EXT. FIELD HILL - MORNING
Clark, Chloe, and Pete stand at the base of a conspicuously familiar short hill, looking up.
PETE
So. This is the house, huh?
At the top of the hill sits a pile of old putrefying wood, with scorched edges, the decaying remains of a house caved in on itself.
CHLOE
::shrugs:: What's left of it.
CLARK
I don't understand.
Clark climbs the hill, walking around the side of the cluttered pile. Pete climbs up behind him.
CLARK How can this be the house?
Pete gives a rogue plank jutting out from the mess a quick kick with his sneaker. It softly crumbles and turns to dust, scattering in the wind.
PETE It's kind of a fixer upper.
Chloe consults her notebook. CHLOE
According to town records, it's the only house that's ever been built anywhere near the roadside. In fact, only eight houses have ever been built on Run Way. There's one.
Chloe turns to her left.
CHLOE
. east of here, about two miles off the road; it's part of the old Cabot Farm. The fence the cruiser crashed into marks the end of the farm. Then, there's six more houses.
Chloe turns right.
CHLOE .about five miles west of here, but that's part of a new development, and beyond the crash site. She couldn't have seen those from looking out the side window.
Pete picks up a piece of rotting wood and crumbles it in his hand.
PETE
Uh, I hate to break it to you, Chloe, but this wreck looks like it's been here so long it could've been part of the original Ark.
CHLOE You mean as opposed to that new one they built?
PETE
::confused:: What?
CHLOE
::rolls eyes:: Nevermind. Actually, you're not too far off, though. It burned to the ground in 1963. and again in 1964. and then again in 1965.
PETE
Serious?
CLARK
Sounds like someone didn't want a house built here.
CHLOE The land was owned by a real estate agency at the time, Reizer-West. They were able to purchase the land from the town after the bank foreclosed on the original owner, one Regulus Trenton, a known cultist slash real estate mogul who, in the early 1930's, took advantage of the Great Depression by buying up cheap real estate for almost nothing.
PETE
A cultist? You mean like those sneaker freaks?
CHLOE
Not quite.
CLARK
I don't think they had Nike in the 1930s, Pete.
CHLOE They called themselves the Shadow-Els. They used to march through towns all throughout the Midwest, telling people to prepare for the arrival of the great deliverer, one aptly named El, who would free mankind from the oppressive force known as the Evil One, whoever or whatever that is.
Clark looks up at Pete. They both take particular interest in the story at the mention of El.
CHLOE
The group gained particular popularity around the late 1950s and saw its peak in early 1961, when Trenton actually predicted the exact day that this El was supposed arrive on Earth, coincidentally right here in Smallville.
PETE ::under breath:: Yo, man, didn't you tell me your pops visited Earth in 1961?
Pete nonchalantly looks over at Clark who nods to him, his acute sense of hearing allowing him to hear Pete completely on the other side of the rubble.
CHLOE Unfortunately- for him anyway - that day came and passed and so did his following. As the numbers of his cult membership dwindled, so did his bank account, and pretty soon he would lose everything, including this house.
PETE
Sucks to be him.
CHLOE
This was forty years ago, he would be dead now, Pete.
PETE
Right, I knew that.
CHLOE Here's where it starts to get weird, though. Shortly after Reizer-West bought the land, the house mysteriously went up in flames. No cause was ever determined, but the town sheriff suspected arson. His suspicions were only fortified after Reizer-West hired a building company to rebuild the house only to see it burned down twice more. They were never able connect anyone with either of those fires either.
PETE
What about that Trenton guy?
CHLOE
Well, he was their number one suspect, but they could never find him. He disappeared, along with the remaining few members of his cult, shortly after going bankrupt. Reizer-West eventually just pawned off the land to the neighboring farmer, Marcus Cabot, after getting tired of hemorrhaging money into rebuilding the house.
Failing to find anything useful using the more conventional means at his disposal, Clark once again calls upon his extraordinary sight to peer through the rotting planks. At first, nothing of particular interest stands out to him but, just before giving in to his frustration and giving up, something in the very center draws his attention. A miniscule blue glow, like a tiny pulsating flare, flickers beneath the rubble like the faint flame in a gas fireplace.
Lacking only the opportunity to go sifting through the planks, Clark looks to Pete for a distraction, motioning towards Chloe with a short nod. Pete replies with a nod of his own and starts down the hill.
PETE
Hey, I don't get it, Chloe. If this is the house, how could Mrs. Kent have seen. AH!
Pete pretends to trip, falling to the ground and barrel rolling down the hill.
CHLOE Pete!
As Pete narrowly misses plowing Chloe over like a bowling ball toward a ten pin, Clark takes advantage of the distraction by peering through the trees at his own family's truck's front right tire.
BANG!
Chloe and Pete duck down instinctively, reflexively, as the sound of the exploding tire rings out. At first forgetting to duck, Clark follows suit for appearance sake.
CHLOE
What the hell was that?
PETE
It sounded like an explosion!
Dusting himself off, unphased by his less than graceful fall, Pete quickly gets to his feet, Chloe helping him up. The three of them run through the trees to find Clark's truck down one tire.
Pete grabs his nose at the smell of the smoldering rubber.
PETE
Whoa! Man, that reeks!
CHLOE
Now, how did that happen?
Clark bends down, pretending to inspect the tire.
CLARK
There must have been an air pocket in the tire. It completely blew.
CHLOE
Well, you have a spare, right?
CLARK ::shakes head:: I blew one out a couple of weeks ago running over a rake in front of the barn. After we got the new one, I got lazy and just threw the spare in the back, but I took it out when I was bringing the feed out into the fields the other day, you know, to make room. I must have forgotten to put it back.
Clark and Pete each pretend to be utterly demoralized. Clark evens adds a frustrated slap to the car door for emphasis.
CHLOE
Oh. Well, I have a spare in the trunk of my car. Will that work on your truck?
CLARK AND PETE No.
Both Clark and Pete recoil a bit, sheepishly.
CLARK
The tires. they're two different kinds of tires for a car and a truck.
PETE ::nods:: Yeah, two different sizes.
CHLOE Oh.
She shrugs, accepting their explanation.
CHLOE
Well, you want to call a tow truck? Pete, you have your phone, right?
Pete, not thinking.
PETE
::nods:: Yeah.
Clark rolls his eyes and shakes his head as Pete catches himself.
PETE
I mean no. No, I. I forgot it.
CHLOE
You forgot it? I thought you had it surgically attached for your birthday. You never go anywhere without your cell phone.
PETE ::shrugs:: First time for everything I guess.
Clark steps up behind his friend, allowing Pete to secretly slip his cell phone out of his back pocket and into Clark's hand. Clark adeptly slides the phone up into his sleeve and steps to the side.
CHLOE Well, I guess we could go get the tire in my car.
PETE ::nods:: Yeah, I think that's probably our best option at this point. Come on.
CLARK
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
Pete grabs Chloe by the arm and starts dragging her to her car.
CHLOE
Peeeete.
She resists, slapping his hand off her arm, shooting him the ever classic "look of death".
CHLOE
Aren't you coming, Clark?
Clark hesitates with his response, racking his brain for an excuse to stay he foolishly hadn't anticipated needing.
CLARK ::shakes head:: Someone should stay with the truck... so no one tries to steal it.
Chloe takes a quick look over at the truck, a vintage POS.
CLARK Since it's my fault, it's only fair I should be the one to stay. Besides, Pete knows where the tire is, don't you Pete?
PETE
Yeah, yeah, I know. I know exactly where it is. Exactly. In fact.
Pete closes his eyes tightly.
PETE I can close my eyes, and I can see it. I can see the tire right now. I know exactly where it is. So, come on.
He urges Chloe toward the car.
PETE
We'll be there and back before you know it.
CHLOE Oh. Well, okay.
CLARK
Thanks, Chloe. I really owe you one.
Clark gives her a quick peck on the cheek to seal the deal. She melts into a little girl's smile.
CHLOE
Sure, Clark.
She starts back towards the car, walking backwards to keep her eyes on Clark. Pete again goes to grab her arm, to urge her on. That was a mistake. Out of nowhere, she turns and punches him right in the arm.
CHLOE
Well you stop?
PETE
Ow!
Pete rubs his arm, utterly appalled that she hit him.
PETE
That hurt, you blonde bitch.
CHLOE I told you, I'm mad at you.
She gets into the car as Pete walks around to the passenger's side.
PETE
::pouting:: I didn't do anything. He's the one who snuck out of the house. Be mad at him.
CHLOE Get in the car, baby.
Pete does so, but not before shooting Clark a look that says "you owe me one." Clark smiles and waves as they turn back onto the road and drive off.
Back in front of the crumbling remains of the house, Clark glares through the rotting wood at the tiny blue flame amazingly flickering beneath the rubble. Taking a quick peak to either side, to ensure no one else is around, Clark concentrates on the pile. Searing hot streams of heat burst from his eyes, completely incinerating the already decaying planks.
As the wooden remains slowly sink into nothingness against Clark's heat vision, the tiny blue flame finds its way back into the sunlight. Waiting half a second too long, though, Clark inadvertently draws his heat beams over the flame and it ignites in a massive blue fireball that explodes outward, hurtling Clark fifty feet into the air, slamming him into the trunk of one of the trees down by the roadside.
Spitting a healthy cow mix of grass and dirt from his mouth, Clark forces himself to his feet, his shirt and pants now relegated to scorched tatters. He stands looking up at the top of the hill in utter amazement. Where once sat the docile, lowly, remains of a house long since laid to waste now hovers an immense swirling portal of burning blue fire.
Clark, Chloe, and Pete stand at the base of a conspicuously familiar short hill, looking up.
PETE
So. This is the house, huh?
At the top of the hill sits a pile of old putrefying wood, with scorched edges, the decaying remains of a house caved in on itself.
CHLOE
::shrugs:: What's left of it.
CLARK
I don't understand.
Clark climbs the hill, walking around the side of the cluttered pile. Pete climbs up behind him.
CLARK How can this be the house?
Pete gives a rogue plank jutting out from the mess a quick kick with his sneaker. It softly crumbles and turns to dust, scattering in the wind.
PETE It's kind of a fixer upper.
Chloe consults her notebook. CHLOE
According to town records, it's the only house that's ever been built anywhere near the roadside. In fact, only eight houses have ever been built on Run Way. There's one.
Chloe turns to her left.
CHLOE
. east of here, about two miles off the road; it's part of the old Cabot Farm. The fence the cruiser crashed into marks the end of the farm. Then, there's six more houses.
Chloe turns right.
CHLOE .about five miles west of here, but that's part of a new development, and beyond the crash site. She couldn't have seen those from looking out the side window.
Pete picks up a piece of rotting wood and crumbles it in his hand.
PETE
Uh, I hate to break it to you, Chloe, but this wreck looks like it's been here so long it could've been part of the original Ark.
CHLOE You mean as opposed to that new one they built?
PETE
::confused:: What?
CHLOE
::rolls eyes:: Nevermind. Actually, you're not too far off, though. It burned to the ground in 1963. and again in 1964. and then again in 1965.
PETE
Serious?
CLARK
Sounds like someone didn't want a house built here.
CHLOE The land was owned by a real estate agency at the time, Reizer-West. They were able to purchase the land from the town after the bank foreclosed on the original owner, one Regulus Trenton, a known cultist slash real estate mogul who, in the early 1930's, took advantage of the Great Depression by buying up cheap real estate for almost nothing.
PETE
A cultist? You mean like those sneaker freaks?
CHLOE
Not quite.
CLARK
I don't think they had Nike in the 1930s, Pete.
CHLOE They called themselves the Shadow-Els. They used to march through towns all throughout the Midwest, telling people to prepare for the arrival of the great deliverer, one aptly named El, who would free mankind from the oppressive force known as the Evil One, whoever or whatever that is.
Clark looks up at Pete. They both take particular interest in the story at the mention of El.
CHLOE
The group gained particular popularity around the late 1950s and saw its peak in early 1961, when Trenton actually predicted the exact day that this El was supposed arrive on Earth, coincidentally right here in Smallville.
PETE ::under breath:: Yo, man, didn't you tell me your pops visited Earth in 1961?
Pete nonchalantly looks over at Clark who nods to him, his acute sense of hearing allowing him to hear Pete completely on the other side of the rubble.
CHLOE Unfortunately- for him anyway - that day came and passed and so did his following. As the numbers of his cult membership dwindled, so did his bank account, and pretty soon he would lose everything, including this house.
PETE
Sucks to be him.
CHLOE
This was forty years ago, he would be dead now, Pete.
PETE
Right, I knew that.
CHLOE Here's where it starts to get weird, though. Shortly after Reizer-West bought the land, the house mysteriously went up in flames. No cause was ever determined, but the town sheriff suspected arson. His suspicions were only fortified after Reizer-West hired a building company to rebuild the house only to see it burned down twice more. They were never able connect anyone with either of those fires either.
PETE
What about that Trenton guy?
CHLOE
Well, he was their number one suspect, but they could never find him. He disappeared, along with the remaining few members of his cult, shortly after going bankrupt. Reizer-West eventually just pawned off the land to the neighboring farmer, Marcus Cabot, after getting tired of hemorrhaging money into rebuilding the house.
Failing to find anything useful using the more conventional means at his disposal, Clark once again calls upon his extraordinary sight to peer through the rotting planks. At first, nothing of particular interest stands out to him but, just before giving in to his frustration and giving up, something in the very center draws his attention. A miniscule blue glow, like a tiny pulsating flare, flickers beneath the rubble like the faint flame in a gas fireplace.
Lacking only the opportunity to go sifting through the planks, Clark looks to Pete for a distraction, motioning towards Chloe with a short nod. Pete replies with a nod of his own and starts down the hill.
PETE
Hey, I don't get it, Chloe. If this is the house, how could Mrs. Kent have seen. AH!
Pete pretends to trip, falling to the ground and barrel rolling down the hill.
CHLOE Pete!
As Pete narrowly misses plowing Chloe over like a bowling ball toward a ten pin, Clark takes advantage of the distraction by peering through the trees at his own family's truck's front right tire.
BANG!
Chloe and Pete duck down instinctively, reflexively, as the sound of the exploding tire rings out. At first forgetting to duck, Clark follows suit for appearance sake.
CHLOE
What the hell was that?
PETE
It sounded like an explosion!
Dusting himself off, unphased by his less than graceful fall, Pete quickly gets to his feet, Chloe helping him up. The three of them run through the trees to find Clark's truck down one tire.
Pete grabs his nose at the smell of the smoldering rubber.
PETE
Whoa! Man, that reeks!
CHLOE
Now, how did that happen?
Clark bends down, pretending to inspect the tire.
CLARK
There must have been an air pocket in the tire. It completely blew.
CHLOE
Well, you have a spare, right?
CLARK ::shakes head:: I blew one out a couple of weeks ago running over a rake in front of the barn. After we got the new one, I got lazy and just threw the spare in the back, but I took it out when I was bringing the feed out into the fields the other day, you know, to make room. I must have forgotten to put it back.
Clark and Pete each pretend to be utterly demoralized. Clark evens adds a frustrated slap to the car door for emphasis.
CHLOE
Oh. Well, I have a spare in the trunk of my car. Will that work on your truck?
CLARK AND PETE No.
Both Clark and Pete recoil a bit, sheepishly.
CLARK
The tires. they're two different kinds of tires for a car and a truck.
PETE ::nods:: Yeah, two different sizes.
CHLOE Oh.
She shrugs, accepting their explanation.
CHLOE
Well, you want to call a tow truck? Pete, you have your phone, right?
Pete, not thinking.
PETE
::nods:: Yeah.
Clark rolls his eyes and shakes his head as Pete catches himself.
PETE
I mean no. No, I. I forgot it.
CHLOE
You forgot it? I thought you had it surgically attached for your birthday. You never go anywhere without your cell phone.
PETE ::shrugs:: First time for everything I guess.
Clark steps up behind his friend, allowing Pete to secretly slip his cell phone out of his back pocket and into Clark's hand. Clark adeptly slides the phone up into his sleeve and steps to the side.
CHLOE Well, I guess we could go get the tire in my car.
PETE ::nods:: Yeah, I think that's probably our best option at this point. Come on.
CLARK
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.
Pete grabs Chloe by the arm and starts dragging her to her car.
CHLOE
Peeeete.
She resists, slapping his hand off her arm, shooting him the ever classic "look of death".
CHLOE
Aren't you coming, Clark?
Clark hesitates with his response, racking his brain for an excuse to stay he foolishly hadn't anticipated needing.
CLARK ::shakes head:: Someone should stay with the truck... so no one tries to steal it.
Chloe takes a quick look over at the truck, a vintage POS.
CLARK Since it's my fault, it's only fair I should be the one to stay. Besides, Pete knows where the tire is, don't you Pete?
PETE
Yeah, yeah, I know. I know exactly where it is. Exactly. In fact.
Pete closes his eyes tightly.
PETE I can close my eyes, and I can see it. I can see the tire right now. I know exactly where it is. So, come on.
He urges Chloe toward the car.
PETE
We'll be there and back before you know it.
CHLOE Oh. Well, okay.
CLARK
Thanks, Chloe. I really owe you one.
Clark gives her a quick peck on the cheek to seal the deal. She melts into a little girl's smile.
CHLOE
Sure, Clark.
She starts back towards the car, walking backwards to keep her eyes on Clark. Pete again goes to grab her arm, to urge her on. That was a mistake. Out of nowhere, she turns and punches him right in the arm.
CHLOE
Well you stop?
PETE
Ow!
Pete rubs his arm, utterly appalled that she hit him.
PETE
That hurt, you blonde bitch.
CHLOE I told you, I'm mad at you.
She gets into the car as Pete walks around to the passenger's side.
PETE
::pouting:: I didn't do anything. He's the one who snuck out of the house. Be mad at him.
CHLOE Get in the car, baby.
Pete does so, but not before shooting Clark a look that says "you owe me one." Clark smiles and waves as they turn back onto the road and drive off.
Back in front of the crumbling remains of the house, Clark glares through the rotting wood at the tiny blue flame amazingly flickering beneath the rubble. Taking a quick peak to either side, to ensure no one else is around, Clark concentrates on the pile. Searing hot streams of heat burst from his eyes, completely incinerating the already decaying planks.
As the wooden remains slowly sink into nothingness against Clark's heat vision, the tiny blue flame finds its way back into the sunlight. Waiting half a second too long, though, Clark inadvertently draws his heat beams over the flame and it ignites in a massive blue fireball that explodes outward, hurtling Clark fifty feet into the air, slamming him into the trunk of one of the trees down by the roadside.
Spitting a healthy cow mix of grass and dirt from his mouth, Clark forces himself to his feet, his shirt and pants now relegated to scorched tatters. He stands looking up at the top of the hill in utter amazement. Where once sat the docile, lowly, remains of a house long since laid to waste now hovers an immense swirling portal of burning blue fire.