Edited to California Gurls, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, and Obla Di Obla Da. I reccomend all of these songs.
In this chapter, I wanted to point out that Reiben makes a reference to Melanie Wilkes of Gone With The Wind. I think that he would vaguely know the characters because I can see his mother going to see something in that nature.
Act 1, Scene 5
Exterior-Former Battlefield-Evening
(The camera starts at ground level, going along the battlefield and passing gruesome sights in the grass. Flies buzz around dead bodies bloating and pushing out against their uniforms with accumulated gas, and a few dead mules and cattle are scattered. However, all of the dead have the same twisted, permanently frozen expression and glassy, lifeless eyes. They almost resemble preserved animals in a museum.)
(Footsteps are heard and the camera catches up with the three, showing their feet as they walk. They've been walking the battlefield for hours, now, trying to catch up with the armies, but they've near ruled out the possibility. They're all tired and sweating heavily because of the heat. The camera pans out to show all of their bodies.)
(Upham speaks up, walking astride Wade.)
Upham: We...we'll find him. We have to find him...
Wade: We'll certainly try our best...
(Reiben doesn't respond, because it's obvious that he doesn't agree. However, it seems that he is summoning the only ounce of consideration for others contained in his body, which is clearly difficult for him as his jaw is clenched tightly. Perhaps because he doesn't want to down the hopes of the other two? It's unknown. He's already expressed his doubt several times in the past hour.)
(They reach a thick, deep stream. It is clear and looks about waist level, maybe a bit more. Mosquitoes and water-bugs hover around the water, and fish rise to the surface to eat them. Pebbles and small stones line the bottom, and there isn't much of a current. Reiben, who's been leading, pauses at the bank, standing about a foot away from the water.)
Reiben: This is deep. It doesn't look like we have another option. (He looks around, his mouth a firm line. He clearly doesn't want to cross through the river, and has the look of a horse bluntly refusing a jump on his features.)
Upham: We're going to have to…(He sighs. Upham moves forward so that he is side by side with Reiben, and begins to wade through because he can't swim using only one arm. Plus, leveling himself out to swim would get his wound wet. The water falls to the bottom of his ribcage and he visibly stiffens, holding his injured arm above the water.) It's cold!
Reiben: (Sighing shortly. He's sulking because he has to get wet, and it's obvious that he doesn't like it one bit.) No shit, Upchuck…(Reluctantly, he moves into the water, growling profanities under his breath. Upham was right—it's cold. Wade's standing on the bank, the last one on the other side, with a worried expression.)
Wade: If that water gets in my wounds… (He trails off, the consequences implied.)
Reiben: Great. Another complication. Just what we need! (He turns on Wade, his voice rising in an irritated, nasal yowl. His hands are clenched in fists beside him.) Fuck, Wade,just cross the stream so that we can all keep going! Because right now, I've had it with your fucking shit!
(There isn't any sympathy in his tone. His instincts, every ounce of street sense that he has are hissing at him to protect himself above others. In his life, it has always been survival of the fittest, and every man for himself. Until he is secure, he is virtually unable to protect others—although this struggles with another desire, another feeling that he hardly knows. Loyalty. Loyalty, and trust.)
(Wade watches him with a pathetic expression, looking back at the river. There's no way that he can cross and get the dirty water in his wounds. Wade's living--but is ill and injured, trying not to be a burden, so concerned is he with the welfare of others. Reiben takes no notice of either, stressed and responding to that feeling with hostility and aggression. Above all Mellish's ultimate welfare is worrying him.)
(Wade and Upham lean on each other for silent banisters of emotional support, a quiet bond conveyed by occasional eye contact, by the times when Upham stays back to walk with his injured companion---but Reiben drives them both away with hostility when they try to offer the same level of comfort to him. For Richard Reiben is not yet secure enough to accept it.)
Upham: (Timidly and quietly.) It's....not Wade's fault. He's hurt, Reiben... (Reiben doesn't listen. He leans against a tree with his eyes tightly shut, the dull fire of his anger tearing through his mind. There's not enough energy to continue yelling, although he desires to very strongly. Upham turns to Wade with a sympathetic look.) Wade...Wade, see if it's more shallow upstream...
(Wade nods, and starts towards the opposite direction. He's flagging and his wounds are obviously hurting him. However, all day he has said nothing, silently enduring his own pain even as he treats the injuries of others. He finds an area with rocks and carefully begins to step across.)
Upham: Wade, be careful---
Wade: (Irwin turns to look at Upham with a gentle, amused expression.) I'll be okay, Upham…You don't have to worry.
Upham: (Sheepishly, and rather uncertainly.) Alright... (He watches on silently, sitting down and resting. As he is wet, Reiben stays standing, now watching Wade with a measured, alert expression. Wade slips and nearly falls, rapidly catching his balance, and both start to move forward with a stiff motion similar to being startled.)
Wade: (Crossing the last few stones without problem, he states quietly.) I'm alright...
(The three, reunited, continue walking, and there is a relieved, but still tense atmosphere.)
Reiben: And we find a better way to cross once I've already been soaked---figures. (Reiben snorts. His tone has lowered and still prickles slightly---but not enough to be loudly intimidating. Feeling that he's become more approachable, Upham speaks quietly.
Upham: (Chuckling and tilting his head. There's a friendly glimmer in his dark eyes.) You don't like swimming--do you...?
Reiben: (Raising both brows.)I'd prefer not to.
Wade: You never went swimming with your friends when you were a child…? (Having grown up in California, the idea that Reiben wouldn't enjoy swimming is alien.)
Reiben: (Dryly.) I grew up in Brooklyn.
Upham: I think you missed out on something, then. It's fun to swim when you don't have a pressing reason to do it...
Reiben: I'll take your word for that, Upchuck.
(Upham smiles gently, enjoying the momentary truce. It is quickly broken, however, when Wade, unable to silently bear his pain any longer, leans against a tree, closing his eyes. He's not well, and the facade of being unaffected has finally fallen with a dramatic crashing. He can no longer hold off his troubles, and a soft groan rises from his throat before he can force it back, like he's been doing for days now.)
Upham: (Deeply concerned, he turns quickly towards the injured medic.) Wade---are you—do you need more morphine, does it hurt?
Wade: I'm--I'm out of morphine... It....yes, it hurts, Upham....badly... (He takes a strained breath, clearly quite upset by the fact that he's causing such a problem, even in his agony. If for no other reason, he wants his pain to stop for that.)
Reiben: (His voice rising in aggression again. He's furious.) What the hell? Another burden! That's wonderful! Just wonderful! Why the fuck didn't you make sure that you brought more morphine, ah? Why the fuck is that so hard? You are the fucking stupidest group of people I have ever known in my entire god-damn life!
(Upham watches, stunned, but Wade doesn't seem to hear.)
Reiben: You have the street sense of a fucking pillow that was thrown into the middle of the god-damn road, Upham! And you! (He turns to Wade.) Stop trying to be the fucking Melanie Wilkes of this equation and scream your damn lungs out if you need to! Because maybe if you had, we wouldn't be in this situation right now! Because then, we could have gotten painkillers. But no, Wade's got to be the little self-sacrificial hero! Well, I'll tell you right now, you bastard, it sure is adorable right now! (His voice suddenly gets lower.) And you know what, somewhere, Mellish is probably coughing his fucking lungs out in a four by four room filled with carbon monoxide. So I hope you're happy. Because you've as good as killed all of them.
(Wade and Upham are both silent, the latter shrinking back in submission. Reiben stalks off with a snarl, presumably to set up camp. Wade closes his eyes for a long moment, seeming to be regretful and guilty, although not just because of Reiben's harsh words to them. Upham tries to comfort him.)
Upham: He...didn't mean any of that, Wade... Reiben's....always been like this... (Wade nods quietly, fatigued, sitting down on the ground and slumping against the tree with a soft moan. He holds onto the side of the tree with one arm and his grip on the bark is stiff and spiderlike. Wade seems to tired to remark on the words and eventually he falls asleep, leaving Upham once again the last one awake. He settles next to Wade with his back against the tree, drawing his knees up to his chest and closing his eyes. Eventually, sleep will find him, but the words of his supposed comrade have been permanently engrained in his min...
(Reiben rests a ways away from them, on his side and facing in the other direction. He digs his nails into the damp soil in self condemnation. He is furious at his previous actions towards them, feels as if he is a caged animal and can't control himself.)
Reiben: (Quietly, and to himself.) What the fuck is wrong with you, Richard? What the fuck is wrong with you?
End scene 5, fade to black.