Mertvaya Ruka – The Dead Hand Issue 3: “The Harbingers” Written by T. J. Z. Contact: Reddit username: complaintsdepartment Script for 18 pages Characters are as follows: OFFICER JOHN WEAVER (28) drifts through life. He transferred into the New York police department following the career footsteps of his artist girlfriend, who he’d dated since high school. They broke up, she moved on, he didn’t. Since entering the force, he made absolutely nothing of himself, and is overlooked by nearly all of his peers and superiors. BOSWELL (63) is a brilliant, damaged pederast. He is a master manipulator, an opportunist, and a total bastard. However, he is also incredibly charming and typically in charge of whateversituation he finds himself in whether the people around him know it or not. Scottish by birth. Locations, additional characters and key design items are introduced as needed.
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OFFICER JOHN WEAVER (28) drifts through life. He transferred into the New York police
department following the career footsteps of his artist girlfriend, who he’d dated since high
school. They broke up, she moved on, he didn’t. Since entering the force, he made absolutely
nothing of himself, and is overlooked by nearly all of his peers and superiors.
BOSWELL (63) is a brilliant, damaged pederast. He is a master manipulator, an opportunist, anda total bastard. However, he is also incredibly charming and typically in charge of whatever
situation he finds himself in whether the people around him know it or not. Scottish by birth.
Locations, additional characters and key design items are introduced as needed.
FULL PAGE, FULL BLEED: A FAMILY PORTRAIT stands on the corner of a desk. In it is a
husband, wife, and a boy of about twelve. They are all wearing Hawaiian leis around their necks.
She’s in a bikini, her husband is wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and the boy is giving two thumbsup. The frame is of a fun, color design and reads, “I’d rather be in Maui!” Only natural light falls
on the scene.
Behind the desk with the picture frame are floor-to-ceiling windows, and behind the windows is
DOWNWARD ANGLE, FULL BODY SHOT: WEAVER stands in front floor-to-ceiling
windows of a downtown OFFICE. We’re on the 15th
floor, looking over his shoulder towards the
intersection below. The scene below is a menagerie of wrecked cars and debris, but no people.WEAVER has his left hand up against the glass. He wears a dirty police uniform with a scoped
M-16 rifle slung across his back.
1 Caption: If it weren’t for the rains, the fires would behere by now
(2)
SIDE PROFILE, CLOSE: WEAVER stares past his own reflection in the glass as he
contemplates.
2 Caption: Fifteen stories up, we’re better protected from
radioactive fallout than Cheyenne mountain
(3)
CLOSEUP: On WEAVER’s eyes—they’re the reflection, we can see the city skyline beyond
them.
3 Caption: But not FROM the fires. It’s only a matter oftime before the building catches.
PROFILE SHOT, FULL BODY: WEAVER stands at the window, and has his rifle almost at the
ready.
1 WEAVER: Is that …?
(2)
CLOSE UP: On WEAVER’S EYE, looking through the SCOPE of the rifle.
2 WEAVER: Somebody’s out there
(3)
SCOPE VIEW: The crosshairs fall onto a tiny figure in the distance, too distant to make out any
detail. The figure is on his hands and knees, in the last few moments of his life. He is crawlingtowards a car, and trailing blood and viscera behind him.
(4)
SAME AS (3): The tiny figure reaches the car.
(5)
SAME AS (3): The tiny figure curls up next to the car.
(6)
ON BOSWELL:
1 Boswell: Can I see?
(7)
SAME AS (1): WEAVER has his riflescope to his eye,
3 WEAVER: Yeah, like I’m going to hand you my rifle
(8)
SAME AS (3): The figure is still curled up against the car, and has stopped moving. A small poolof blood collects around him.
(9)
SAME AS (1): Weaver has lowered his rifle and scope.
DOWNWARD ANGLE: WEAVER has stripped down to his waist and taken off his boots. His
rifle is propped up against the wall while he does pushups. His ribs are starting to show.
1 CAPTION: I wake up and exercise every morning
1 CAPTION: Boswell calls it a waste of caloric energy
(2)
FACING: WEAVER is sitting on the couch, reading an advertising periodical.
2 CAPTION: There are a few trade magazines around. I neverknew advertising was this complicated.
(3)
SAME AS (2): WEAVER has put down the magazine, and is eating a chocolate Easter bunny.
3 Caption: Our absentee hosts were nice enough to leavegrub for us. Its mostly junk food featured inlocal ad campaigns.
(4)
TALL, FROM OUTSIDE: WEAVER leans looks out the floor-to-ceiling windows. Many of the
buildings surround his view have blown-out windows.
4 CAPTION: ash turns the world gray. Sometimes I can’t evensee the street below.
4 Caption: I want to scavenge the rest of the property but the risk is too great. Just one blown-out window could seed an entire floor with radioactivedust.
(5)
CLOSE: WEAVER is on his side, lying on his couch in the dark. His eyes are closed.
FROM THE SIDE: WEAVER and BOSWELL face each other, playing poker. They are sitting in
the breakroom kitchen. Behind them are a countertop and a refrigerator. WEAVER has the rifle
slung behind his back.
1 CAPTION: Boswell found a deck of cards
1 CAPTION: I’m so happy I could cry
1 Weaver: Tell me about the bunker we found you in. Was it more than an easy spot to conceal yourpredilections towards kiddies?
1 Boswell: You’re asking me if I saw this coming?
(2)
ON BOSWELL:
2 Boswell: I figured an attack like this was inevitable. It comes down to simple mathematics… all it takesis one man with more money and willpower thanthe coppers.
(3)
SAME AS (1):
3 Boswell: It’s happened before, you know
3 Weaver: You mean like nine-eleven?
(4)
SAME AS (1):
4 Boswell: Nine-eleven?! Ha! No, Johnny boy, not like nine-eleven.
(5)
ON BOSWELL:
5 Boswell: When it came time to test the first atomicweapon, brilliant minds theorized the nucleardetonation could spark a sustained self-sustaining atmospheric reaction
6 Boswell: We risked burning the earth to cinders just toprove we had the bomb. By that time, we’d already defeated the krauts, and the japs were on theropes… we did it to make a statement to our ownsupposed allies
(7)
SAME AS (1):
7 Boswell: I don’t know how long it will take — maybe a thousand years, maybe ten thousand — but therewill come a time when no one will know why wefought Hitler, tojo, or why we faced off against the ruskies.
7 Boswell: Humanity is all-too willing to stare into theabyss
7 Boswell: I suppose this time it finally noticed us
BREAKROOM KITCHEN, FACING: WEAVER is alone, back to us. He is shirtless, underneath
the counter; rifle leaned up against the counter next to him. He is trying to get into the pipes, get
more water out of the drainage system. He is singing to himself.
1 WEAVER: (singing) Don’t stop, make it pop,DJ blow my speakers up,Tonight, gunna fight,‘Till we see the —
1 SOUNDFX: SLAM!! SLAM!!
(2)
SAME AS (1): WEAVER has grabbed his rifle, still shirtless.
2 SOUNDFX: SLAM!! SLAM!! Slam!!
(3)
FOLLOWING: WEAVER is running towards the office back door. The entrance door is a metal
security door with a glass window, as found in most offices. There is the shadowy silhouette of a
woman through the window.
3 SOUNDFX: SLAM!!
(4)
ON BACK DOOR: WEAVER has his rifle up, at the ready, aiming down the barrel at a woman
on the other side of the door. She wears a filthy business-style suit, ripped to shreds. Her hair isfalling out, and we can’t see all of her face. She has sores, cuts, and is deathly pale. Her hands are
up against the window, balled in fists. She’s been slamming on the door.
4 Weaver: You so much as jiggle that knob and I’ll send a bullet through your skull before you canfucking blink
4 Woman: Please… I work here
5 Weaver: Nobody works here anymore, lady. Are youalone?
OTHER SIDE OF THE BACK DOOR: The hallway is pitch black, but we can see WEAVER on
the other side of the door. The WOMAN is kneeling against the door, down on one knee.
1 WOMAN: I just need somewhere to rest
(2)
SAME AS (1): The WOMAN is now in a sitting position, leaning back against the door.
2 Woman: I’m sick… I’ve seen others like this. They didn’t last long.
2 Weaver: Not my goddamn problem
(3)
SAME AS (1): She’s now in the most comfortable position possible, propped up against the door
with her head hung low. She’s using no effort to support herself.
3 Woman: Everyone who saw the flashes knew. We allstampeded for the subway tunnels. It washorrific — people stepping on each other,crushing children. It was pitch black, but nobody came for us. We tried to find food,shelter… but the rainstorms brought theradiation into the tunnels. We were all drinkingpoison and starving to death
4 Weaver: Jesus Christ …
(4)
SAME AS (1), IDENTICAL TO (3):
4 woman: They’re eating each other down there… the few that are still alive.
4 woman: And there is something even worse — creatures… Ican’t even describe them…
(5)
FROM WEAVER’S SIDE OF DOOR:
5 Weaver: You’re not making any sense — save your strength
5 SOUNDFX: I don’t know why I’m telling you this… I have a picture on my desk, of my kid and husband. I just wanted to see them one last time, you know?
HALLWAY: WEAVER and BOSWELL are standing in the hallway, leaning over the corpse of
the WOMAN. The back door has opened inwards, spilling light into the hallway. The WOMAN
had written a message onto the wall next to her with some foul substance. It reads “BEWARETHE HARBINGERS.” Besides it is a crude drawing of a bug-like creature on tall, stilt-like legs.
1 Weaver: That’s what she was trying to tell me
(2)
FACING WEAVER AND BOSWELL: As they lean over the WOMAN.
2 WEAVER: I don’t know what this means. She wasn’t makingmuch sense before she died.
(3)
ON BOSWELL:
3 BOSWELL: Oh, the harbingers are real, Johnny boy
FULL PAGE, FULL BLEED, LOW ANGLE: We’re looking from foot level up at BOSWELL
and WEAVER. Behind them we see the tower where they’d taken shelter for the last few weeks.
BOSWELL has unfurled his umbrella, revealing that it is polka-dotted with tiny hearts. Out of thetwo, he looks decided frumpy and silly. Stretched out before their feet is the dead man from page