S1: E2: Figure This Out

            It’s Halloween. People are dressed up and enjoying themselves at the church’s annual Fall Festival. Zach and Maddy are sitting on a curb talking.

[Zach]: Hey…are you ok?

[Maddy]: Yeah.

[Zach]: I don’t know…you seem kinda sad.

[Maddy]: (Slight enthusiasm.) I am sad.

[Zach]: Why?

[Maddy]: …Honestly…I don’t know. I just am.

[Zach]: You’re not going back to what you used to-

[Maddy]: (Interrupts.) No no no you don’t have to worry about that. I’m not depressed I’m just…I don’t know. I don’t know why I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do career wise and stuff, I’ve been so tired and stressed that I feel emotionless to almost everything. It’s kinda why I do cross country and soccer; because I actually feel something when I’m out there.

[Zach]: …I know exactly what you’re going through.

[Maddy]: (Looks at him.)

[Zach]: My brother’s in San Antonia with the Airforce, my mom and sister are in Florida…I mean my whole family still loves each other but in a way we’re kinda torn apart. It makes me angry that we’re moving. I can’t seem to wrap my mind around school, especially Algebra 2. I’ve also been so stressed out and tired with all this crap happening. On top of all of that, I don’t know…I just feel like there’s something missing.

[Maddy]: Same.

[Zach]: (Nudges shoulder.) But we’ll figure it out. I’ll always be here to talk to you, and I know you would always do the same for me.

[Maddy]: Yeah.

[Zach]: You still got two more years of high school you got plenty of time to figure out what you gotta do.

[Maddy]: That’s true.

[Zach]: We’ll figure this out. I know we will.  

{Audio of Rovers growling comes on before next scene.}

            The rovers are still roaming the church property. The students are completely silent. The room has gone darker due to the phone batteries dying.

(Intro)

Shane walks over to Dustin.

[Shane]: (Whisper.) We can’t be in here forever. We have to do something.

[Dustin]: (Whisper.) I know what you mean, but how? We can’t get out of here. All those…those…roving things out there.

            Zach can see Dustin and Shane talking. He knows they are talking about how to escape. He leans over to Josh.

[Zach]: Are your younger siblings at the church?

[Josh]: No. They were being spawns of satan today so they stayed home.

[Zach]: Thank God.

[Lee]: Go figure.

[Maddy]: What are you thinking?

[Zach]: We gotta get out of here somehow. There has to be a way.

[Josh]: I don’t see how there can be. Those things have filled the entire youth facility.

[Brittany]: Yeah, there’s no way to get through them without…

[Alissa]: …Yeah.

            Roger is playing with his rubex cube when he suddenly drops it. The noise attracts a couple of rovers and they attempt to get inside.

[Brittany]: (Whisper.) Roger! You’re gonna get us all killed!

            Josh notices how the rovers were attracted instantly by the sound.

[Josh]: Hold on.

            He walks up to Roger and tries to take rubex cube from Roger, but Roger resists.

[Josh]: Give it, Roger, I think I discovered something. 

            Roger gives Josh the cube. Josh goes to the other side of the room next to the door. Everyone inside is watching him. He kneels down beside the door, and then drops the rubex cube. Within a couple of seconds a few of the rovers pile up against the door next to Josh.

[Dustin]: (Whisper.) Josh what are you doing?!

[Zach]: (Whisper.) No, no, no Josh is onto something. The things outside heard us screaming inside this room and they went nuts trying to get in and after a while they shut up. Just the tiny sound of the cube got a few of them riled up and they’ll stop as soon as they get tired of it!

            Before Zach finished the sentence the rovers already stopped trying to get in.

[Zach]: (Whisper.) See, just like that!

[Dustin]: (Whisper.) I’m not gonna lie, but that makes me feel worse than I did about two minutes ago.

[Zach]: (Whisper.) No, you’re not getting it: We can use that to our advantage and get us out of here!

[Kelly]: How?

[Josh]: Have everyone banging on just one of the doors. Attracting the attention of all of those things outside, and then we get small groups at a time out through the other door, and then they’ll get to their cars.

[Zach]: Exactly, or, we can have just two people go out to their own cars, and blare the horns for several minutes so they can gather up the rest of the sick people, leading them away from the church.

[Kelly]: What about all the people in the church?

[Zach]: ….

[Josh]: Driving the infected away from the church campus will actually be helping whoever is in there.

[Zach]: Once the infected are led away from the church, we all should go to my property. Then tomorrow morning we go back here and find anybody needing help over at the church.

            There is a pause. All the adults are thinking.

[Shane]: That could work. But the problem is, with all of these students here, and only…5 adults, two of them being the only individuals with guns…we don’t have anyone that would go out there without endangering the lives of the students due to less adults being there.

            There is another pause.

[Zach]: Lee and I can go.

[Dustin, Kelly, Robyn]: No.

[Zach]: Come on. We’re the fastest and we can get through them easier than you guys. Plus we can drive. This is the only way we can get out of here.

[Robyn]: I’m not sending my son and his best friend out there to die.

[Lee]: (Walking up next to Zach.) Mom, its ok we can do it. It’s just like nerf zombies at the lock-in. If anything, it’s easier.

[Dustin]: I’m not sending two of my students out there when we can have an adult go instead.

[Zach]: But that’s the thing; you can’t send an adult out there. We are your only option.

            There is third pause. The adults are looking at other going over the plan in their minds. Robyn starts crying and leans on Glenn.

[Dustin]: You won’t have any kind of weapons on you. And I can’t give you our guns in the situation that we may get attacked while you’re gone.

[Lee]: Then we can use the pool table sticks.

            The adults look at each other. They already know that sending the two out is the smartest and only choice they have.

[Glenn]: Ok.

            Robyn argues with Glenn. The rest of the adults are quiet as well as most of the students. Brittany gets up from the ground after hearing the conversation. Lee and Zach walk over to their group of friends; Hannah is on the verge of tears.

[Brittany]: You aren’t going out there, Lee. 

[Lee]: Its ok, me and Zach have a plan. I’ll be fine.

            Dustin gets the entire youth group’s attention and relays the plan to them.

            The youth group is on the far right side of the game room, while Lee, Zach and Shane are on the far left side of the room with the ping-pong table pulled away from the door. Zach looks to Dustin and holds up three fingers counting down to 1 before motioning to the youth group to starting banging on the walls. The students and the adults scream and holler, banging on the walls, kicking the barricades, and making as much noise as possible. After a few seconds, Shane unlocks the left door, and whispers to Zach and Lee as they slowly open the door.

[Shane]: I love you guys. Good luck. Be careful.

            Zach and Lee slowly open the door. Almost all of the rovers are piled up against the right game room entrance door. The two students make a break for the student center exit. Upon getting out, they see the hundreds of rovers roaming the parking lot. The moon is bright that night and there’s just enough blue moon light to see every moving body.

[Zach]: oh…my…

[Lee]: god.

            Then some of the rovers notice Zach and Lee, and begin walking towards the stair case leading up to them. Without wasting another moment, the two race down the stairs and sprint across the parking lot dodging and weaving through the crowd. They pull out their car keys speeding into their vehicles. They turn on the cars and back out of their parking spots hitting a few rovers as they go.

[Zach]: oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!

[Lee]: HOLY SHITSU!

            They switch to drive, but before driving away, they look around in their cars as the rovers stumble towards them. Zach and Lee then press the horn on the steering wheel. All over the church campus as well as the student center, the rovers can hear the blaring horns and started walking towards them. Lee and Zach drive a few meters and stop to wait for the rovers to catch up, and then repeat.

            Dustin and Shane walk out of the game room with their guns. Shane shoots a rover who was lagging behind. After that, the room was clear. They check the parking lot, and there are still at least a hundred rovers out there but slowly following Zach and Lee’s cars.

[Dustin]: It worked! Hey guys, it’s clear you can come out!

            The rest of the group comes out of the game room. Robyn and Brittany are the first ones out and they race for the window to see if Lee is ok.

[Robyn]: Do you see them?

[Dustin]: No I don’t see them. But they made it for sure because they’re leading the…“herd” away from the church.

            Zach calls Lee up on the phone. The service is bad.

[Zach]: Hey Lee.

[Lee]: Yeah.

[Zach]: We’ll take 45; we can’t risk the infected making their way over to my house.

[Lee]: I was thinking the same thing. At what point can we just drive instead of stopping-and-going like this?

[Zach]: As soon as we get on the highway, I think.

[Lee]: Yeah. Hey we should stop by a store and grab a bunch of food. Because we’re gonna have a large group of people at your house for at least a couple of days.

[Zach]: I was already thinking that. There’s a Costco right there on 242. We can both fill up two carts of food and then gun it to my house before we get followed by more of those…things.

[Lee]: Ok yeah. Bye.

[Zach]: Bye.   

            The youth group back at the student center is discussing rides to get to Zach’s property.

[Dustin]: Kelly do you have the kids?

[Kelly]: Yes.

[Dustin]: Ok so you can fit two more people go ahead and take your pick. Shane you can take four? So you pick which students. Glenn, Robyn how many can you take?

[Glenn]: two.

[Dustin]: Ok, go ahead and choose. I can fit four people so I’ll take Dylan, Susan, Daniel, and Charles. That leaves eleven people. Who can drive?

[Bailey, Brittany, Hannah Green, Josh, and Alissa]: I can.

[Dustin]: Ok how many can you fit?

[Josh]: I can fit four.

[Bailey]: Same.

[Brittany]: Same.

[Hannah]: Same here.

[Alissa]: (Chuckles) Ditto!

[Dustin]: Ok, take your picks and we are gonna gun it to Zach Golden’s property. I don’t think my wife knows how to get there but other than that who doesn’t know how to get to his house?

            No response. The students begin picking people’s rides.

            Zach and Lee are speeding down the highway. There are no other cars around except for a few totaled vehicles and parked cars along the way. Soon the amounts of cars in the middle of the road begin to increase. The two weave side to side to avoid collision. Zach barely misses an 18-wheeler when his review mirror gets knocked off.

[Zach]: (Breathing heavily.) Holy cow.

            Lee avoids a wrecked set of cars. Standing in the direction he pulled into was a rover walking towards him.

[Lee]: (Screams.)

            The car hits the rover. The rover flies over the vehicle skipping across the concrete behind him. Blood splattered onto the windshield, but he cleans it off with the wipers. At last, they come upon the exit off the highway.

[Zach]: Finally the exit.

            The pull out onto 242, and pull into the Costco parking lot. They park next to each other. The two gets out and start sprinting towards the store.

[Zach]: Did you see my review mirror get knocked off?!

[Lee]: Did you see me run over that infected guy?!

[Zach]: That was my first accident involving a car!

[Lee]: Zach! I ran over a frickin zombie!

            Dustin steps outside the student center on the balcony. He checks the area and then nods to the rest of the group. Shane gets out first and he and Dustin escort the group to their vehicles. Everyone gets into their assigned vehicles and they pull out of the parking lot. Left on the front door of the student center is a distinct set of directions leading to Zach’s house.

            Maddy gazes through the window at the rovers who are still eating the Cokers. Dylan is looking back at the church where there are a few rovers that were left behind still wandering around the campus. Alissa, Brittany, and Josh are still a little shaken. Everyone in their cars is silent. Dustin is stressed out and tired.

            Zach and Lee get into Costco. It’s quiet inside the store. The lights are flickering slightly and have turned from a florescent white light to a gloomy yellow color.

[Zach]: Bread, water, non-refrigerated food, and Mountain Dew; specifically in that order.

[Lee]: Got it.

            The two get their own carts and race around the store grabbing several 32-packs of bottled water, stacks of bread, and several stock-fulls of dried goods like protein bars, chips, cereal…etc. and then finally top the mountains of food they developed with dozens of Mountain Dew canned 12-packs. Running back out the entrance the two meet up and started stuffing all they could into their cars.

[Lee]: Dude I was expecting the place to be almost empty.

[Zach]: I wasn’t. Costco wasn’t ever that active in this area anyways. And also the area is more isolated than most store locations…Walmart on the other hand.

[Lee]: Yeah, true.

            The two got into their cars and drove to Zach’s property. They pull into the driveway and get out of the cars. They rush inside the house with all the groceries and all the while hear Chewie (the household shiatsu) barking loudly. Walking into the kitchen Lee and Zach see four Mexicans searching through their things and stuffing them into backpacks. When they see Le and Zach, they all pull out knives except for the leader speaking who pulls out a revolver.

[Servando]: Wrong time to come home, Niño.

            Joanne Golden (Grandma) walks outside of their house on the other side of the property with Jr. Golden (Grandpa). Joan has a shotgun and Jr. has his rifle.

[Jr.]: You’re sure it wasn’t Zach’s car?

[Joanne]: I’m positive, because Zach’s car is silver and the second car I saw was more of a…red…purple color like the aggies. And I knew something was wrong because I thought I saw the lights inside their house turn on several minutes before that car got here!

[Jr.]: Ok.

            Servando walks up to Lee and Zach who dropped their groceries. He sees the food inside and realizes that there is more food in their cars.

[Servando]: You wanna show me what else is in your cars?

[Zach]: Look you can’t do this. We just got back from Costco it’s full of crap just waiting for you. You’re not gonna help things by taking peop-

[Servando]: Shut up, gringo and show me what else is in YOUR F******G CARS!

            The rest of the youth group is getting closer and closer towards the property.

[Alissa]: Almost there.

            Zach and Lee walk out of the house with the Mexicans behind them. The four Mexicans walk towards the cars. Servando tries to open Zach’s car but it’s locked.

[Servando]: Open the god-d**n car!

[Zach]: Ok, ok. Just calm down.

            Zach unlocks it and Servando checks out the inside of the car.

[Servando]: I like it I like it. Haha, Mountain Dew! Leather seats…sun roof too! I will greatly enjoy your car, gringo. We’ll also take your boyfriend’s car.

            Zach and Lee both have furious looks on their faces for both the insult and the fact that they are taking their cars and their supplies. Servando holds out his hand to collect the keys.

[Servando]: Aww, I think make the gringo angry!

            The rest of the Mexicans laugh.

[Servando]: Now. Give me the keys, or I will shoot you in your f*****g face.

            Zach hesitates, now fearing for his life but not wanting to give up the supplies. Servando pulls out the revolver.

[Servando]: GIVE ME THE F*****G KEYS!!

            Suddenly three gun shots go off within a period of a single second. Servando and two of his friends are dead before they hit the ground. Blood splatters onto Zach’s face. The fourth Mexican tries to run but Joanne is right there in front of him with the shotgun and blasts him in the chest.

[Joanne]: Are you ok?

[Zach]: (Shaky voice.) I’m fine-(Wipes blood off of his face.)

[Joanne]: Where’s Parker and Hannah, where’s your dad?

[Zach]: Ok look, the sick people we saw on the news? The church was attacked by them-

[Jr.]: What!

[Zach]: But they’re ok, I know they are!

            (Pan on Lee looking at Zach, doubting whether or not Parker and Mr. Golden survived.)

[Jr.]: Bull s**t, son you took their only means of getting home!

            Just then the youth group starts pulling into the property.

[Jr]: What is this?!

            Jr. raises his pistol but Zach shoves his shooting hand away from the students.

[Zach]: WAIT! Hold on!

[Joanne]: Oh my god! (Crying.)

[Zach]: Grandma, just wait. Just wait. They are ok I promise. I’ll explain everything later but right now we gotta get these kids inside the house. We couldn’t get a hold of their families so we have to take care of them until we can bring them back home. Ok?

            Students start getting out of the cars. Hunter starts being obnoxious and yelling for no reason.

[Dustin]: Hunter, shush! We can’t attract any more of those things! Get inside the house, everyone!

            The students go inside Zach’s house as Joanne, Jr. and Zach watch.

[Jr.]: Ah sh**.

(Commercial break.)

            All the students are sitting in the living room talking. Some are crying some are angry, and others are completely still. Zach sees Maddy sitting with a few of her friends. She is silent with her head low and her hands against her forehead. Zach sits next to her.

[Zach]: ...Maddy?

[Maddy]: What.

            Zach pauses, not knowing what to say. He gives her a side hug.

[Zach]: We’ll figure things out.

            Maddy looks at him for a second and then turns back, forwarding her eyes towards Dustin as he stands in the center of the room. He whistles really loud to get everyone’s attention.

[Dustin]: Listen up! Ok listen. I know you all have questions, you’re wondering where your parents are, you wanna know if they’re ok, I get that. But I can’t answer those questions yet. I just can’t. Back at the church you all called your families. Some of you got answers some of ya’ll didn’t. But listen I need you to call them again. Tell them where you are. Tell them you’re at Zach Golden’s house, (Students start texting.) his address is 16144….Firetower rd. …Conroe, Tx…77306. Everybody got that? But hey guys listen…if you can’t get a hold of your parents…

            Adults look up at Dustin to see what he says. Tray looks harder at Dustin.

[Dustin]: …if you can’t, then I and some of the adults will personally take each and every one of you to your houses and help you find your parents.

            Madison Adams raises her hand. Dustin points to her.

[Madison]: What are we gonna do tonight?

[Dustin]: I’m not sure, I’m assuming we’re just gonna stay here for tonight and see how tomorrow goes. Is that ok?

[Joanne]: Of course, but I have several conditions.

[Dustin]: Students! Listen up!

[Joanne]: No one is going outside under any conditions unless an adult tells you that you can. Also, guys are gonna sleep in this house, while the girls are sleeping in me and Jr.’s house.

[Dustin]: Yes ma’am. Sounds good.

[Danielle]: What if our parents don’t come tomorrow? Or the next day, or the next day after that?!

            Students start yelling and freaking out.

[Dustin]: Hey! Students! Look, it’s like I told you, alright? I don’t know! I really don’t! I wish I did, I literally have no idea what I am doing right now! But I know this: if we calm down, if we follow the rules, if we’re smart, and if we work together we can get through this, ok? Alright, we can figure this out.

            {Pan on Maddy’s face.}

[Dustin]: Now I…I’d like for us to pray. Everybody bow your heads. If you wanna hold hands, or…do whatever, you can…

            Brittany and Lee hold hands.

[Dustin]: Father God I lift us up to you. I don’t know what is happening I don’t have all the answers. I wish I did. But I don’t, God, and so I pray you give all of us the strength; the wisdom and the protection we need to get through this. Lord if this is it-if this is the end, and you are coming soon then please Lord, take us home, rapture us before anything else happens. We love you, Lord, and we ask this in your name, amen.

            Students respond with “amen”. Lee and Brittany are still holding hands. Joanne stands up.

[Joanne]: Ok, kids, me and Tray will lead all the ladies to the other side of the property where our house is, and the guys will stay here.

            Robyn and Glenn walk up towards Maddy.

[Robyn]: Come on, Maddy let’s head on over to their house. Zach you be careful. And watch Lee for me.

            Zach hugs Robyn or “Aunt Robyn” as he always calls her.

            Zach smiles.

[Zach]: Yes, ma’am.

            Alissa says goodbye to her brothers Josh and Nick.

[Alissa]: Be careful guys. Did you get a hold of mom?

[Josh]: Yes. She knows where we are and she’s coming tomorrow morning.

[Alissa]: Ok.

            Brittany and Lee hug for a while.

[Brittany]: Be careful. Take care of Roger for me, ok? I know he’s a handful-

[Lee]: Don’t worry about it. We’ll be ok. I promise.

            Lee kisses her on the forehead.

            Tray walks up to Zach.

[Jr.]: Now Zach, I’m gonna be staying in my house. I expect you to keep things in check in your home. You started this, meaning you take responsibility in anything that happens.

[Zach]: Yes, sir. But hey, Grandpa…I had to do this. You know?

[Jr.]: (Smiles.) I know, son. You’re a good boy. I just wasn’t expecting all this.

[Zach]: (Hugs grandpa.) I don’t think anyone was expecting any of this, Grandpa.

            The two let go of their embrace.

[Jr.]: Take care of yourself. I’ll see you tomorrow. I wanna say your dad’s shotgun and Colt 45 is in the closet.

[Zach]: Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.

            The girl’s group walks outside the house and starts moving quietly towards the other side.

[Dustin]: Ok guys, adults get first pick of beds.

            Students groan. Dustin, Kelly, and there kids take the master bedroom, Shane and Glenn take the two boy’s beds in Zach’s room. Zach, Lee, Josh, Dylan, Christian, Charles, Daniel, and Ian are all in the game room sleeping on the floor.

[Dylan]: So…what do you think is going on?

[Lee]: With the whole thing that happened tonight?

[Dylan]: Yeah.

[Zach]: It happened so fast. I don’t know about you guys but I didn’t see any of this stuff on the news till about Saturday.

[Josh]: That was the first broadcast of the event, actually. All of this happened in a series of a few sets of 24 hours. Whatever happened…it happened quickly.

[Ian]: Dustin was saying during his prayer that if this was Judgment Day, he would want God to rapture us before anything happened. Personally I do not think this is Judgment Day.

[Lee]: I don’t know, wasn’t there stuff in the bible talking about the seven bowls that angels poured down to Earth when Judgment Day happens? One of the bowls was plagues I know that for sure.

[Josh]: Well many people were going berserk during the Ebola crisis. A lot of people thought it was the end. But it wasn’t. It went viral…then it stopped. Out of nowhere it just stopped.

[Zach]: Well I personally don’t see this “stopping” any time soon. Did you see the size of that herd? Lee and I were driving down the road and there were dozens of others just walking around roving through the streets. There’s no way this is ending all of the sudden.

[Dylan]: Dude, honestly like, I wasn’t ready for any of this. Like I don’t know what’s gonna happen.

[Daniel]: I know, like honestly, I don’t wanna go back to my house because it’s like in a neighborhood. A herd like at the church, they would totally get us or something.

[Zach]: Look guys, “honestly”. We’ve been talking about this stuff for years! We never could shuttup and brag about how we’re so ready for apocalypse. Well it’s happening now. We’ve talked about what we would do, we’ve talked about what we would need…we’ve talked about everything! Now we have the advantage, because here’s what we know: those things, those…

[Lee]:  (Interrupts.) Rovers.

[Zach]: Rovers, thanks, Lee. Those “Rovers” are slow as crap. Meaning we can move through them and escape with little stress. They’re also sensitive to sound, and even though that’s a hard factor, we can use that as a distraction so we can get out of tight spots. We know that stuff for a fact. Now if we work together, we unite, and play it smart and use what we talked about, then we can survive this. Before all of this, before the church, some of us were judged because we spent most of our time reading comics and talking about the end of the world: well it’s because we did that we are going to survive this. We got to.  

            Brittany is awake on the carpet floor surrounded with all the other girls. She has a flash back of her fondest memory with her dad and mom, and then crying at her dad’s funeral. Hannah is crying. She remembers a time when she fell asleep inside the car after a long trip and dad carried her to bed. He tucks her in and says love you and she reply in turn. Shane is in bed. He recalls the moment he and his wife Noel were married. Josh has a flashback of being adopted by his parents. Alissa is sitting up against the wall flipping through photos of friends and family. She has a flashback of being left at the door of the adoption home in Russia. Maddy has a flashback of her laughing and enjoying time with her friends during soccer practice. Zach remembers being in Utah seeing the stone arcs, laughing and enjoying time with family. Then a brief moment of Zach with a rope tied around his neck flashes in a millisecond, he’s crying and he’s standing on a tree branch.

            Zach roles over onto his side.

[Zach]: (Whisper.) We can figure this out.