THE TABLE

By
H.G.Bernreuter

FADE IN:
SCENE ONE

Three men sitting at a rectangular table in what appears to

be an abandon warehouse. The men are shackled at the ankles
to chairs. The men are flat on their faces unconscious. One
light is directly overhead, giving only enough light to see
each other and a few feet in any direction. Two men begin to
awake. The third mans face is laying in a puddle of blood.
His hair is mated with blood. He is seated at the middle of
the table to far for either man to reach.
The Man: ehhhh my head.where am Iehhh
The Other Man: geez my.ouch what the he.
The two men start to lift their heads. Both men rub their
eyes and temples trying to wear off whatever was making them
feel groggy. The men are acting as if they are severally
hangover.
The Man: Who the hell are you?
The Other Man: I am not going to bother asking you the same
thing.
The Man: Who the hell is that?
The other man: Is he Dead?
The Man: Well he doesnt look to healthy.
The Other Man: Hey PAL !!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!!!!
The Man: Why do you so familiar?
The Other Man: I have to admit I think I have seen you
before but whatever they gave us is really screwing with my
head
The Man: You mean what you gave us? I have no idea who you
are or what sick twisted game you ae trying to play but..
The Other Man: I dont want to hear it pal as far as I am
concerned you are the kidnapper.
The Man: I cant move my legs what the hell is this
The Other Man:

Me too I cant my legs.

Both men look down to see the steel shackles connecting

their ankles to the chair.
The Man: ok this just got serious.

The Other Man: Finally I am glad you finally figured out the
deep shit we currently find ourselves in.
The Man If I need anymore of your worthless chatter I ll
ask for it.
The Other Man Have it your way. HELP!!!!! HELP!!!!!!
HELP!!!!!! ME!!!!!
The Man: what the hell are you doing now?
The Other Man: I thought that would be fairly obvious I am
screaming for help.
The Man: Can you stop!!!! SCREAMING!!!!!
The Other Man: Can you figure out how to get us out.right
then I am goin keep screaming
The Man: Shut up and look around for.
The Other Man: Look for what? A skeleton key? And blowtorch?
what exactly do you want to look for? In case you didnt
notice we are shackled to these chairs.
The Man: Look and see if your chair is bolted down maybe we
can break it lose or something.
The Other Man: Ok that is the smartest thing you have said
yet.
The men are really starting to look at their surroundings.
The Man: Look there is a deck of cards.
The Other Man: I cant reach them
The Man starts to reach for the cards and pulls them to his
side of the table.
The other Man: Anything special
The Man: Doesnt seem so. It is a brand new pack. Seems
normal I am going to open it.
The Other Man: well?
The Man: There are only six cards. Ace Ace two three five
and eight.
The Other Man: Thats it?

The Man: Yeah

The Other Man: What else do you see?
The Man: What is this?
Both men look under the table leaning against the chairs and
putting pressure on the bolts connecting the chairs to the
concrete floor.
The Man: What is this? There is .
The Other Man: What do you see?
The Man: Its an alarm clock I think. Let me see if I can
grab it?
The Other Man: Wait. I can see the back of it. .. Oh dear
God DONT TOUCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Man: Oh my God its a timer.
The Other Man: It is attached to explosives. Oh dear god
what did the black box say?
The Man: Its counting down from five minutes.
The Other Man: How could you be so stupid!!!!!!!!!!!
The Man: Like how the hell was I supposed to know?
The Other Man; There has got to be something we can do
The Man: Hey look at the table. A number pad has popped up
The Other Man: I can reach it. Its the numbers zero through
nine. Thats it.
The Man: It must be a code of some kind to punch into the
pad. Maybe it turns this thing off.
The Other Man: Maybe that is why the playing cards are
funny. What was the numbers again?
The Man: aaahhh its an ace a five an eight a three a two
and another ace.
The Other Man: Is that the order they were in?
The Man; How the hell should I know?
The Other Man: maybe cause you opened the box. Asshole and
decided set of the damn bomb!!!!!!
4

The Man: just put them in lowest to highest.

The Other Man: What is the number for an Ace?
The Man: Its one hurry
The Other Man: one, one, two, three, five, eight
A buzzer goes off in the entire warehouse so loud neither
man can hear the other. The Buzzer only lasts a second.
The Other Man:

What the hell was that?

The Man: I dont know but the timer has dropped by one
minute.
The Other Man: Are you kidding?
The Man: I am afraid not. We are one minute closer to death.
The Other Man: You look a little pale. Dont give up how
long do we have left?
The Man: three minutes twelve seconds
The Other Man: Oh god this is not happing to me
The Man: Yes it is. HEY BUDDY PAL WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!
The Other Man: If that buzzer didnt wake him up nothing
will.
The Man: I dont know what else to do I think I am going to
Die
The Other Man: We are not going to die. We just need to
figure out who brought us here and what the plan is. Nobody
goes to this much trouble just to blow three people up.
The Man: We have two and a half minutes if you can think of
something you let me know otherwise I am going to stat
praying.
The Other Man: I cant believe this. on my birthday no less
The Man: What did you say?
The Other Man: Today is my birthday.
The Man: Today is my birthday.
The Other Man: Ok think hard who would want to hurt you on
your birthday.
5

The Man; I dont know to be honest I have been in prison

the last few years. I just got out a month ago
The Other Man: What did you do?
The Man: Drugs but I dont owe anybody nothing my enemies
are dead or too stupid to have pulled this off. What about
you?
The Other Man: I dont know I own a landscaping business
I am not married the only people mad at me is if they dont
get there petunias in on time.
The Man: Can you reach him?
The Other Man: Notoo far in the middle
The Man: Should we try our birthday in the key pad?
The Other Man: How long do we have left?
The Man: Two minutes thirty
The Other Man: If we are wrong and we lose another minute we
will have under ninety seconds to make our peace with God.
The Man:It is better than sitting around here waiting.
The Other Man: zero one one nine seven seven.
The Buzzer goes off again this just as loud lasting a couple
of seconds longer.
The Man: Dammit eighty seconds and counting
The Other Man:

Ok well I am done screwing around

The Other Mn starts to kick furiously at the concrete over

and over. After a few seconds he realizes that it is
hopeless.
The Man: You know I only came here to find my brother.
The Other Man: ok?
The Man: the whole time I was in the joint I just kept
thinking about my brother we were separated and adopted out.
The thing is though I never saw him again. I asked for
parole here because I think he lives here.
The Other Man: What is his name?

The Man: Jordon Maze

The Other Man: Never heard of him
The Man: Ahh no worriesits better off this way I aint
scared of dying but I was terrified at him not wanting
anything to do with me.
The Other Man: Brothers are not like that. I lost my brother
when I was a kid I wouldnt care if he was in trouble or not
he will always be my brother.
The Man: forty five seconds
The Other Man: Well it was go to meet you and the dead
fellow whoever the hell you are.
The Man: Yup.. I hear you.. I would have been happier
dying with some hooker in a hotel room with an ounce of
cocaine and a fifth of scotch
Both men Laughed
The Man: twenty five seconds
The Other Man: Would you mind counting down the last ten
seconds when I was a kid I would watch the shuttle go up and
my favorite part was the count down.
The Man: You know I loved that too My brother would do the
countdown just like mission control.
The Other Man: Thank you
The Man:
ten..nine..eight.seven.six..five..four.three.two.
one..
The Third Man lifts his bloody head.
The Third Man: ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Straight to Black
THE END