PROLOGUE (EPIDEMIC Prologue)

FADE IN: EXT. WOODS -- DAY LOW-ANGLE CLOSE UP: MAN 1, 40-50, dark hair and stark features, stands tall looking downward toward ground and camera. His eyes are wide and black, his face hollow. As he stares silently, CAMERA JIBS LOWER AND LOWER SLOWLY, emphasizing the menace of Man 1 and the tall forest trees above him. LOW-ANGLE LONG SHOT: Man 1 stands before body, which lay motionless on the woods floor, its head hidden from cameras sight behind a tree. Man 1 intently steps from at the bodys feet to even with its chest, just before the tree that would block our sight of him. LOW-ANGLE EXTREME CLOSE UP: Man 1s face: expressionless; cold as a killer. EXT. HOUSE -- DAY/EVENING A beautifully congruent two-level house fills frame. Its color is soft against the pale evening sky -- maybe white or eggshell -- and its accentuated by deep burgundy shutters and an elegant wood front door. As CAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMS/DOLLIES TOWARD HOUSE, a different scene -- one which recently took place at this house -- is audible: Doorbell RINGS. MAN 2 answers. TERRY (impassively) Are you Mr. [last name]? (beat) My name is Terry Lenpow. MAN 2 Whats this about? TERRY Any reason your son would be in the woods? Long, 8-second silence.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: MAN 2 (anxiously) Is he okay? TERRY (coldly, soullessly) No, hes dead. Man 2 becomes audibly emotional. INT. HOTEL ROOM -- DAY

2.

The room is pristine in presentation, but dull in color or character. In a back corner is a desk and a chair, against the leg of which leans a closed black briefcase, nearly hidden. TERRY, 50, a broad-shouldered man in dark pants and a white button-down shirt, sits on the far-side of the bed, facing the window and away from the camera. He holds the room telephone to his ear for a moment without a word. Then... TERRY Where? EXT. WOODS -- DAY LOW-ANGLE EXTREME CLOSE UP: Man 1s face, looking downward toward ground and us, same deep black eyes as in Scene 1. INT. HOUSE LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT MOM and DAD, 40s, sit on couch, the former hunched over in the latters arms. Both are exhausted from bawling, their faces drained and ghostly. TERRY (O.S.) (without hesitation or sympathy) He lay straight, no contusions or bruises. His eyes were shut. Hed been there at least 24 hours. Mom raises from her husbands chest. MOM (startled and doubtful) He was with us for dinner last night. (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: TERRY (O.S.) Im not talking about your son. MOM Then who?

3.

CUT TO: EXT. WOODS -- DAY -- Note: until noted otherwise, the previous scenes audio will continue in this scene through voice-over. -TERRY (V.O.) Your son isnt the first weve found -- youd maybe like to know. The woods are dense with leafless trees and nothing else. CAMERA PANS RIGHT, THEN LEFT (as if in search of something). TERRY (CONTD) Were tracking something that leaves little to track. In the long distance, Man 1 appears from behind a tree, walks around (also apparently in search of something). DAD (V.O.) Something? TERRY (O.S.) A killer of young men like your son. -- Note: end of previous scenes audio; current scenes audio now at normal volume. -CLOSE UP: Face of PORTER, 23, wholly ordinary, who peeks at Man 1 in the distance from behind a tree. He quietly follows -- far behind -- and is visibly tense and extra cautious, his eyes peeled fully open and his brows raised. All of a sudden, two faint THUMPS -- the first as he trips over a body, the second when he hits the ground. THE CAMERA SWEEPS OVER THE BODY IN DISORIENTING CLOSE UP, THEN MOVES ITS FOCUS TO PORTER, THE BODY STILL IN FRAME BUT NOW OUT OF FOCUS. Porter panics for an instant -- until the exacerbated GASP he lets out reminds him that he must be silent so as not to be found out by the man hes following. At this moment... (CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

CUT TO: CLOSE UP: Man 1, tentatively driving his eyes back and forth, his head perfectly still. OVER MAN 1S SHOULDER: Man 1 scans the woods. He heard Porter, but doesnt know as much just yet -- only that he heard something. CUT TO: Porter remains on the ground next to the body, solid as a board and hardly breathing, terrified that the subtlest movement would divulge his whereabouts on the chance that Man 1 heard him and is now looking back towards him. After several seconds, Porter gathers himself with a long, noiseless breath and carefully rises to his feet, then jumps in front of a tree, arms stiff at his sides. CUT TO: Man 1 walking now. He walks timidly, stopping every few feet and dipping his head with an anxious but purposeful squint. CUT TO: Porter, still against the near-side of the tree, springs from position and fast-walks in the direction opposite where he last saw Man 1 -- all the while whipping his head behind him and back again several times -- until out of frame. EXT. HOTEL ENTRANCE -- DAY Terry walks into hotel lobby, dark suit on and black briefcase in hand. INT. HOTEL LOBBY -- DAY OVER TERRYS SHOULDER: Terry approaches check-in counter. The hotel lobby is wide and high, and decked with plants, perhaps to distract from its otherwise obvious blandness. CUT TO:

5.

INT. CAR -- DAY POV: An unknown character looks unto the hotel entrance in which Terry just walked. CUT BACK TO: INT. HOTEL LOBBY -- DAY OVER TERRYS SHOULDER: Ahead is HOTEL CLERK, 20-30, whose ordinariness seems to be outdone only by his/her blatant attempt to conceal such with a phony ear-to-ear smile. HOTEL CLERK Good evening, sir! Are you checking in? OVER CLERKS SHOULDER: Man 1 stands at the check-in counter, not a single other patron in frame. His face is locked, his eyes intense and without a hint of compassion. TERRY Yes. Terry Lenpow. CUT TO BLACK