures force her to move on.
We cut back to Mack, who's managed just finished barricading the basement door. He makes it slowly down the stairs and moves a lantern to inspect the space he's now trapped in. He notices a bloody splatter across the wall and on several gardening tools. A male figure comes lurching out of the shadows of one corner. It's the ill fated Tom Griffin. With a calmness based in pure exhaustion Mack raises the nearly empty gun and fires at him. Tom drops immediately. Mack finds an old chair collapses into it. Fade out.
Fade in on Daria. The full moon is now high and bright in the sky, and Daria has been moving along quickly. She is carefully making her way past an abandoned truck when a shot rings out. She dives for cover in the bed of the pickup.)
Daria: Don't shoot! I'm human!
(Just then she looks at what's in the truck bed with her. It's piled high with corpses, and she is nearly nose to nose with Quinn's body. She lets out a short scream and scrambles back and out of the truck, where she is grabbed on either side.
In the moonlight we see she's being held by Jesse and Trent, both of whom are dressed for hunting. Jane steps out of the shrubbery wearing fatigues and chomping on a cigar.)
Jane: What in the name of Jupiter's balls are you doing out here alone, little lady?
(Fade out)
(Fade in on a close-up of Daria's face in the brightness of day. We hear people milling about, shooting, and the buzz of multiple conversations in the distance. She jerks awake and looks at her new surroundings. As we pull back we see she's been napping in the passenger seat of a jeep, and that she is now in what looks to be some sort of base camp.
Carefully she gets up and begins walking around. We see a news crew from Sick Sad World interviewing what looks to be someone in charge. He wears an eye patch and is speaking into the reporter's microphone. It's Rock and Roll Randy.)
Randy: What'cha do is get yerself a gun and ya shoot'em in the head. If ya can't do that, beat'em or burn'em. They go up pretty easy.
(Gunshots and loud yells draw her attention away from the 'interview'. She sees zombies hanging from the tree branches. Some are hung by their necks, others by their ankles. As she watches the bodies are riddled with bullets, but the corpses continue to move. A little further along there is a makeshift corral. This is surrounded by various 'good ole boys' all shouting encouragement and insults at a pair of zombies who are going at each other. Disgusted Daria looks away.)
Daria: (low to herself) They're us. They're us, and we're them.
Jane: (who's walked up behind her) What'd you say?
Daria: (Her face assumes an impressed air.) Nothing. We're having some fun now, huh?
Jane: Sheee-it.
(fade out)
(Fade in on the farmhouse. We see people riding through the fields in jeeps, paired up on four-wheelers, and walking around on foot. Any zombie still milling about is given a shot to the head as the hunters move in. We cut to a view inside the house where Jane is using a chainsaw on the closed basement door. Trent and Daria both stand off to one side, alert and keeping their eyes open for any threats. After a moment or two Jane steps back, shutting off the engine. Trent moves up and forces the door open. He jumps back startled as a now zombified Mack steps forward accessing the room a moment. Before he can move to attack anyone, Jane pulls a handgun and shoots him in the head.)
Jane: (to Trent) Go out and have them get a bonfire going in the yard. All these bodies need to be burned. I'm gonna check the rest of the house. (To Daria) You see anything give a holler. She and Trent both move off in different directions.
(Daria stands looking at Mack, her back to the stairs. Very suddenly a hand clamps down on her shoulder. She lets out a short screech then practically leaps across the room, before turning to face her new attacker.)
Linda: (wonder and awe evident in her voice) You came back. You came back and you brought help.
(A look of utter loathing and anger cross Daria's features, and without hesitation she raises the handgun and fires. A hole, eerily similar to the one that has just killed Mack, appears in Linda's forehead. She falls down dead. We cut back to Daria and see a new look of coldness in her features as she calmly reloads her gun. Jane and Trent come running in.)
Jane: What happened?
Daria: (Utterly calm) Not much, just another body for the fire.
(Fade to black.)
Thanks go out to Brandon League, Roger Moore, Deref, and Wyvern for beta reading this fic.