Scream V (2022) My Version
Chapter Eighteen: Tara's In Trouble
Having dropped Richie off at the hotel, Sam had decided to do some research into the lure that is ghost face. She knew she couldn't go to the sheriff station for information because that would mean alerting sheriff Hicks to possible suspects. She decided on going to the library to do some research. Dewey Riley hadn't told her much except for the rules to surviving these ghost face encounters.
Sam learned a lot about the past ghost face encounters. She had known some of the details but not all. She knew the killers were Randy Meeks and Stu Maucher. She knew that Sidney Prescott was the primary target and that Billy Loomis, Tatum Riley, Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers were all there that night were targeted as well. She knew the victims. Then Sidney went to college with Billy and Tatum. The murders start all over again and the killers are revealed to be Mrs. Meeks and her other son Derek Feldman. The killers start all over again a few years later and Sidney, Billy & Tatum along with her then husband Mickey are forced out of hiding. The killers are Sidney's half brother Roman Bridger, his brother Mark Kincaid & Angelina Tyler. Then seven years earlier, Sidney's cousin Jill Roberts and her friends were attacked. The killers revealed to be Trevor Sheldon and Ross Hoss. This was the incident to which Tatum Riley was murdered in front of her son Tommy. Now another person dawning the ghost face costume attacked her sister nearly killing her, killed Vince, attacked her and killed David. She wanted to know more information. Sam didn't have access to Sidney, Billy or Gale's phone numbers so she couldn't talk to them. She had decided to leave the library.
On her way towards the hospital, Sam's car is passing the Hicks residence and notices all the police activity. She parks the car and gets out of the car.
The crime scene is chaos, police tape yet to be put up, so Sam is able to slip through the cracks and get an eyeful of Judy Hicks' body. As they cover it with a sheet. Sam's hand goes to her mouth. Looks like she's going to be sick.
"Miss? You can't be here." Deputy Farney called to her.
"Her son, Wes. Is he...?" Sam asked. Sam can read on Farney's face that Wes is dead too.
"Please step back." Deputy Farney said.
Sam backs away from the scene. Losing her grip...
"It wasn't you... It wasn't you..." Came a woman's voice. "Are you okay?" Sam turns and - holy shit - it's Gale Weathers in the flesh. Concerned smile on her face. Sam blinks at this celebrity. "You were kinda talking to yourself."
"You're Gale Weathers..." Sam said dumbfounded
"I am." Gale said.
"You're much more prettier in person." Sam said stunned at Gale's beauty. She's also star struck. Gale smiled obviously flattered.
"Thanks." Gale said. "Did you know the Sheriff?"
"Sort of." Sam said and then looks towards the body. "She didn't like me very much."
"She didn't like me very much either." Gale said. Sam shifts, suddenly uncomfortable. She wanted to ask Gale for her expertise in all things ghost face but now was not the right time.
"Look, not offense, I'm not really interested in talking to a reporter." Sam said.
"That's okay, I'm not really interested in interviewing you. I have no idea who you are." Gale said to her.
"Oh. Samantha Carpenter. Sam. My sister and I were both attacked." Sam said extending her hand to Gale. Gale shakes her hand.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm Gale..." Gale said trailing off as she sees a familiar face in the distance... Dewey. Getting the bad news from another deputy. "...Riley. Weathers. Gale Weathers. Excuse me." Gale said moving away from Sam. She moves past Sam. Dewey sees her coming. The exes come together. Happy to see each other, but sad.
"Gale? What are you-" Dewey starts to say.
She begins smacking him in the chest repeatedly.
"A text? You tell me Ghostface is back in a text?!" Gale asked angered.
"Ow! You weren't home. I spoke with Tommy. Did he tell you I called?"
"He texted me you did." Gale said. She stared at him for a moment. "How do you know?"
"A hunch." Dewey said to her. He pauses a moment. "You look good. Are you writing?"
"No time." Gale responds. "Our boys are doing so well." She said. "You'd be proud." She said to him.
"I know and I am. I miss them." Dewey said.
"They miss you to." Gale said.
"You were always happiest when you were writing-" Dewey said to her. Gale can smell it.
"Are you drunk?" Gale asks him.
"Pretty much all the time." Dewey said jokingly. Gale looked at him questioningly. "I'm kidding. I only had a beer not too long ago. I told you not to come."
"And when have I ever listened to you?" Gale asked him. He knew she never listened to him.
"You just couldn't resist a good story, could you?" Dewey asked.
"Don't be an idiot, Dewey. I came because I was worried about you." Gale said sincerely. Dewey looks past Gale. He sees her camera crew setting up. Gives her a look. Gale exhales. "Okay, yes, my producer does want me to cover this for obvious reasons. But 90% of it was you." Dewey turns and walks away.
"I feel 90% better." Dewey said as he continues to walk away.
"Don't be like that." Gale said following him.
"Didn't seem to care how I was the last couple months, did you?" Dewey asked.
"That goes both ways. Don't pretend I'm the one who ended things-" Gale said to him.
"No one's pretending, Gale. I remember what happened, despite my drinking habits." Dewey said not hiding the fact that he's been drinking a lot since he left Gale and the boys in New York. He didn't think it was a huge problem.
"Why aren't you in uniform?" Gale asked.
"I'm retired." Dewey said.
"Since when?" Gale asked.
Dewey stops, turns to her. It kills him to say:
"Since I was asked to." Dewey said to her.
"Oh, Dewey." Gale said to him feeling bad about his situation.
"I don't want your pity. I made my choices. So did you." Dewey said to her.
"It was a great opportunity. You said it was my turn. You said you'd try-" Gale said to him.
"I did-" Dewey said.
"For awhile yes." Gale said to him.
"If you want to make me feel worse than I already do, good luck. It's all I do, all day, every day. The mornings are okay because I get to see you. I get to pretend I'm still at our place in New York, cheering you on and supporting you like you did for me here." Dewey said. "But somewhere between drinks three and four I remember how I couldn't hack it and freaked out and left in the middle of the night like a coward. When I realized you and the boys weren't coming with me, I knew them what I had to do. Leaving you and our boys." He said sighing deeply. "I fucking suck for that. I know I do. I could face a masked killer four times, but I couldn't face a city." He said shaking his head. Gale takes this in.
"Why didn't you say all of this then? It would have mattered." Gale said realizing something. "Because you didn't want me to follow you back here. You didn't want to screw things up for me."
"That's not it. I already told you. I'm a coward." Dewey said.
"Then what are you doing here? With your gun?" Gale asked. Dewey doesn't have an answer for that. "You're a lot of things, Dewey. But you're not a coward. You were just meant to be in Woodsboro."
"And you weren't. Promise me you'll leave. As soon as you can. The next flight-" Dewey asks her. He knew Gale too well and knew she would not heed his warning.
"You know I'm not promising that." Gale said pausing a moment before speaking again. "I'm sorry about Judy."
"Me too." Dewey said.
Meanwhile. Sam is walking on the periphery of the crime scene. Dials her phone. Ringing...
Richie, lying on the bed, eating pizza, watching Stab movies. He's up to Stab 6. He answers the phone.
"Sam, these movies are fucked up." Richie said.
"Richie..." Sam called to him.
"There are no black people in the first one, so they cast two famous black actors in the second one and then kill them before the opening credits-"
"Richie-" Sam called his name again.
"And apparently gay people didn't exist in this universe until Stab 4-" Richie continued rambling.
"Richie! He's killed two more people! Wes and his mother." Sam finally said to him. Richie sits up at this.
"He killed the Sheriff? You can do that?" Richie asked. He shakes it off. "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not fucking okay, I'm at a murder scene!" Sam said and spies someone standing among the lookie-loos down the sidewalk. Mindy. She frowns. For a moment she lets her mind wonder to the possibility of Mindy actually killing both the sheriff and Wes Hicks. "Let me call you back." She hangs up on him and walks towards Mindy... Richie blinks. Looks at his phone.
"Two people are dead and she's calling me back..." Richie said to himself. On the TV, Kristen Bell stabs Anna Paquin in the stomach!
Back at the crime scene, Sam approaches Mindy, who seems self-conscious. SAM suspicious of her.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked. Mindy eyes her equally suspicious.
"What are you doing here? SAM" Mindy asked.
"I saw the sirens and followed them." Sam said.
"So did I." Mindy responds. They both eye each other, not quite believing it.
"I thought you said the killer didn't care about the sequels." Sam asked her sarcastically. Mindy doesn't appreciate the sarcasm.
"Maybe this is more of a Greatest Hits type of thing, where he's cramming in every previous movie connection he can find, like in Halloween Kills." Mindy said to her.
Sam, looking around at all the cops. All the cops... Sam
"Or maybe it's a diversion..." Sam said realizing something.
"A what?" Mindy asked.
"You know how in movies, sometimes the killer does something to draw attention away from their real plan, which is happening on the other side of town...?"
"You're smarter than you look." Mindy said impressed with her.
Sam catches sight of Deputy Vincent who's supposed to be on Tara protection duty. She runs to him.
"Who's at the hospital?" Sam asked
"What?" Deputy Vincent asked.
"Who's watching my sister?" Sam asked worried. Deputy Vincent was caught.
"I heard about the Sheriff- the hospital has security-" Deputy Vincent said to her. Sam deciding to dial her mother's cell phone. Christine isn't responding.
"Shit!" She said dialing her father's number and his phone goes to voice mail. "PAPI, where are you and mom? The cops aren't protecting Tara. I'm on my way." She said running back to her car. "Fuck that." Sam continues bolting from the crime scene towards her car, passing Dewey, who is watching Gale do a stand-up report in front of the house.
"Whoa, whoa, where are you going-" Dewey said to her.
"My sister's in trouble! And my parents are no where around." Sam said to him. Dewey looks back at Gale once more before turning back to Sam.
"Let's go." He said as the two hurried into her car and she peers off heading for the hospital.
In the hospital on the private floor, Tara is watching TV. I Know What You Did Last Summer on TNT. Badly dubbed curse words. Tara clicks her call button with her good hand. Nothing. Frowns. That's odd...
She hits the call button again. Nothing. Not good.
"Hello? Deputy Vincent?" Nobody's responding to the call button! No response. She's on a private floor that's supposed to have police protection. "Hello?"A loud bang from outside the room. Something falls over. A struggle? Then silence. Definitely not good. "Mommy! Papi!" She calls to them but gets no answer. "Fuck this." She eyes the WHEELCHAIR next to her bed. The problem is her injuries, specifically the knife wound in her hand, wrapped in gauze. And the casts on her left arm and right leg and her stitches in her stomach and back. Slowly, painfully, Tara tries to raise herself out of the bed and into the chair. Using her good hand and her elbow. It is painfully slow. "Oh Jesus... Okay..." Tara said as she lowers herself into the wheelchair with great pain. Bangs her left leg. Tears in her eyes. Stifles a scream. Stops. Listens for footsteps, anything... Nothing. Now she's got to move. She grips the wheelchair wheel on her good side. Tries to push herself forward with one hand. The chair just turns towards the bed. "Fuck." She knows what she has to do. Lowers her bad hand to the other wheel. Slowly, agonizingly, she articulates her wounded hand to grasp the wheel. Now pushes with both hands. The chair moves forward. It's agony. But it's working. She pushes again. Moves again. Hard with her left arm in a cast. She nears the open door to her room...
A phone vibrates against wood behind her! She jumps, turns back. Her phone, sitting on her bedside table, plugged into the wall to charge. She forgot it there. At this point, going back for it would take forever. Fuck it. We push in on the phone. The call is from Sam...
Back at the hotel, Richie is still engrossed in the horror movie when his phone rings again. He snatches it up.
"Are you okay? Richie asked.
"You have to get to the hospital, you're closer to it than we are-" Sam said to him. He could hear the panic in her voice
"We?" Richie asked.
"Dewey and I. I tried calling my parents and no one is answering their phones. I need you to check on Tara. Please." Sam said to him. "I think the killer's going for Tara!" Richie takes a deep breath. Steels himself.
"Ok. I'm on my way." He hung up his phone. And leaves the hotel room.