I edited this listening to California Gurls by Katy Perry. A great song, although I adore all of her stuff. Cal-i-for-nia girls... Very catchy. So, please spare a moment to review. Thanks for your support, guys!
Act 1, Scene 4
Interior-Abandoned House-Mid-Day
(The camera shows the abandoned streets of the town. Moans rise and fall from the house where the wounded are currently being kept, but most of the soldiers that were to be seen earlier have disappeared. The scenario is lonely, dim, and most of the dust has died down.)
(The camera starts to pan towards the house across the road from the group's starting point and the current hospital. The male silhouettes are seen in a room, Upham, Reiben, and Wade. A plume of smoke rises from the cigarette held between two of Reiben's fingers. He's bent forward, and Wade and Upham sit across from him.)
(The curtains in front of the one window in the room are closed. Everything is still and silent, until Reiben breaks the silence.)
Reiben: Upham---tell me what happened. (His jaw is set and clenched. He's still smoking the same cigarette from scene 3—it's much shorter. He's becoming more irritable and drums his fingers on the arm of the chair as it runs out.)
Upham: (Taking a deep breath, and looking down. He runs both hands through his hair, lifting his broken arm using his shoulder. Wade pauses, giving him room. He's clearly overwhelmed and guilty.) We were separated during combat--- but I found this a few hours after the last of the gunfire stopped. (Upham holds up the dogtags for them to see.)
Reiben: (Bluntly.) So he's dead.
Upham: No—he's missing...We don't know that he's dead...We can find him...
Reiben: High ambitions, Upchuck. (He exhales a cloud of smoke, raising both brows in a sardonic fashion.) So how the hell do you plan on doing that?
Wade: (With strength, but not abrasively. Upham falters, unable to answer. Wade's voice keeps the calm tone that he always uses throughout.) Until we find him dead, we have a duty to try.
Reiben: Yeah, maybe we do—but it's pointless. (He gets up, folding his arms. He glares at Wade, and Upham puts both hands on the top of his chair, leaning against them and pressing them to his chest. He's submissive, uncomfortable, and a witness to the scene.)
Wade: (Determined.) Closure is neverpointless, Reiben. (It is clear that he isn't going to back down. Wade gets up, raising his head to meet the taller man's eyes. They keep steady eye contact for a long moment, but it is finally Reiben that caves, glaring.)
Reiben: (Setting his jaw, with a conflicted and dark expression.) Fine---I'll come along. But I hope both of you know what you're getting us all into... (He sighs, although it's clear that he's fully given in to the idea. Upham gets up, standing beside Wade.)
Upham: I do.
(Wade picks up each chair and places it back under the table where it originally was in the first place. As he does this, he looks over his shoulder at Upham.)
Wade: Upham, do you have anyidea of where Mellish could have gone, or where he might be? (Upham sighs, shaking his head. He runs a hand through his hair.)
Upham: None...
Reiben: Mellish is a Jew. Where do you think he went? Palestine? (Cold sarcasm is in his tone, even though he's secretly just as worried as them...or maybe more. Wade stops with what he's doing, holding on to the top of the chair. Upham pauses, one hand suspended in the air like a pointer with a lifted foot. He was about to get Wade's attention, but now just looks at the medic, helpless. All is silent for a long, dreadful moment. Upham finally speaks up, picking his words...)
Upham: His necklace---do you think he took it off?
(Wade hesitates and then starts to talk. However, he's cut off by Reiben's harsh, nasal accent.)
Wade: Mellish would know to take off his---
Reiben: Don't lie, Wade. The fucking idiot—I know he wouldn't take it off. He's proud of it. (Reiben sets his face in his hands for a moment, closing his eyes. The tips of his fingers sink into the roots of his hair. When he looks up, it's ruffled.)
Upham: They could have taken him, then---! (Reiben whips around to face him with open hostility glittering in his eyes, throwing both hands into the air.)
Reiben: No fucking shit, Upchuck! (A struggling look appears in his eyes, like an animal viscous and wild with pain. Wade interrupts him, and all fall silent, stunned at the sound of the soft voiced medic yowling at them.)
Wade: Listen! We have to find him one way or another. It won't matter what could have happened to him if we find him. So let's focus on that, and stop arguing!
(Both freeze, and after a few moments Upham dares to make a quiet statement.)
Upham: We still have to find Ryan…
Reiben: Ryan! You think that Ryan still matters now? I could care less if the stupid kid gets run over by a fucking tank at this point! The fact is, four of our guys are missing!
Wade: (Coldly.) You should tell his mother that. (Wade meets Reiben's eyes, and then turns back to his own business. Upham shrinks back and cringes, leaning towards Wade out of reflex. He doesn't want to deal with the coming outburst from Reiben.)
Reiben: Then you'll tell Mellish's mother that her son and five others died for some fucking kid that nobody even cared about!
(Wade starts towards the door without saying anything, and Upham follows him, accidentally hitting his arm on the door. He gives a yelp of pain before he can censor it out and catches Wade's attention.)
Wade: Let me look at your arm. The medics were rushed when they took care of it. (Upham nods, gently moving forward the wounded limb. He's favoring it, and keeps the elbow tucked into his chest to keep it still. Wade supports it with two carefully placed hands and unwraps it with one of them, revealing caked blood on a gash much deeper than Upham said it was. He leads Upham to the table, and the dark haired man is seated. Wade sets his soiled bandage on the corner and goes through his bag, coming up with a small piece of absorbent paper soaked in rubbing alcohol. He starts to apply it and Upham closes his eyes.)
Upham: That stings….
Wade: Sorry, there isn't much I can do. It'll be over soon. I just need to clean it.
(Wade works efficiently and with a high level of dexterity. He takes a prepackaged needle from his bag and snaps off the safety guard, setting the little piece of cheap transparent plastic to the side. Upham flinches when he sees it. Wade starts to clean off the injection site, but he's tensing up.)
Upham: I'm anticipating now…
Wade: It's not too bad. You don't have to get so nervous.
(He presses the needle into Upham's arm and the crow-haired man stiffens until the injection's finished, inhaling sharply through his nose. Wade digs a hole in some loose soil with his boot and buries the needle.)
Upham: I've already asked the locals and none of them have seen Mellish, so that rules the town out...
(Reiben looks up.)
Reiben: All of them?
Upham: (Submissively, and leaning away from Reiben. He's trying to be likable and it's evident.) All of them.
Wade: I guess we have no other choice but to leave—we should start where both armies were before this. He could be with either side by now.
Upham: (Blinking disbelievingly and staying still as the other two start towards the door.) The Germans? We're going to follow them?
Reiben: Welcome to war, Upchuck.
End scene 4, fade to black.