1ST THREE PAGES - OPENING SEQUENCE -
NIAGARA FALLS
FADE IN:
INT. MEGA MALL –
UPSTATE NEW YORK
– DAY
A TYPICAL SATURDAY AFTERNOON. At Mega Mall East – the largest shopping mall in America.
Full of SOCCER MOMS in hot pursuit of soccer kids and babies on level
2.
TEEN-AGED GIRLS chase boys at the HIDEOUT ARCADE while dancing to the latest Jay-Z bump on level 3.
While latecomers herd through the doors with toddlers and
strollers in tow on level 1.
yep, typical…
So thought SHERMAN DUKES, who excuses the cow that just
rolled up his ankle for the umpteenth time coming through the double doors with
her double-stroller.
SHERMAN
That's
okay ma'am, shit happens… I was just wondering
why
this shit keeps happening to me.
The cow frowns back at him and rolls
away. Sherman
gives her a short wave good-bye.
SHERMAN
How
do you deal with this crap every Saturday afternoon.
I
rather be handcuffed to my desk all fucking day.
ALICE DUKE
Honeeey,
watch your language… there are kids everywhere.
SHERMAN
Kids? These
aren't kids, they're aliens sent here to annihilate us with their maniacal, shin-kicking, booger-pulling ways.
Sherman looks down at the curly-haired kid standing
toe-to-toe mining boogers in front of him.
SHERMAN
Don't eat that young man… it's not healthy.
CURLY
Yes
it is! I am gonna eat it!
SHERMAN
I
ate a few boogers in my day and look at what it did to me.
CURLY
I
don't care! I'm still eating it!
He screams, stuffs his mouth, and runs away.
SHERMAN
Bon'
appetite kid…
Sherman critique’s the get-up of the THREE BEHEMOTHS in rubber ponchos that cross before them. The One with the eye-patch stares back
at him.
SHERMAN
What
a circus… Look at these guys! It's a hundred
degrees
outside and these guys are wearing tents. (beat)
What
are you? Terrorists… Hari Krishna's, out for a
little
beg and bag! What?
Sherman's seven year old son, DREW, tugs on his
sleeve.
DREW
Call
of Duty! Call of Duty! Lets go play
Call
of Duty! You promised!
SHERMAN
Ok,
ok, but first lets’ go play "Call of the Doody"
in
the little boys room. Ok? Is that alright with you?
DREW
NO!
I wanna go play now!
ALICE
It's
ok hon'… you can go play with yourself, while I take
Drew
upstairs to the arcade…
SHERMAN
Ha
ha, very funny…
Sherman watches Drew, holding Mommy's
hand, drag her toward the escalator.
DREW
Mommy,
why does Daddy wanna play with himself
instead
of with us?
ALICE
I've
been asking myself that very same question lately…
SHERMAN
Haha,
I heard that…
INT. MALL MENS ROOM – DAY
Sherman relaxes in stall #4, reading the
latest rhetoric on gun control from the Wall Street Journal editorial page.
When -
THE AIR EXPLODES WITH RAPID GUN FIRE, SCREAMS and TWO BLAST FROM A DOUBLE-BARREL SHOTGUN.
Sherman, nearly falls
through the toilet seat. He peaks under stall door #4 and witnesses rapid AK47 fire taking down two boys and their Dad washing their hands, and an
octogenarian who exits his stall two seconds too soon.
Shotgun blasts riddle stalls one,
two, and three. Sherman
remains frozen, perched atop the commode in stall #4 as the perpetrator rearranges the blood splatter on his face into a crucifixion and calmly
exits the room.
INT. MALL LOBBY – DARKNESS
envelops the lower level of the
mall, except for the streams of light illuminating the carnage at the front
entrance. People are systematically gunned
down as two of the perpetrators in hockey masks and blood covered ponchos, mow their way through the hapless crowd.
SHERMAN
My
God, why is this happening? Alice…
A SOCCER MOM, white blouse covered
in blood, reaches out for Sherman
under the shadow of the escalator.
LADY
IN BLOOD
Please,
help me… please…
She tugs at his ankle, but all Sherman can think of is
getting to his family.
SHERMAN
Ok
lady, calm down. I'm gonna get you
some
help okay?
LADY
IN BLOOD
Where's
my son?
Before Sherman can find the whole in
her chest, her eyes roll upward and her last breath gurgles
out the corner of her mouth.
SHERMAN
I'm
sure he's fine… ma'am.
Sherman crawls his way up the
escalator to the 3rd floor. Past the blood-curdling screams of teenagers
grabbing at his ankles, reaching out for dear life. A teen in a stained letterman's jacket, grabs Sherman's hand prohibiting him from making it to the third floor.
Where his wife lay dying
in a pool of her own blood. Sherman arrives in time to hear her spit out these words.
ALICE
Sherman, you did this…
Her limp hand falls from her son's frozen grasp. Sherman
grabs Drew in his arms, hugging and checking him for wounds...
SIRENS AND FLASHING LIGHTS shatter
the silence of the dead and dying as FIRST RESPONDERS flood the scene.
1ST RESPONDER
Sir, are you hurt? Are you hurt sir? Sir?
The 'Search n Rescue' responder's question is muffled in Sherman's mind as he holds on to Drew for dear life.
A tragic
scene - one sure to go down in the history books of mass-murders in America. Wait - somebody call Guinness…
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