NIAGARA FALLS" - A Dark Thriller by W. Keith Sewell

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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