Eight Ball 2010

Eight Ball
by
Keith Kjornes
Steve Smith
Stagecoach Entertainment
310.403.2062
Registered WGA-w
Copyright © 2010 Keith Kjornes

All Rights Reserved
BLACKNESS
The soft strains of classical music
LEGEND
Ten years from now...
EXT. THE HENRY MEADOW'S ESTATE -- NIGHT
Expensive home somewhere exclusive-- dripping money.
Normal, actually, except that EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE IS ON.
GLEASON stands at the end of the drive way.
A world weary man, has seen more than he cares to admit.
Dressed in dark suit and tie, tailored but now rumpled.
A car approaches behind him.
Black Dodge Challenger, low profile, stops.
Driver door opens-- the younger man gets out.
Professional, proficient, skilled-- his name is CARNEY.
The young man stalks up behind him.
CARNEY
Gleason?
Gleason glances back with disdain.
GLEASON
You're late.
CARNEY
I'm your liaison, the name's
Carney.
Gleason ignores the outstretched hand.
Instead, he pulls his heavy .44 magnum automatic.
GLEASON
You been briefed?
CARNEY
Yes, sir.
Carney pulls a Sig Sauer 9mm.

Eight Ball 2
GLEASON
So you know what we're doing
here?
Suddenly-- from the house--
AN INHUMAN SCREAM-- A SHRILL SHRIEKING SOUND!
Gleason has heard this before.
He watches Carney's startled reaction.
He watches Carney recover and shake off the fear.
GLEASON
This ain't like the video's
kid.
CARNEY
I suppose it isn't.
Carney catches Gleason staring at him.
GLEASON
They showed you the videos,
right? You know what we're
dealing with here?
CARNEY
The Governor told me to follow
your lead.
GLEASON
See that you do.
Gleason starts up the drive to the house.

Carney follows.
CARNEY
We are now moving up the drive
to the house.
Gleason gives him a look as they head for the front door.
Gleason opens his cell phone-- pops a single number.
GLEASON
Marvel. You ready? It's
started. Henry Meadow's place.
(and)
You heard me right. Just get
here.
Gleason pockets his phone, toes the door open.

Eight Ball 3
CARNEY
Marvel and his fire team have
been summoned.
Gleason turns to Carney.
GLEASON
Who are you talking to?
Before Carney can answer, Gleason eyeballs his collar.
A curly of white plastic runs from an ear into his collar.
CARNEY
I'm in direct contact with the
Governor.
GLEASON
You are, huh?
Gleason jerks the plastic wire--
Pulls the small communicator from the collar--
Speaks into it--
GLEASON
Your guy's a real pip, there,
peg-leg. But we have to remain
quiet--
(for Carney)
-- and keep our fucking mouths
shut. So if it's okay with
you, your Honor, we're gonna
leave you outside.
Gleason pitches it into the grass.

He racks back his weapon and turns for the door.
Carney-- pissed-- follows.
INT. MEADOW'S FRONT ROOM -- NIGHT
Glass and tile, all white and pristine.
A beautiful house-- except for the blood.
Spattered and spewed everywhere.
Gleason clocks the room, moves in further.
Carney follows, all pro-- gun out, looking for targets.
On the wall-- a large photo of the family.

Eight Ball 4
Henry Meadows with wife, two daughters, one son.
Below the picture on the floor, soaked in blood--
A BUTLER-- slaughtered-- sprawled on the floor.
And right then-- on cue-- FROM UPSTAIRS--
The hissing shrill shriek of a scream.
Definitely NOT HUMAN-- freezes them both.
Gleason starts up, listens, hesitates-- hears it again.
Feeding sounds.
INT. MEADOW'S UPSTAIRS -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney move up the stairs.
At the top landing, the music is louder.
Blood on the carpet-- careful not to step in it.
Two doors off this upper landing.
SUDDENLY-- from a side room-- A YOUNG BOY!
15-- 16-- half naked-- TOTALLY FERAL!
His face contorted with rage-- twisted OUT OF HUMAN!
Gleason doesn't need a good look to know.
Without hesitation, one shot-- Gleason caps him.

Carney stands with weapon out-- trembles in terror.
The kid drops and shrieks, kicks, dies.
CARNEY
Oh, Jesus--
Gleason scowls, both men stand over the dead boy.
Carney takes a hard look--
The boys bulging eyes are like oversize BLACK MARBLES.
The half human "alien face" stares up at Carney.
As if under the skin and bone, trying to press out.

Eight Ball 5
GLEASON
It ain't like the videos, is
it?
CARNEY
Oh, Jesus--
Gleason moves on to the bedroom-- following the sounds.
INT. MEADOW'S BEDROOM -- NIGHT
Gleason eases in-- gun out-- cautious and wary.
The sounds-- feeding in progress-- noisy-- wicked-- juicy!
HENRY MEADOWS, corporate exec, past 50--
Naked on the bed, feeding off the body of his daughter.
He has ripped out her throat and she is long gone.
Carney steps in and sides Gleason, horror on his face.
CARNEY
Oh My God!
Henry hears-- whips his head around-- glares!
Mouth smeared with blood-- eyes black and glistening!
A slithery "alien" tongue snakes out-- licks blood.
Past needle like fangs in a bulging mouth.
An "alien face" pushed further out than the boys.

Meadows, feral, turns to leap at Gleason.
This time, both Gleason and Carney fire.
Four heavy bullets rip big holes--
Toss Meadows back against the far wall with a crash.
Carney rushes forward, in case more lead is needed.
Gleason knows better-- he turns-- looks around.
CARNEY
Henry Meadows-- oh my God--
GLEASON
Now all we have to do is find
his wife and other daughter.
Eight Ball 6
Gleason heads out of the bedroom.
Carney follows.
EXT. MEADOW'S BACK YARD -- NIGHT
With a snappy sound, fifteen sprinklers come on.
Water sprays the luxuriant grass.
The ground floor patio doors open.
Gleason steps out-- Carney behind him.
They both turn and face the brightly lit open garage.
They slowly head in that direction.
EXT. MEADOW'S GARAGE -- NIGHT
Four cars parked here, all new, all expensive.
And from the open back doors of the Hummer--
Female legs hang dead.
CARNEY
That the daughter?
Gleason senses it-- turns and looks past Carney.
FROM THE DARKNESS OF THE WET SPRAY OF SPRINKLERS--
A WOMAN LEAPS FORWARD-- 50-- OLDER--

WHEN SHE WAS HUMAN!
Now her bulging eyes are black as marbles--
Her shrill, shrieking mouth swollen with fangs!
No time-- Carney has no chance--
Gleason raises his weapon and POW-POW-POW!
The woman twists like a broken kite in a tornado.
Drops to the wet ground and thrashes.
Carney leaps back, into the side of the Hummer.
Gleason walks closer-- ONE SHOT-- and the woman dies.
Carney steps forward--

Eight Ball 7
CARNEY
You-- saved--
He steps on something that crunches.
He steps back-- looks down-- a syringe.
Gleason steps closer-- toes the syringe with his boot.
Looks into the back of the Hummer.
Sprawled in the seat, the younger daughter, face down.
Her lower back is exposed-- shows a nasty, purple bruise.
A single drop of blood has oozed from the needle hole.
GLEASON
He's got more.
CARNEY
More?
(gets it)
The videos-- she's a donor,
right?
Gleason stares at Carney, holsters his weapon.
GLEASON
Yeah, she's a donor.
He walks off down the drive.
Carney stares at the young girl, then her mother on the ground.
Holsters his weapon and follows.
EXT. THE HENRY MEADOW'S ESTATE -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney wait by the black Dodge Challenger.
An oversize black van wheels up the street and stops.
Three men get out-- the Fire Team-- lead by MARVEL.
His two helpers have backpack flame throwers.
MARVEL
Man, this is cold.
GLEASON
Kind'a makes you wonder if we're
gonna have jobs come Monday,
now the boss is dead.
Eight Ball 8
MARVEL
Locor's a big company, they
always have jobs for guys like
us.
(to Carney)
Who's this?
GLEASON
Marvel-- this is Carney, the
Governor's man.
MARVEL
My tax dollars at work.
Marvel uncorks the hand held video camera from his backpack.
GLEASON
One downstairs, three up, two
in the garage.
MARVEL
The whole family?
GLEASON
And the butler.
MARVEL
Jeez--
(to his crew)
Come on, let's get this done.
CARNEY
Wait a minute-- you're-- you're
gonna burn them?
Marvel and his team head for the house.

MARVEL
Seems to be the plan.
The two FireMen uncork their flame throwers--
Light up the nozzles-- hissing blue flame.
The Fire Team moves up the drive for the house.
CARNEY
There was never any mention of
burning them.
GLEASON
You'd be surprised what they
don't tell you, Carney.
He moves around the passenger side.

Eight Ball 9
CARNEY
Where's your car?
GLEASON
Took a cab.
Gleason gets in. Carney-- wtf? He gets behind the wheel.
EXT. STREETS -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney speed away.
INT. GLEASON AND CARNEY IN CAR -- NIGHT
Carney drives.
GLEASON
Should have seen it coming.
Old man Meadows was trying to
shut down funding. He turns up
as the first victim.
Lights in the road ahead.
CARNEY
I'm going to have to stop.
They both look-- roadblock.
GLEASON
Of course you are.
EXT. ROADBLOCK -- NIGHT

Three official black Suburbans block the road.
Half a dozen well heeled suits stand close by.
One man, surrounded by others, is balanced on a crutch.
Carney stops, gets out fast.
Gleason in no hurry to meet the one legged man-- The GOVERNOR:
GOVERNOR
The Meadows family?
CARNEY
Wife, two daughters, one son.
GLEASON
Don't forget the butler.
Eight Ball 10
GOVERNOR
Jesus!
The glow of fire over the trees.
GOVERNOR
"And seeing the corruption he
had become, he surrendered to
the fires of Gabriel."
Sanctimony turns Gleason's guts--
GLEASON
Morning news will say a freak
electrical fire swept through
the million dollar home--
INT. MEADOW'S BEDROOM -- NIGHT
Dead daughter, dead father, dead son--
The fire teams "lights them up"-- as Marvel records video.
GLEASON (V.O.)
-- of Locor Industries president
and CEO Henry Meadows last night,
killing him and his family.
EXT. ROADBLOCK -- NIGHT
GLEASON
And the butler.
GOVERNOR
Yes, Mr. Gleason. Yes, it will.
To protect him. Even though
he's responsible for all of
this.
GLEASON
All your talk ain't helping me
find Redmond Gates.
GOVERNOR
If he stays in Los Angeles.
GLEASON
He will.
GOVERNOR
How can you be so sure?
(MORE)
Eight Ball 11
GOVERNOR (CONT'D)
(before he can answer)
Oh, I forgot, you worked for
him, you know the man. You
know how he thinks. You even
know what he's doing.
GLEASON
Yeah. I do. And I'll tell you
something, peg-leg. He reminds
me of you. A Bible quoting son
of a bitch.
Neither man moves-- Carney caught in the middle.
GLEASON
(doubles down)
There's fourteen million souls
to be saved in L.A. and he ain't
gonna pass that up. He's been
feeding this Eight Ball myth
into the drug scene for three
months. Dealers and addicts
are primed for the next new
high.
GOVERNOR
If this goes bad--
GLEASON
Too late.
The Governor makes a move.
A man in a suit hands a replacement communicator to Carney.
GOVERNOR
(to Carney)
I want you to remain in contact.
Gleason snatches it and tosses it back to the man in the suit.
GLEASON
I ain't got time for play by
play. You wanna know what's
going on, get in the car with
us.
The Governor-- if looks could kill--
His cell phone rings suddenly--
GOVERNOR
(to Gleason)
We only have two days.
(MORE)
Eight Ball 12
GOVERNOR (CONT'D)
(into phone)
Go--
(listens-- then to
Gleason)
Found him.
Pulse pounding music FADES UP-- SMASH INTO:
INT. SUICIDE CLUB -- NIGHT
Hard music-- naked people-- a combo dance and sex club.
Drug use and substance abuse, free flowing fluids.
EXT. SUICIDE CLUB -- NIGHT
Carney's black Challenger across the street.
Gleason and Carney sit inside, watching the club.
CARNEY
We're too late, aren't we?
GLEASON
What he does takes less than
twenty minutes. Yeah, we're
too late.
Gleason gets out. Carney follows.
CARNEY
Leaving us to clean up his mess.
They cross the street.

GLEASON
Damn inconsiderate of him.
EXT. SUICIDE CLUB; ENTRANCE -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney elbow through the crowds.
Right up to the door where the Bouncer stops them.
BOUNCER
And where the hell you goin',
white bread?
Gleason slams a taser into him.
The Bouncer recoils ten feet and crashes to the sidewalk.

Eight Ball 13
The crowd cheers as Gleason and Carney enter the club.
Gleason and Carney clock the inside, eyes adjusting.
Behind them, the unfettered crowd rushes in.
GLEASON
Over there--
He targets a door in the back-- Carney sees it.
Fights break out as the crowds get rowdy.
Gleason and Carney head for the door.
Two massive bulldog guards block the door.
Gleason pulls a picture, shows it to them.
Industrial B&W of a mousy little man-- REDMOND GATES.
GLEASON
I'm looking for this guy.
The bigger SHITBIRD grins and pushes him back.
SHITBIRD
Beat it, asshole.
Suddenly: the door behind them flies open!
A WOMAN LEAPS OUT-- lands on the back of Shitbird!
HER EYES ARE BLACK MARBLES!

HER NEEDLE LIKE FANGS RIP OUT THE SIDE OF HIS NECK!
Gleason caps her in the head.
GLEASON
Sorry pal--
Gleason shoots Shitbird-- moves past him fast.
CARNEY
(to the other guard)
GET OUTTA HERE AS FAST AS YOU
CAN!
The second Shitbird scrams into the screaming crowd.
Gleason and Carney move through the door to the back room.
Eight Ball 14
CARNEY
Once they're bit--
INT. SUICIDE CLUB; BACK ROOM -- NIGHT
They're in-- Gleason kicks the door closed behind them.
This party has gone to hell and back.
GLEASON
-- they're infected.
Frenzied sex / blood lust in full throe!
A man, hunkered down, looks up from feeding.
HIS EYES ARE GLISTENING SOLID BLACK!
He screams, an inhuman snarl-- Gleason shoots him.
Victims crawl across the floor, streaming blood.
Gleason and Carney wade into the throes.
Skanks and Scum bail for the doors-- Eight Ball eyes!
Gleason and Carney burn them down-- none can escape!
Three more men, caught in the frenzy.
Half human, half something else.
Mouths and hands smeared with blood.
Needle like fangs distended from tight, bulging mouths.

Bang bang bang bang bang!
They thrash and writhe on the floor, spitting blood.
Carney finds a man on the floor, holding his throat.
Blood pours from him-- he can't stem the flow.
Carney stares, grief and horror in his eyes.
Suddenly, Gleason is there-- whips out the picture:
GLEASON
Redmond Gates! Where is he?
DYING MAN
Son bitch--
Gleason gets in close, targets his glazed eyes.

Eight Ball 15
GLEASON
Tell me where he is and I'll
kill him for you.
The dying man coughs blood.
DYING MAN
Bastard lied to me...
He goes still and dies.
For a moment, Gleason stares at him, the world pressing down.
GLEASON
Yeah...
Sirens outside.
Seven victims lay dead, half human-- half alien--
The room pales in gun smoke.
Gleason scans the floors, looking for something.
Carney moves across the way, toward a bed against the wall.
With a dead black woman on it-- EIGHT BALL EYES.
CARNEY
Donor.
Carney rolls her onto her side.
A heavy syringe sticks from the base of her spine.
Filled with blood.

GLEASON
Good to the last drop.
Carney walks off, his back to Gleason.
Gleason turns back, feels through the blankets-- finds it.
A tiny glass ampule, a virulent black grease coats the bottom.
Gleason turns, is Carney watching him?
CARNEY
How could-- someone-- knowingly
create-- something like this?
Gleason palms and pockets the ampule.

Eight Ball 16
GLEASON
I think they said that about
the atom bomb.
(then)
Let's go.
Armored cops rush in-- night sticks and plastic zip cuffs.
A dozen clubbers lay in a pile, complaining.
A dozen more fight back-- cops wail them to the floor.
Especially destructive-- party gear reduced to firewood.
Gleason and Carney guard the door to the back room.
Marvel and his team move through the melee.
MARVEL
This is how it starts.
CARNEY
How what starts?
MARVEL
The end of the world, man.
Marvel and his team move through the door.
The two FireMen ignite their flame throwers.
Gleason and Carney wait, Carney still feels the horror of it.
CARNEY
What did he mean, you only got
two days?
Marvel opens his camera-- they move into the back room.
Gleason pushes past him and heads for the door.
Carney chases him.
CARNEY
There's more to this, isn't
there?
EXT. SUICIDE CLUB -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney push their way out.
Cops drag patrons into big trucks, haul them off.

Eight Ball 17
Outside, a fire truck arrives, all diesel fumes and red lights.
CARNEY
Torching the bodies as a
precaution--
(Gleason ignores
him; Carney grabs
his arm to turn him
around)
God damn it, Gleason, there's
more to this!
Gleason gets up in his face.
GLEASON
I worked with Gates for two
years. And that scares your
boss, the Governor! Because he
thinks I'm still working with
him.
(backs off)
That's why you're here. To
make sure I stay on the side of
goodness and light.
Gleason turns and heads for the car.
CARNEY
What did he mean we only have
two days?
SUDDENLY-- a woman screams-- an ANGRY WOMAN--
JOYCE (O.S.)
Let go of me!
MARVEL (O.S.)
Gleason!
Gleason and Carney both turn-- club doorway filling with smoke.
Marvel hauls a young woman out by the arm.
JOYCE NORTON, 23, fights him all the way.
She still has her VIDEO CAMERA-- and Carney snatches it.
JOYCE
Give me that!
The two FireMen exit the club as smoke pours out.
MARVEL
Found her inside-- with that!
Eight Ball 18
CARNEY
Joyce Norton, Buzz Kill News
Dot Com--
Carney tosses the camera to the curb--
CARNEY
Muckraking tabloid internet
news! Melt that.
One of the flame thrower dudes takes aim-- SPRAYS!
JOYCE
That's private property!
CARNEY
Lost in the fire.
MARVEL
She was shooting video with the
place burning down around her.
Carney waves for a couple of tough looking cops.
They come over-- Carney takes Joyce and hands her off.
JOYCE
You can't do this!
CARNEY
Sure I can-- arrest her--
JOYCE
On what charge?
CARNEY
Solicitation!
JOYCE
BULLSHIT FASCIST!
The cops go to haul her off when:
GLEASON
Hold it.
Gleason steps forward, gently takes her arm.
GLEASON
I'll take her.
CARNEY
She's nothing but trouble--
GLEASON
Why's she here?
Eight Ball 19
They both look at her as the club burns behind them.
GLEASON
How'd you know to be here?
Joyce stares at them-- and Gleason reads her face.
He turns, looks around-- scanning the store fronts for--
THERE-- THROUGH THE WINDOWS of a pizza parlor--
Internet Television screens on the walls.
He heads that way, dragging Joyce behind him.
Carney follows.
INT. PIZZA PARLOR -- NIGHT
The patrons crowding the doors back off.
Gleason enters, pulling Joyce behind him.
GLEASON
(to the counter man)
Can you get Buzz Kill News on
this thing?
The COUNTER MAN fiddles a remote-- the screen shifts--
Internet TV-- BUZZKILL NEWS.COM:
TV-- Joyce Norton, so the graphic reads.
Some of the patrons are impressed-- there she is!

TV-- She faces the camera, so arrogant, so special--
JOYCE
Eight Ball--
TV-- Joyce Norton gleeful with potential bad news:
JOYCE
On the street, it's called Eight
Ball. It's new and it's
dangerous and they say it's the
biggest high since crack cocaine.
TV-- Street interviews of local trash:
INTERVIEW A
Man, it's fucking cool!
Eight Ball 20
INTERVIEW B
I heard it lasts like, all night!
INTERVEIW C
I know this one dude, he like,
ya know, got into this shit and
it fucked him all up!
INTERVIEW D
My brother died on that stuff--
INTERVIEW E
It's awesome, bitch! AWESOME!
TV-- Joyce in a shabby part of town.
JOYCE
Eight Ball has been on the wish
list of every dealer and addict
in Los Angeles since the news
of it spread across the net
just a few months ago. But
what is it? Where does it come
from? And what does it do?
(punchline)
I have met a man who promises
to answer all those questions.
TV-- very dark video, shaky cam, shadows and mystery.
TV-- Joyce moves closer to a car-- a shadowy man driving.
TV-- faceless in the car, bad video, bad sound.
Gleason knows the man--
GLEASON
(mutters)
Gates...
TV-- interview--
REDMOND
Joyce Norton?
JOYCE
And you are?
REDMOND
The Avenging Angel-- sowing the
seeds of man's salvation against
the oppression of the Devil.
Gleason, Carney and even Joyce react--
--when half the crowd in the pizza joint cheer and agree.
Eight Ball 21
TV-- interview
JOYCE
What exactly is Eight Ball?
REDMOND
Words, dreams, hope-- it is all
it promises to be. But let me
show you what it does. Let me
show the world what Eight Ball
can do.
JOYCE
Why can't you show me now?
REDMOND
You're so beautiful-- and young--
and I could show you, but you
wouldn't thank me if I did. I
need you to spread the word--
to let them know what's coming.
JOYCE
But--
TV-- and the car speeds off-- bad video as she shoots it.
JOYCE
Wait! Wait!
TV-- Back to Joyce again-- bad graphics--
JOYCE
And that was the Avenging Angel,
with the promise and hope of
Eight Ball. Stay tuned, hackers
and slackers, for when I find
out the truth, so shall you.
I'm Joyce Norton and this is
Buzzkill News dot com!
Gleason grabs her by the arm and drags her through the crowd.
They cheer as she goes by.
A big bruiser steps in front of Gleason.
BIG BRUISER
You trying to silence the press,
asshole?
Gleason chops the man in the throat, and he drops back.
Crashes to the floor as Gleason drags Joyce out.
Carney follows.
Eight Ball 22
EXT. PIZZA PARLOR -- NIGHT
Gleason drags Joyce to the black Challenger.
Across the street, the REAL firemen spray the consumed club.
JOYCE
Let go of me!
GLEASON
How did you know to be here?
JOYCE
I don't have to --
With that, Gleason swings her against the side of the car.
Bangs the air out of her.
GLEASON
Redmond Gates told you to be
here, didn't he? He called
you?
(Joyce gasps)
What did he tell you about Eight
Ball?
JOYCE
I'm-- gonna sue-- you--
GLEASON
I'll get a good lawyer. Now
what did he tell you?
JOYCE
That it was the most contagious
drug in the universe and was
now for sale.
Gleason pats her down, spins her around-- finds her phone.
Snags it-- checks the screen.
GLEASON
This restricted call-- it's
him, isn't it?
He closes the phone and hands it back to her.
GLEASON
What else did he tell you?
Locor Industries, maybe?
CARNEY
Whoa-- that's plenty! She doesn't
need to know all of this!
Eight Ball 23
GLEASON
She already does.
JOYCE
Locor Industries developed Eight
Ball! He said it made heroin
and cocaine look like powdered
sugar!
CARNEY
That's all lies. There is no
Eight Ball--
JOYCE
Then why is that club burning?
I mean, who the hell are you
people?
Gleason looks back at the pizza parlor across the street.
Through the plate glass, he sees Joyce on the BuzzKill replay.
He watches the gathering people buying the lie.
GLEASON
Look at them. They're eating
it up.
JOYCE
The people have a right to know.
GLEASON
People will believe whatever
you tell them. Repeat the lie
often enough, it becomes truth.
JOYCE
Redmond Gates told me--
GLEASON
Redmond Gates lied to you.
Locor didn't develop Eight Ball.
(off her look)
He did.
Gleason turns on her-- and she reads his face-- and damn if
he isn't telling the truth.
GLEASON
I know because I helped him do
it, God damn my soul to hell...
Snap-- she didn't see that coming.
CARNEY
We're losing control of this--
Eight Ball 24
GLEASON
You lost control when Gates
jumped the reservation, Carney.
CARNEY
We can contain this--
GLEASON
That's the trouble-- your boss
thinks he can contain it-- limit
the political fallout. He didn't
tell you why this has to be
done in two days, did he?
He turns and looks at the girl
GLEASON
What about you? You want the
truth about Eight Ball?
He motions to the pizza parlor-- and they look--
Through the glass, the patrons gather tighter on the TV.
Joyce-- on BuzzKill-- keeps on telling them about it.
GLEASON
Or is that what you're selling--
a bigger paycheck and better
ratings?
JOYCE
I want the truth.
CARNEY
You wouldn't know it if it bit
you on the ass!
GLEASON
Neither would you!
(laughs)
Neither did I-- at the start.
Gates created Eight Ball-- by
accident. And now he's primed
to turn it loose. And when he
does, the whole world goes to
hell.
He walks toward Joyce, she shies back.
He opens the car door for her.
GLEASON
Can you get another camera?
Eight Ball 25
JOYCE
Why?
GLEASON
You want the story-- I'll give
it to you.
CARNEY
Wait a minute--
GLEASON
I'll give it to both of you.
He eases her into the seat, closes the door.
CARNEY
(quiet)
The Governor told me specifically--
GLEASON
-- to follow my lead.
CARNEY
Gleason--
GLEASON
You know where I live?
(Carney backs off)
When you were briefed on all of
this, did they give you my
address?
CARNEY
Yeah.
Gleason walks off, waves down a cab.

GLEASON
Pick me up there in an hour.
CARNEY
Look, man--
GLEASON
Keep her close, Carney-- Gates
trusts her-- we need that right
now. And make sure she gets
another camera. We're going to
need that as well.
He gets in the cab.
Carney watches it speed off.

Eight Ball 26
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT
Gleason comes through the door, anxious.
The apartment is very dark except for the living room.
GLEASON
Audrey.
He suddenly hears a familiar voice--
JOYCE (O.S.)
Eight Ball--
(and)
Eight Ball--
(again)
Eight Ball--
(more)
Eight Ball.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT
Glass and chrome and money-- the huge plasma TV is on.
Internet TV-- BUZZKILL NEWS.COM:
TV-- Joyce Norton, so arrogant, so special--
JOYCE
Eight Ball--
AUDREY sits on the couch, the remote in hand.
Backs up the video and plays it-- over and over.
JOYCE
Eight Ball--
Gleason takes the remote from her, offs the big screen.
AUDREY
They know.
GLEASON
They don't know anything.
She takes the remote back, and hits play.
AUDREY
Is that the official company
line?
The screen lights up-- and when it does:
We see Audrey-- emaciated-- sunken face, almost dead.

Eight Ball 27
Her hollow eyes filled with pain and fear.
An addict on her last days, craving a fix--
Gleason takes the remote from her, turns the screen off.
Audrey starts to cry, and Gleason lifts her from the sofa.
Holds her in his arms--
AUDREY
They're talking about it.
GLEASON
They don't know anything.
AUDREY
YOU PROMISED ME!
She falls against him erotically-- as best as she can.
AUDREY
You said you'd protect me.
GLEASON
Audrey, please.
He loves her, he takes her in his arms.
A great pity sweeps him-- she paws through his pockets.
He fights her back-- if there as only another way.
GLEASON
I can't keep doing this!
But she doesn't hear-- instead she finds it-- the vial!
She has it in her fingers-- he snatches it back--
GLEASON
This stuff is killing you!
AUDREY
I've already died once, Jack--
you killed me--
GLEASON
This is killing us both!
Instantly, lust crashes her-- she kisses him.
AUDREY
Give it to me!
Eight Ball 28
GLEASON
Audrey--
AUDREY
You rescued me from him-- you
saved me -- you promised me
life--
She takes his hand-- leads him to the bedroom.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; BEDROOM -- NIGHT
Audrey reaches the bed, strips back her blouse.
GLEASON
I never wanted it this way--
AUDREY
It's the only way we have.
Gleason takes the vial-- Eight Ball!
He stares at it with disgust and rage--
AUDREY
Jack--
She lays back, arching her back like a cat.
He opens the vial-- leans over her.
One drop in her left eye-- she gasps--
The pain that radiates pleasure--
GLEASON
(hesitant)
Audrey--
She guides his hand-- moves the vial to her other eye--
The last black, virulent drop rolls out-- splashes--
He throws the vial away, as if it's acid.
She writhes and thrashes on the bed as Eight Ball works.
Gleason backs up, strips off his jacket.
Audrey stiffens in a frightening orgasm, cries out.
She hikes up her dress-- naked under it.
Gleason peels his shoulder holster-- holds the gun a moment--

Eight Ball 29
Tears drain down his cheeks-- Plan B plays across his face.
Audrey stiffens-- a rictus of spasm holds her taut.
Eyes open-- and Gleason stares into those eyes.
AS BLACK AS MARBLES-- WITH PINPOINTS OF WHITE!
The pinpoints spin and oscillate-- break into two circles--
That touch on the edges-- Eight Ball!
Gleason tenses as she gasps air for the scream--
He drops the gun, lunges to the bed, one hand clamps her mouth!
AUDREY SCREAMS-- the HORROR AND PAIN OF IT!
THE AGONY OF ECSTASY!
Sex-- she craves it-- the virus crawls through her--
She surrenders to this alien hunger--
She tears back his clothes-- pushes his pants down--
Gleason gives it to her viciously.
They both scream!
INT. BUZZKILL HQ -- NIGHT
Joyce knocks on the door.
GOOSE, a geek pushing 50, peeks out.

JOYCE
Goose?
GOOSE
(sees Carney)
Who's that?
CARNEY
I'm a friend.
Joyce pushes the door-- Carney follows her in.
BuzzKill News HQ, posters, T-shirts, computers.
Screens and servers blinking, enmeshed in cables.
A geek mess, overstocked with geek shit and geek stuff.
Screens show "BuzzKill News" on the internet.

Eight Ball 30
Joyce hawking news online for the misinformed.
Two other pasty white dudes work keyboards.
They watch Carney and Joyce with bored faces.
GOOSE
You can't-- wait a minute--
JOYCE
It's okay, he's with me.
CARNEY
(looks around)
This is it?
GOOSE
Hey!
JOYCE
I need another camera, Goose.
GOOSE
Another-- camera?
CARNEY
This is BuzzKill News dot com?
GOOSE
Buddy, we're one of the top
news sources in the city!
CARNEY
More's the pity.
GOOSE
(to Joyce)
Who is this fascist?
JOYCE
Just get me a camera, will ya?
GOOSE
You think these things grow on
trees?
CARNEY
We're kind of in a hurry.
GOOSE
How do I know she hasn't been
brain washed with this new Eight
Ball drug you Nazi's are pushing?
Carney stares, almost open mouthed at him.

Eight Ball 31
CARNEY
Are you for real?
Goose takes Joyce aside--
GOOSE
We didn't give you this
internship to sell out to the
first fascist you came across!
JOYCE
Well if you don't want the story,
I can always take it--
GOOSE
What story?
JOYCE
Goose-- get me a camera.
Goose looks at Carney, who laughs at him.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; BEDROOM -- NIGHT
The violence of sex.
She claws Gleason, rages and snarls at him.
Gleason caught in the moment-- revels in her need!
She climaxes repeatedly-- screaming ecstasy!
Gleason slams her harder, tearing into her.
She convulses under him as he lays still.

He weeps into her shoulder and neck.
AUDREY
Oh, God-- oh--
He rolls off her, off the bed, onto the floor.
Next to his clothes and his gun.
Audrey weeps now-- her wet eyes still black.
She curls, rolls over, pulls the sheet up over her.
Gleason clenches into a tight fist of guilt and pain.
GLEASON
Audrey--
The fever of his torment grips him, he chokes back sobs.

Eight Ball 32
GLEASON
When I stop Gates-- it will be
the last of--
He finds the empty ampule, regards it a long moment.
Snaps it between thumb and forefinger.
GLEASON
The last of everything.
His trained hand slips to the floor-- where the gun lays.
He thumbs back the hammer, muscles tense and cramped.
He stands, turns to Audrey.
She weeps into her hands.
He aims it at her-- it trembles the length of his arm.
She turns and looks up at him, her eyes still black.
AUDREY
Please-- Jack-- if you love me--
Gleason shudders at the horror of it.
Forces himself to look at her.
AUDREY
You promised me.
Her life destroyed by this insidious thing--
She takes the muzzle--

She pulls it into her open mouth.
His finger tenses-- oh, God-- give me the strength!
Gleason backs off, pulling the gun free from her hands.
GLEASON
No-- stop-- Audrey--
He can't-- his weakness-- his cowardice-- his love...
He turns, holsters it, grabs his clothes from the floor.
GLEASON
Don't go out.
She rolls over, away from him, sobbing.

Eight Ball 33
AUDREY
I never go out...
He heads for the door.
AUDREY
(small)
I love you
He pauses-- overwhelmed with guilt, sensing disaster.
Stabs his arms into the sleeves of his jacket--
Out the door--
EXT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT BUILDING -- NIGHT
Gleason steps into the street.
Wasted and drained, ruined and lost.
The three black Suburbans at the curb.
Four armed suits stand by the center one.
The back door to the truck opens-- the Governor glares out:
GOVERNOR
You missed him at the nightclub.
GLEASON
Is that a question?
GOVERNOR
Where's Carney?
GLEASON
Running an errand. You weren't
all the way truthful with your
watch dog, now were you,
Governor?
GOVERNOR
Let me spell this out for you,
Gleason. Make sure we're all
on the same page. I've put my
ass on the political line for
Locor-- with Henry Meadows dead,
this whole cluster fuck's gonna
blow up in my face-- unless you
can get a handle on this Gates
thing. Meadows said you were
the best man for the job--
Eight Ball 34
GLEASON
I'm the only man for the job.
Because you know when I find
him, I'm going to kill him.
GOVERNOR
Your boss filed a report with
Homeland Security when Gates
went missing. Spelled it all
out-- even to the final solution.
GLEASON
Yeah, I know-- two days.
GOVERNOR
Not anymore. Your forty-eight
hour incubation period has
shriveled down to thirty. The
Feds got the four one one on
Eight Ball and they're nervous.
GLEASON
I can't move any faster than
the leads we get from your
people!
GOVERNOR
Every available snitch, sneak
and narc is crawling the gutters
looking for your guy. You know
what Homeland'll do if they
think this thing is about to go
contagious?
GLEASON
Don't worry, peg-leg. I'm sure
you'll be in the clear.
GOVERNOR
Clock's ticking, Gleason.
Gleason steps back as the Governor slams the door.
The armed suits have already disappeared.
All three black trucks drive off.
Gleason watches them as his phone rings.
He answers, these calls are never good news.
GLEASON
Yeah.
(then)
Oh, shit.
Eight Ball 35
He looks up as Carney and Joyce cruise to the curb.
GLEASON
(into phone)
We're on our way.
Joyce rides shotgun-- shows him the camera.
JOYCE
Got it--
Gleason pulls open the door--
GLEASON
In the back.
She crawls over the seats as Gleason stretches into the car.
CARNEY
Was that the Governor's
motorcade?
GLEASON
Yeah. We got a dead one.
He slams the door as Carney jets from the curb.
EXT. LA FREEWAYS; UNDERPASS -- NIGHT
Above them, traffic roars in the real world.
Two patrol cars block the road under the bridge.
Gleason, Carney and Joyce arrive.
As they bail from the car:

PATROLMAN
You Gleason?
GLEASON
Yeah.
PATROLMAN
Found her about a hour ago.
(sees Joyce and the
camera)
What's she doing her?
GLEASON
She's with me.
Gleason starts past the cop, Carney and Joyce follow--
The cop blocks her way.

Eight Ball 36
PATROLMAN
I was told no press, not even
the fake shit from the internet.
He pushes Joyce back-- Gleason intervenes.
GLEASON
You leave that to me, okay?
(he glances down the
street)
There's a crowd gathering.
Take care of them.
PATROLMAN
But--
Carney shows his badge--
CARNEY
The Governor would take it as a
personal favor.
Gleason moves on, Joyce follows.
The Patrolman, ticked, nods to the other cops.
PATROLMAN
I didn't even vote for the
asshole.
Him and the other cops move off to their cars.
Carney pockets his badge with a sigh.
Gleason takes her arm, walks her along:
GLEASON
You keep the camera on me.
Turn it on.
CARNEY
What the hell are you doing?
Gleason walks her out into the street, where, ahead of them:
An ASIAN GIRL, freshly dead, stretched in a rubbish patch.
Joyce sees her and stops.
GLEASON
You want the truth about Eight
Ball, don't you?
CARNEY
We need to clear this with the
Governor.
Eight Ball 37
GLEASON
Really. What about Homeland
Security?
(off Carney's startled
look)
Something else you don't know
about.
Marvel and his fire team arrive in the black van.
Carney feels left out-- wtf?
GLEASON
(to Joyce)
I said turn that on.
She fumbles it, unable to keep her eyes off the corpse.
With the black, obsidian eyes.
JOYCE
Oh my God...
GLEASON
This is Eight Ball.
JOYCE
Did she overdose?
Camera on, focused picture, zoom into the face.
A rictus of horror and agony and death.
GLEASON
It doesn't kill. Not on it's
own.
Gleason crouches with compassion next to the dead girl--
GLEASON
The most addictive drug in the
world and you can't overdose
it. You can use it and use it--
but it won't kill you. It'll
just make you wish you were
dead.
(looks up)
Come on, get closer--
Marvel and his two FireMen show up.
MARVEL
What the hell is this?
Carney shakes his head, doesn't answer.

Eight Ball 38
GLEASON
Any questions?
JOYCE
Questions-- ?
GLEASON
You're the reporter, you want
the truth. Ask me something?
JOYCE
What-- what killed her?
Gleason gently rolls the dead girl onto her side.
A festering extraction mark at the base of her spine.
GLEASON
This did. She's a donor.
JOYCE
A what?
GLEASON
She gave her life for Eight
Ball.
JOYCE
(hard look)
What's a donor?
EXT. DIVA'S CRIB -- NIGHT
All black neighborhood rumbles with the beat.
Gangs hold sway, patrol their turf with vigor.

A low slung car wheels in and stops, rims spinning.
Three thugs get out, big guys, well armed.
A white man follows after: REDMOND GATES.
A thin, lithe, dangerous man, sports a gold crucifix.
Not bling-- oh, no-- the real thing, his religion.
He shows no fear-- follows the thugs to the house.
They reach the front door-- it opens.
DIVA, a huge black man in drag, blocks the whole door.
DIVA
Redmond Gates!
Eight Ball 39
REDMOND
Do you have my money?
Diva steps back.
DIVA
Come on inside.
REDMOND
Diva loses her smile.
DIVA
Yeah, I got yer fuckin' money.
Diva turns, his black ass as wide as the hall way.
Redmond follows him into the crib.
INT. DIVA'S CRIB -- NIGHT
Diva crosses to a stand up bar, checks her drink.
She has a dozen in her entourage, all armed.
Four or five scantily clad girls move through the rooms.
DIVA
Have you got the goods?
REDMOND
First the money.
Diva tears open a paper bag.

Huge bricks of cash drop to a table.
DIVA
Happy?
REDMOND
Do you have a girl?
DIVA
Man, I got girls all over the
place-- if that's your thing.
Everyone gets a chuckle at Redmond's expense.
Two "babes" give Redmond the feel and the eye.
He shrugs them off.

Eight Ball 40
REDMOND
Maybe I didn't make myself clear,
Diva.
DIVA
Man, I'm just fuckin' with you!
I got a girl. Just like you
asked for.
REDMOND
Shall we get started, then?
DIVA
"Shall we get started then."
You mean we get to watch?
REDMOND
It is most imperative you watch.
Or else your money will be ill
spent.
Diva laughs, moves off to the back bedroom.
DIVA
Okay, motherfuckah, come this
way.
INT. DIVA'S CRIB; BACK BEDROOM -- NIGHT
Diva pushes through the door into a dimly lit room.
Redmond follows and turns on the lights, squinting.
Two black men sit on the shabby bed.
A 15 year old black girl sits bound between them.

You can taste the terror from the look on her face.
DIVA
(pissed)
You ain't touched this, have
you?
Both black men stand.
BIG THUG
No, Diva, we ain't--
REDMOND
Stand her up, please.
DIVA
You heard the man, get that
bitch up here!
Eight Ball 41
Big Thug grabs the girl, jerks her shakily to her feet.
Redmond calmly steps in closer.
DIVA
She good enough for you?
REDMOND
She'll do fine.
Redmond reaches into his jacket.
Comes out with a small personal zip bag.
They observe as he unzips the bag and reaches in.
Produces a very small transparent plastic vial.
The vial crawls with a virulent black grease.
Redmond holds it so they can see it better.
Diva leans in closer, excited and curious.
And the grease moves suddenly-- throbs up the inside.
Diva lurches back, as if shocked--
DIVA
FUCK ME!
REDMOND
I promised you something special,
Diva.
DIVA
What the fuck is that shit?
REDMOND
Hold her head. I'll show you.
Big Thug grabs her-- she struggles.
Scrawny Thug, a wiry, savage man, grabs her head.
The frightened girl thrashes, tries to kick and shake.
Diva reaches in, slaps the girl across the face!
DIVA
Hold still, you bitch!
Redmond moves in, closer to the stunned girl.
REDMOND
Watch carefully.
Eight Ball 42
Redmond pries open one of her terrified eyes.
Holds the vial over it-- squeezes out one drop.
The black grease hesitates, elongates-- drops.
The girl screeches through the gag-- intense pain!
DIVA
Motherfuckah...
Redmond fights for access to the second eye--
The second drop of black grease leaps toward the weepy flesh!
Frost fire torment rockets through the girl!
REDMOND
Let her go, please.
They drop the girl to the bed.
She pitches and contorts, trying to shake off the misery.
Even Diva is sickened by this.
REDMOND
It'll pass. Cut her loose,
please.
Scrawny Thug snaps a blade, two slashes and she's free.
The girl stiffens, suddenly, a sobbing moan bubbles up.
She writhes slowly, more moans-- but not pain.
REDMOND
The drug has taken hold of her
nervous system.
Multiple orgasms flow, she grabs her own breasts.
BIG THUG
No shit...
DIVA
My God--
REDMOND
Eight Ball is all that I promised
and more, is it not?
DIVA
It is that.
The girl turns and stares at them--

Eight Ball 43
HER EYES WIDE AND SOLID BLACK!
Even the nasty thugs have to jump back at this!
REDMOND
But there is more to come.
Stunned, they watch as she groans in pleasure.
And there, in the center of each eye--
Twirling spots of white, moving and shaping twin circles.
REDMOND
Observe.
The numeral "8" as the circles separate and swirl--
DIVA
Eight ball.
REDMOND
(mutters)
Infinity...
(then)
Wait for it.
No one moves--
Suddenly, the girl strictures cable taut.
Every muscle turns to solid steel, freezing her.
So tight, her joints crack.
REDMOND
Turn her over, now-- quickly!
Diva backhands Big Thug into action.
DIVA
You heard the man!
Scrawny Thus and Big Thug grab the girl.
Roll her face down, her body quivers like a bow string.
Redmond reaches into his zip kit.
Produces a syringe with a thick barrel.
REDMOND
You've got twenty to thirty
seconds.
Redmond peels back the shirt from the base of her spine.
Eight Ball 44
Inserts the needle between two steel like vertebrae--
REDMOND
During peak intensity, Eight
Ball flows into the spinal cord
and exponentially replicates
itself. Within a few moments,
the white blood cells will attack
and destroy it.
Virulent black grease dribbles into the syringe.
Not much, twenty drops at best, a teaspoon.
REDMOND
But during this time, this magic
moment, you can harvest new
Eight Ball from the spinal fluid--
He pulls the syringe from the flesh.
The girl goes limp, crashing-- and stops breathing.
He shows it to Diva-- and it moves inside the tube.
REDMOND
-- and have a never ending supply
of the drug.
DIVA
You mean I can make new shit?
REDMOND
I believe that is exactly what
I mean.
(holds the plastic
mini vial in his
other hand)
If I may--
He injects two drops back into his mini-vial.
He then hands the syringe over to Diva.
REDMOND
You have enough there for a
dozen or more hits.
DIVA
And when I run low--
REDMOND
Use girls, the younger the
better. They have the right
chromosome makeup.
Eight Ball 45
DIVA
What if I don't have a girl?
REDMOND
Man or woman, young or old.
Your mileage will vary.
Diva touches the dead girl-- surprised--
DIVA
Oh, shit...
REDMOND
Yes, one of the regrettable
side effects. Every donor dies.
Redmond turns and leaves the room.
Diva then inspects the contents of the syringe.
SCRAWNY THUG
Who gets to go first, boss?
DIVA
(looks at the dead
girl)
Get rid of that.
She leaves them to deal with the corpse.
Redmond gathers up his cash from the bar.
A pair of girls ease in close, licking their lips.

SLUT
Is-- Eight Ball everything we
heard it is?
REDMOND
More than you know, my dear.
They giggle as Diva waddles out.
She holds the syringe as if ready to try it out.
DIVA
Which'a you hoes is first?
The girls laugh now, curious but cautious.
REDMOND
I need a ride back to my car.
Eight Ball 46
DIVA
Word on the street is there's a
lotta people looking for you.
If this shit does what you say
it does--
REDMOND
The user will experience
heightened sexual and tactile
pleasure beyond the ability of
the nervous system to comprehend.
After that, they will be
permanently addicted.
The two girls hear-- this dampens their desire.
DIVA
No rehab on this shit, right?
Redmond gives the joke a moment-- no one laughs.
REDMOND
I need a ride back to my car.
Another tense moment:
DIVA
Yeah, man. It was a good deal,
I'm happy.
(nods)
Take the man back to his car.
Redmond turns to the door, money in tow.
The three thugs who brought him open that door.
They leave with Redmond.
EXT. LA FREEWAYS; UNDERPASS -- NIGHT
Marvel and his team burn the corpse of the Asian girl.
Joyce watches, shoots it on video, shaking now.
Trembling with alarm and panic-- this is too much!
Then it hits her, flips her, knocks her for a loop.
Joyce turns, stumbles, drops the camera.
Vomits thick and greasy to the curb.
Gleason picks up her camera, turns it off.

Eight Ball 47
CARNEY
(to Gleason)
What are you doing?
GLEASON
Telling the truth. This may be
the only chance I get, Carney.
Let it happen. Judge for
yourself.
CARNEY
The Governor--
GLEASON
Get your head outta his ass,
will ya? You got family, don't
ya? People you love?
(reads his face)
Hear it all. Then judge for
yourself.
Joyce spits, wipes her mouth.
JOYCE
This is-- this--
Gleason walks over, takes her arm.
Steadies her up and back to her feet.
Hands her the camera without ceremony.
GLEASON
Too much?
(yeah)
I know the feeling, kid.
Marvel and his fire team approach.
MARVEL
(nods at Joyce)
What the hell's going on?
GLEASON
Everyone seems to be asking me
that tonight.
Marvel turns and looks at the burning corpse.
MARVEL
We're up against the most
dangerous shit I've ever seen--
(looks back at Gleason)
-- and the world's being saved
by a fucking psycho like you.
Eight Ball 48
GLEASON
History is made by psychos,
Marvel.
MARVEL
Makes me wanna quit the human
race.
Marvel stalks off-- his two man fire crew follows.
Under the bridge, the dead girl burns.
Joyce looks at her-- then back at Gleason.
JOYCE
Why do you burn them?
Gleason stares at her, then at Carney.
INT. COP SHOP -- NIGHT
Hustle and bustle, packed to over crowding.
Easily sixty people argue, complain, interact.
Cops, hookers, gangers, skanks, whores.
Cop dogs snarl at leash ends, holding back bad dudes.
Gleason, Carney and Joyce push through it all.
CARNEY
Circus night-- the word's
spreading.
GLEASON
You didn't think it would?
Gleason threads to a back office.
JOYCE
You told me you're not cops.
CARNEY
We're using the police to try
and get one step ahead of Gates.
GLEASON
Whores, grifters, bangers,
thieves-- anyone needs a get
out of jail free card is out
looking for Redmond Gates
tonight.
They reach a makeshift office.

Eight Ball 49
INT. MAKESHIFT OFFICE -- NIGHT
Filled with old computer gear, printers, file cabinets.
Gleason moves to a battered desk off to one side.
JOYCE
What did you mean earlier--
about Gates? About you helping
him?
GLEASON
I was head of security for Locor.
JOYCE
Big drug company-- Henry Meadows,
modern day robber baron who
marks up his pharmaceuticals
while the poor die in the
streets.
Gleason turns on his computer.
GLEASON
I shot Henry Meadows dead three
hours ago. Shot his wife dead
and his fourteen year old son.
Joyce pales-- rocked and shocked.
CARNEY
Meadows put us on the trail of
Gates when he stole Eight Ball
from the lab.
GLEASON
So Gates infected him with it.
Used his daughter as a donor.
Gleason gets the computer running.
JOYCE
Why are you telling me this?
GLEASON
You wanted the truth, didn't
you? Or do you only want the
truth that fits your template.
Every rich man stole it from
the poor, every big corporation
oppresses the workers.
(then)
Gates used you and BuzzKill to
advertise Eight Ball. He called
you.
(MORE)
Eight Ball 50
GLEASON (CONT'D)
Because he knew you'd run the
story-- not the truth-- but the
lie.
Gleason turns his computer screen around--
And in silence, there's Joyce on the screen-- Buzz Kill--
Replays of the same news from the pizza parlor--
GLEASON
Evil rich, big drug--
Gleason digs in the drawer, finds a USB stick.
GLEASON
I'll skip to the good parts.
He plugs it in-- the fil runs from it:
DOCU-- LOCOR INDUSTRIES-- PROJECT ICE44--
Gleason sits, taps the keyboard.
IT SCANS fast, gets to--
CARNEY
You can't show her that-- that's
classified.
GLEASON
Peg leg tell you that?
CARNEY
God damn it, Gleason--
GLEASON
Did he tell you why we burn
them? Did he tell you why we
only have two days to find Gates?
Why Homeland Security is riding
his ass?
Gleason stops the video-- Carney silenced turns and looks.
DOCU-- video as workers unload a giant space probe.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
It was space probe ICE44 on
it's return trip from the frozen
wastes of IO, the fifth moon of
Jupiter, that the alien substance
was first discovered.
DOCU-- video of a black speck along a wheel.

Eight Ball 51
DOCU-- of speck being retrieved.
DOCU-- of it in small vial-- and ampule-- and it moves.
JOYCE
(sits)
Oh my God...
DOCU-- scientists working feverishly.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The unique DNA of this alien
bacteria led many to believe
that it held magical powers.
Upon further research, it was
discovered that various strains
could be codified to--
Gleason scans through to the next stop.
JOYCE
Alien bacteria?
DOCU-- two scientists hold a third.
DOCU-- the third in pain, frightened-- turns--
DOCU-- one eye is SOLID BLACK.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
A tragic lab accident brought
forth the real power of the
alien bacteria. Working with a
microscopic amount, scientist
Michael Phelps accidentally got
some in his left eye.
DOCU-- an OLDER SCIENTIST, rationalizing:
OLDER SCIENTIST
It appears the bacteria traversed
the optic nerve to the brain.
Up to this point, on all test
animals, the alien life form
never survived the modifications
we were--
Gleason scans forward to the next stopping point.
GLEASON
It's fragile. Any attempt to
work with it resulted in failure.
JOYCE
That's a good thing, right?
Eight Ball 52
DOCU-- and it's the old guy again--
OLDER SCIENTIST
Direct application to the eye,
cornea and tear ducts is the
only way to introduce the
bacteria to the human host--
Gleason scans: Carney and Joyce both move closer--
CARNEY
Introduce? Wait a minute, what
is this?
GLEASON
They didn't show you this part,
did they?
DOCU-- a man screams, thrashing, HEAVILY RESTRAINED--
DOCU-- head clamped-- his eyes are solid black.
DOCU-- as he stares PINPOINTS glisten in the iris.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Mysterious light patterns in
the iris of the eyes trace a
pair of spinning white circles.
DOCU-- and when the circles touch-- for a second--
JOYCE
(whispers in awe)
Eight Ball.
Gleason stops it on this disturbing image.

CARNEY
They-- they did this on purpose?
JOYCE
My God-- Meadows was making a
weapon!
GLEASON
Meadows didn't know--
Gleason advances to a frame-- blurry-- REDMOND GATES--
CARNEY
Gates.
GLEASON
He discovered that for about
thirty seconds, the spinal fluid
(MORE)
Eight Ball 53
GLEASON (CONT'D)
of the host human is rampant
with the replicating bacteria.
If you tap that spinal fluid--
from the base of the spine--
JOYCE
-- you get more drug.
Gleason skips ahead.
GLEASON
It's not a drug.
DOCU-- the old guy--
OLDER SCIENTIST
The successes have been trivial
compared to the side effects.
JOYCE
Side effects?
OLDER SCIENTIST
In fact-- the side effects have
been--
(removes his glasses;
terrified)
-- frankly, quite terrifying.
Knock-- then the door opens.
Gleason pulls the stick, the screen goes dark--
Then back to Buzz Kill News.
A uniformed cop sticks her head in.

UNIFORM
Said to come get you.
Gleason knows why only too well-- waits for the other shoe.
UNIFORM
Said it's what you were looking
for.
Cops have surrounded the house.
The lights flicker, punctuated with electrical shorts.
From inside, hideous screams and shrieks.

Eight Ball 54
Two black thugs lay dead in the front yard.
Suddenly, the front door bursts open, ripped free!
Scrawny Thug lunges out, screaming bloody murder!
One of the giggly girls is on his back!
Only she's HALF HUMAN NOW-- ripping at his flesh!
The cops open fire, nail them both.
Burn them down to the front porch where they drop.
Gleason, Carney and Joyce arrive in the Challenger.
For the cops, it's a field day-- guns blazing.
GLEASON
Cease fire, God damn it!
The firing stops as Gleason pounds up to the Command post.
The COMMAND cop spots Joyce and her video camera.
COMMAND
What's she doing-- ?
GLEASON
Forget her, talk to me.
COMMAND
Place belongs to a drag hooker
named Diva. We got some wild
call about twenty minutes ago
saying people were getting
killed.
More roars and wails from inside; makes your skin crawl.
COMMAND
Looked like that Eight Ball
shit, so I called for you.
He eyeballs Joyce.
COMMAND
Now what's she doing here?
GLEASON
Pull all your men back.
COMMAND
Do what?
Eight Ball 55
GLEASON
Two blocks ought to do it.
COMMAND
Two blocks? Are you fucking
kidding me?
GLEASON
You want your picture taken?
(to Joyce)
Turn that on.
Joyce turns on her video camera.
Her hands tremble as she fumbles the controls.
COMMAND
Now wait a fucking minute?
GLEASON
Anybody gets by us, you shoot
them down. LOOK AT ME-- forget
her! Don't be a hero. Don't
arrest them or read them their
rights, just shoot them down
and wait on my fire team.
COMMAND
I heard you were burning the
bodies.
GLEASON
Scare ya? Huh? It better.
COMMAND
Fuckin' cowboys--
(then)
PULL BACK! EVERY ONE-- PULL
BACK!
Cops in cars fire up and back off.
Gleason and Carney watch as they do.
GLEASON
Did you call Marvel?
CARNEY
He's on his way.
The headlights of the cops pull way back.
Darkness creeps in around them and the house.
They check their guns as the screams inside continue.

Eight Ball 56
GLEASON
(to Joyce)
You asked about the side effects.
Joyce, icy with fear, points the shaky camera at him.
GLEASON
The high lasts for about four
minutes.
Gleason and Carney start forward-- Joyce follows.
GLEASON
The side effects last for the
rest of your short, miserable
life.
They side step the dead thugs, shot by police.
Joyce, apprehensive and jittery, follows.
Gleason and Carney stand by the ripped door.
From inside, mayhem reigns.
CARNEY
You know, they're not going to
let her keep that tape.
GLEASON
They will if we don't tell them.
Gleason and Carney share a moment, not one of trust or faith.
Gleason leads the way.
GLEASON
Let's go.
A slaughter house wrecked and ruined.
Lights flicker from popping wall sockets.
Blood spattered red drips from everywhere.
Two HALF HUMAN ALIENS feed off a dead girl on the floor.
Joyce sees this, focuses on this-- freezes up--
JOYCE
Oh, sweet Jesus!
Gleason moves forward--

Eight Ball 57
GLEASON
The alien bacteria starts a
rapid domino effect through the
genetic makeup of the host--
Gleason advances-- the two half human aliens look up and snarl:
GLEASON
Resulting in these two seriously
fucked up motherfuckers right
here!
The two half human aliens vault at Gleason.
Gleason and Carney burn them down quickly-- four shots--
One tries to crawl away-- Gleason finishes her.
Silence in the rest of the house, except for sparking.
Gleason advances-- Joyce follows, video camera running.
GLEASON
The alien organism senses
survival and takes over the
host-- feeding it-- keeping it
alive--
SUDDENLY TWO MORE ATTACK FROM A SIDE ROOM!
Gleason bags them both-- waits a second.
Carney, behind Joyce now, keeps an eye behind them.
CARNEY
Wish I had a flashlight.
Two jump out of a side bedroom-- Carney drops them both.
Joyce screams, wheels, camera wild-- Gleason grabs her.
GLEASON
Stay with me-- here--
She turns, fights for control-- and she screams again as:
A GIANT BLACK MAN-- BIG THUG-- ATTACKS, HALF HUMAN ALIEN!
GLEASON CAPS HIM FOUR TIMES AND HE STILL COMES ON!
HE GRABS GLEASON AND PINS HIM TO A WALL.
CARNEY POPS HIM THREE TIMES AS THE ALIEN MOUTH OPENS!
GLEASON STICKS HIS GUN PAST THE TEETH-- CLICK-- empty.

Eight Ball 58
But Big Thug Alien is already dead-- drops to the floor.
Gleason stands over the body, changes out his mag.
GLEASON
(looks at Joyce)
You okay?
JOYCE
I'M NOT OKAY! WHY THE FUCK YOU
KEEP ASKING ME THAT?
GLEASON
Just keeping score.
Suddenly-- the hallway fills with THREE CHARGING ALIENS!
They push toward Gleason-- Carney steps up next to Joyce.
Both men fire rapidly--
All three charging aliens crash to the floor.
GLEASON
(to Joyce)
You want to keep going?
JOYCE
Is there more?
GLEASON
Oh yeah.
Gleason holsters his weapon and walks down the hallway.
Joyce and Carney follow-- he helps her past the bodies.
INT. DIVA'S CRIB; KITCHEN -- NIGHT
A female alien crouches in the corner, eating from a corpse.
JOYCE
Oh, God--
The alien turns, slithery tongue whipping across bloody fangs.
GLEASON
Another side effect is the alien
organism can hide.
The female half human alien attacks-- shrieking at him!
Gleason grabs her, slams her into the wall.
One hand on her throat-- like Audrey earlier--

Eight Ball 59
Joyce captures this all on tape.
Gleason slams the distended mouth with a fist.
Joyce watches in horror as GLEASON BEATS THIS THING--
On the third punch, the EIGHT BALL eyes are gone!
The face contorts back to HUMAN!
Gleason steps back and lets her fall.
The woman screams, her mouth and nose spurting blood!
GLEASON
She might look human, she may
even think she's human--
He pulls his weapon.
JOYCE
No-- God, no!
CARNEY
Gleason-- what are you--
The woman curls up, screaming and thrashing on the floor.
Gleason chokes back his own feelings-- trying to remain hard.
GLEASON
The alien survival instinct
kicks in and flees the genetic
imprint.
Joyce zooms in-- compassion sweeps through her.

The woman looks up-- one of the giggly girls-- weeping--
SLUT
Help me-- please--
JOYCE
(crying)
Oh, Jesus--
GLEASON
It lets the human out--
He aims his gun at the woman's head--
GLEASON
But they're permanently infected--
permanently addicted.
Gleason draws a tight bead.

Eight Ball 60
CARNEY
Gleason--
Gleason looks at Joyce and Carney-- tears roll down his cheeks.
GLEASON
They can fool you, Carney.
They can love you and lie to
you, but deep inside, they're
not human. Not anymore-- the
alien lives, and plots and plans
and prepares.
Gleason grabs the woman by the hair-- drags her--
To the dead woman on the floor- covered in blood--
Drops her onto the corpse-- pushes her face into the gore--
GLEASON
And with the smell of blood--
genetic coding that goes back a
thousand millennia triggers--
Gleason steps back as the crying woman screams--
Her mouth distends with needle like fangs--
Her eyes go BLACK and HIDEOUS as she SLAVERS THE BLOOD!
She turns-- lunges-- a SHRIEKING ALIEN THING--
And GLEASON SHOOTS HER ONCE!
She sprawls to the floor and lays still, and quiet.
GLEASON
And in the end-- don't be fooled.
He turns and looks at Joyce and Carney.
GLEASON
Any questions?
Joyce pulls back from the camera and looks at Gleason.
Both of them read the anguish and grief on his face.
Suddenly-- from somewhere-- a crashing sound.
Gleason and Carney move down a hallway to a closet door.
MORE NOISE INSIDE THE CLOSET!
Gleason and Carney hold guns on the door:

Eight Ball 61
GLEASON
Come out and show me the whites
of your eyes.
DIVA (O.S.)
I GOTTA GUN! I'LL KILL YOU
DEAD!
Gleason fires three shots high through the door.
GLEASON
We got guns, too.
DIVA (O.S.)
You cops?
CARNEY
You better hope so.
The door opens-- and it's Diva-- gun shaking before her.
Carney grabs her, slams her into the wall.
DIVA
I'M FINE! I WASN'T BITTEN! I
DIDN'T TRY THE SHIT!
GLEASON
Where is he?
DIVA
That motherfucker sold me some
bad shit--
Gleason backhands him, hard-- Diva rocks back:
DIVA
You ain't got no call to--
Gleason bangs him again.
GLEASON
Where is he?
DIVA
HOW THE FUCK DO I KNOW!
Gleason lays his gun against Diva's ear.
GLEASON
One more time--
DIVA
He had me to pick him up! Made
me take him back--
Eight Ball 62
GLEASON
WHERE?
DIVA
Union Station! Jesus! He didn't
tell me it'd do this shit!
(see Joyce and the
camera)
How's my hair?
Gleason and Carney drag Diva to the front door.
Marvel and his fire team await outside.
Carney drags Diva onto the porch.
Joyce stalls by the door-- the two dead on the porch.
Too much-- too damn much--
Gleason grabs her before she falls.
GLEASON
Turn that off.
She stares at him, numbed-- turns off her camera.
Marvel and his team walk in closer.
DIVA
What you gonna do?
Carney drags Diva past toward the cops a block away.

CARNEY
Turn you over to the police for
now.
Gleason walks Joyce off the porch.
Marvel moves to the door--
MARVEL
I hope you know what you're
doing--
A SCREAM!
AN EIGHT BALL ALIEN SPRINGS OUT THE DOOR!
Needle like fangs bared-- hits Marvel head on!
Rips out his throat as they fall into the yard!

Eight Ball 63
Gleason shoves Joyce back, jerks his gun.
Marvel and the Half Human Alien tumble back--
Crash into one of the Flame Thrower Team--
They tangle-- trigger on the finger-- raw, yellow flames.
The front porch explodes into an inferno!
The flames feed up and over--
ALL THREE OF THEM ERUPT IN FLAME!
Marvel writhes and screams, kicks free--
Carney shoves Diva at the cops, turns back.
CARNEY
Run!
DIVA
NO SHIT!
Gleason blasts the Half Human Alien-- it flies back--
The other flame thrower FireMan backs off.
Marvel collapses-- trying to sweep the flames aside.
Gleason shoots him, doing him a favor.
The blazing flame thrower man rolls face down.
Gleason grabs Joyce, shoves her back as--
THE FLAME THROWER TANK EXPLODES!

BURNING FUEL SPRAYS ALL OVER THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE!
Gleason jerks Joyce up and shoves her away.
GLEASON
Get in the car!
Carney rushes up to the remaining FireMan--
CARNEY
FINISH IT!
FLAME THROWER
MARVEL'S DEAD!
CARNEY
FINISH IT, GOD DAMN IT!
Eight Ball 64
The cops come running forward.
The remaining FireMan turns his flame thrower and WHOOOOSHES!
Raw flames eat the sides of the house, smash out windows.
COMMAND
Of all the fucking--
GLEASON
Let it burn to the ground!
COMMAND
YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!
Carney backs away as the remaining FireMan does his thing.
He blasts through windows, incinerates everything.
Soaks the walls and roof.
COMMAND
What the fuck is all this?
Gleason steps in close to Command:
GLEASON
Do yourself a big favor. Let
it burn all the way down to the
ground. Every stick.
Command, reading Gleason's face, tastes fear now.
Gleason moves to the car-- Carney follows.
Gleason reaches Joyce and they share a panicked moment.

JOYCE
You going to ask if I'm alright?
GLEASON
No.
Joyce chokes back hysterics, buries her face in his shoulder.
Carney moves around to the drivers side.
CARNEY
Let's get outta here.
Gleason opens the door, holds it for her.
She climbs in the back-- Gleason sits in the front.
Carney in-- car on-- burns rubber as the house blazes away.
Eight Ball 65
EXT. UNION STATION -- DAY
Establish.
INT. UNION STATION; SECURITY -- DAY
Gleason scans video.
Six screens show six different views of the place.
All video captured at night-- last night.
The security man, SEELY, moves the computer dials.
SEELY
Ever since the directive, we
record everything. I can go
back four years of nothing but
parking lots and trash cans.
Gleason looks over at the benches.
Joyce lays, restless sleep-- can't sleep, she sits up.
CARNEY
(spots something)
Back this up.
Seely backs it up-- Gleason and Carney step closer.
Parking lot at night, a car cruises in and stops.
SCREEN-- Three black thugs get out-- Diva's dudes.
SCREEN-- they walk to a smaller car.

SCREEN-- a smaller white man gets out.
SCREEN-- into the light as he goes to the other ride.
GLEASON
Hold it.
Freeze.
SEELY
That your man?
GLEASON
Yeah.
SEELY
So they bring him back, right?
Eight Ball 66
GLEASON
Said they did. Let's see if we
can get a plate off his car.
Speed forward-- a few seconds-- time code blazes.
Joyce walks off to the restroom.
Carney follows.
Gleason watches the screens.
SCREEN-- Thug car returns, Redmond gets out.
Seely slows it down.
SEELY
Here he is.
SCREEN-- Redmond enters his car and fires it up.
INT. UNION STATION; SECURITY; RESTROOM -- DAY
Joyce alone in a stall, puking up her empty guts.
Carney leans stiffly against the sink, waiting.
Joyce flushes, steps out, wiping her mouth.
She flashes him a look of indignant anger.
JOYCE
What's your part in all this?
She pushes to the sink, rinses her face.

CARNEY
I'm starting to wonder.
JOYCE
Doesn't this affect you?
CARNEY
That's a stupid question.
She rinses more-- angry and pissed as she thinks about it.
JOYCE
You guys find life on another
planet, proof we're not alone,
and what do you do with it?
Turn it into a weapon! You
rich people take everything
that's good and wonderful and
turn it to shit!
Eight Ball 67
She shoulders past him and heads for the door.
CARNEY
I'm not rich. I'm a guy doing
a really dirty job, which
includes killing people who
have become infected-- poisoned--
by some thing I don't really
know anything about but really
scares the living shit out of
me.
Carney walks to the door and holds it open for her.
JOYCE
(sarcastic)
You're scared--
CARNEY
The Governor said we had two
days. I don't know what that
means. What I do know is we
have less than a day since he
said that-- and yeah-- I'm
scared.
INT. UNION STATION; SECURITY -- DAY
Carney and Joyce exit the restroom.
Gleason walks toward them, with a purpose.
CARNEY
What happened?
GLEASON
Where's your camera?
JOYCE
In the car.
CARNEY
Did you get a plate?
He takes Joyce by the arm as he passes--
GLEASON
No--
(to Joyce)
Time for you to post a Buzzkill
update.
Eight Ball 68
EXT. EAST L.A. GANG TURF -- DAY
Latino lowriders prowl the streets.
Heavy beat music pounds out, chicas walk the walk.
Gang bangers with "13" on their caps-- Sureños!
An expensive car wheels down an alley.
Stops behind an apartment complex.
Four latino 13ers make way for their guest--
Redmond Gates, as cocky and arrogant as before.
They escort him to the back door of the complex.
INT. ELFEGO'S CRIB -- DAY
The music changes inside this place-- reggae and beat.
Redmond ignores the guns and girls, targets the leader.
ELFEGO, a thin, muscled banger; scalded in prison ink.
Half his face is a healed scar from a close up assassin.
As such, the room crawls with well heeled shooters.
ELFEGO
Redmond Gates, so we finally
meet.
REDMOND
ELFEGO
Come in, sit down, I can give
you whatever it is you want.
REDMOND
I want my money.
ELFEGO
You are a very popular man, so
my friends tell me.
Redmond stares at Elfego, his eyes boiling.
Elfego senses the undercurrent of rage in Redmond.
With a disgusted snap of his hand, Elfego signals.
A Rock Hard Woman struts up, dumps cash onto a table.

Eight Ball 69
ELFEGO
One hundred thousand dollars.
But you don't touch it until--
REDMOND
Do you have the girl?
ELFEGO
Man, I'm trying to be cool with
you--
REDMOND
I don't care about your fucking
cool. What I care about is my
fucking money. For that I will
impart upon you knowledge of
the universe, the knowledge of
Eight Ball. I will show you
how it works, I will show you
how to make more.
His fingers reverently touch the cross at his throat.
REDMOND
I will help you touch the face
of God.
(now)
Do you have the girl?
Elfego regards this pendejo with disdain.
ELFEGO
I have the girl.
Elfego glances at the Rock Hard Woman.
She leads the way down a long, cluttered hallway.

Redmond follows Elfego, two heeled bloods follow after.
They reach a bedroom door.
INT. ELFEGO'S CRIB; BEDROOM -- DAY
The Rock Hard Woman walks in slow.
Redmond and Elfego follow, and Redmond sees--
A twelve year old girl twisted into a wheelchair.
She stares at the ceiling with cloudy eyes.
The desperate noise she makes his her breathing--
A foul sound between choking and crying

Eight Ball 70
Redmond spots the silver cross around her neck.
For an instant, even this heartless man is rocked.
REDMOND
This is her?
ELFEGO
You said the younger the better.
(then)
Nothing you do to her will be
worse than what she is now.
Redmond looks at him, then at Rock Hard Woman.
ELFEGO
She is my sister.
REDMOND
Okay.
He steps forward, snaps the cross off her neck.
Elfego and the others flinch, say nothing.
Redmond turns and hands it back to Elfego.
He then opens his zip bag.
Elfego and the Rock Hard Woman step in closer to watch.
Redmond pulls the small plastic squeeze vial.
Three drops of Eight Ball.
REDMOND
One drop in each eye will start
the process.
He turns to the girl and for a second-- just a second--
Then he leans in, steadies over her sightless eye.
One drop of the virulent black grease crawls out.
ANXIOUS THUG (O.S.)

ELFEGO! STOP!
Redmond turns, looks as--
The ANXIOUS THUG rushes in--
ANXIOUS THUG
You need to see this!
Eight Ball 71
ELFEGO
We're busy!
ANXIOUS THUG
It's about him!
Redmond turns back to the girl, the drop hanging loose.
The Rock Hard Woman pulls his wrist.
The black drop crests the girl's cheek, thins, rolls.
Redmond thumbs it off, peels it hard along his pants.
INT. ELFEGO'S CRIB; MEDIA ROOM -- NIGHT
Even brutal gangs are high tech these days.
Half a dozen expensive big screens show a frozen image.
BUZZKILL NEWS.COM-- Joyce Norton-- mid-report--
Redmond and the Rock Hard Woman follow Elfego in.
ELFEGO
Okay, okay-- what is it?
One of the thugs at a computer clicks and:
TV-- Joyce against a dark backdrop.
JOYCE
BuzzKill News Dot Com exclusive,
as we promised yesterday, an
update on Eight Ball, and this
man--
TV-- image of Redmond; Gleason's picture:
JOYCE (V.O.)
Redmond Gates. A fraud and a
liar-- Eight Ball isn't a drug,
a new high, a promised mind
blowing experience-- it's a
poison, a death sentence!
REDMOND
That's a lie!
TV-- Joyce into the camera--
JOYCE
I met Gates, a weasel of a man
who decided certain types of
(MORE)
Eight Ball 72
JOYCE (CONT'D)
people shouldn't share this
planet with the rest of us, a
self appointed avenger against
the drug dealers and addicts of
the world.
Redmond senses the whole room go against him.
Just like that, he's not the coolest man in the world.
TV-- Joyce rants harder--
JOYCE
Eight Ball has a one hundred
percent death rate. I took
these pictures less than six
hours ago--
TV-- frozen, blurry images from Diva's crib.
TV-- dead and dying, with no real clear detail.
Elfego turns to Redmond.
ELFEGO
I brought you here to bring joy
to my little sister--
Redmond understands, knows he has lost the sale.
REDMOND
It's a lie, Elfego, a lie to
stop me.
TV-- Joyce again--

JOYCE
Before you deal with this man,
ask him if he has used Eight
Ball? Ask him to prove how
safe it is-- ask him to use it
on himself!
ELFEGO
TURN THAT SHIT OFF!
The thug clicks and the screens freeze.
Things get icy tight around Redmond Gates.
ELFEGO
What this woman says is a lie?
Eight Ball 73
REDMOND
I can prove it to you. I will
use it on myself.
Redmond moves to a corner table, opens his zip bag.
His back to them as he reaches in.
REDMOND
Prepare to see the face of a
vengeful God--
Redmond turns with a .44 Caliber Beretta--
Blows Elfego through the door into the hallway.
Doubles Rock Hard Woman over in the blink of an eye.
Nails Anxious Thug and two of his compadres.
Kicks over a screen-- jumps up on a desk--
Bullets fly-- he turns, drops two more bloods.
Leaps through a blanketed window.
EXT. ELFEGO'S CRIB -- DAY
Redmond crashes to the ground, rolls.
He charges up, shakes off the glass and the blanket.
Turns, fires back through the open window behind him.
Turns into the alley-- off the street-- out of sight--
EXT. ALLEY -- DAY
Redmond stalks faster-- two cars in the alley.
Confusion at the doorway leading to Elfego's crib.
And shit, just like that, he's spotted-- marked!
Redmond cuts hard into the back of a mercado.
INT. MEXICAN MERCADO -- DAY
Redmond snakes down an aisle toward the front door.
Behind him, shouts and screams-- men after him.
The workers see his gun-- shrink back into shadows.

Eight Ball 74
SUDDENLY-- gunfire-- behind him-- Redmond ducks.
He turns-- two bangers chase through the back door.
Redmond nails them both-- casual-- precise.
Pushes past the counter, walks to the front door.
BLAM!
Redmond grunts, hit, falls against the front door.
He turns, levels his own gun back at--
The OLD WOMAN AT THE COUNTER-- who fires a second shot!
The glass door explodes around him-- drops him out!
EXT. MEXICAN MERCADO -- DAY
Redmond crashes onto the sidewalk in shattered glass.
People scream-- flee-- duck--
Redmond grunts up, bleeding from a blown kidney.
He struggles out into the street, a horn squalls.
A small ratty car with a goth Latina behind the wheel stops.
Redmond aims his gun at her--
REDMOND
Hello there, my pretty!
He jerks the door open-- SMACKS HER IN THE HEAD!

Drags her out into the street-- drops into the drivers seat.
He screams in pain and slams down the gas.
The car hunkers down and speeds off noisily.
Three bangers chase down the street on foot.
They rock and roll, all shots go wild.
Redmond screams in pain as he gets away-- for now.
INT. BUZZKILL HQ -- DAY
Gleason and Carney pace.
Joyce sits by a computer.

Eight Ball 75
Goose and his team drink energy drinks and eat chips.
GOOSE
(covert)
I can't believe you sold out.
JOYCE
Goose--
GOOSE
They're pigs, like all the other
pigs. I started Buzzkill to
pull back the curtain of
oppression and expose these
Nazi's for what they truly are!
JOYCE
If you'd seen what I saw last
night--
GOOSE
You saw what they wanted you to
see. You heard what they wanted
you to hear. Now they come in
here and force you to spew the
lies they want you to--
CARNEY
Why don't you shut up?
GOOSE
This is my place, Hitler, I can
say what--
Gleason steps in closer-- shoves his gun up under his chin.
GLEASON
Let me ask you something, son.
You really think I'm a Nazi?
Goose quakes, silent.
GLEASON
Show some back bone, stand up
for the oppressed.
GOOSE
Yeah! Yeah, I think yer a Nazi!
GLEASON
A Hitler?
GOOSE
Yeah.
Eight Ball 76
CARNEY
A fascist? A Stalin, a killer
of truth, peddler of the Big
Lie?
GOOSE
All of that!
Gleason cocks the hammer on his weapon.
GLEASON
And if I killed you, right here,
right now, I'd walk away a free
man. Protected by the system
and the corrupt body politic.
Is that it?
GOOSE
You own the courts, the cops,
the politicians, big oil, all
the land, all the old media--
GLEASON
A simple yes or no.
GOOSE
Yes! You God damn right I do!
Gleason backs off, holsters his gun
GLEASON
Then why are you still alive?
Why haven't I killed you by
now?
(off Goose's eyes)
I'm serious. In a country where
fruit cakes like you get to say
the dumbest fucking shit-- why
do you always say the dumbest
fucking shit?
Gleason backs off and walks away.
Joyce moves to Gleason.
JOYCE
How long are we going to wait?
GLEASON
As long as it takes.
CARNEY
And what if he doesn't call
her?
Eight Ball 77
GLEASON
He will.
JOYCE
When he sees that update, he'll
know I've betrayed him--
GLEASON
Yeah-- that's why he'll call
you.
AND THAT'S WHEN THE CELL PHONE RINGS!
Joyce jumps a foot, knocking a chair over.
Grabs up her phone, looks at it-- panics.
Gleason reads her face-- makes hard eye contact.
GLEASON
Go ahead.
Joyce swallows her dread-- and--
JOYCE
Joyce Norton.
EXT. LA RIVER CULVERT -- DAY
Redmond holds a dirty rag to the hole in his back.
REDMOND
Let me talk to Gleason.
Intercut:
JOYCE
Who?
REDMOND
This would be so much easier if
you quit FUCKING WITH ME AND
PUT THAT MOTHERFUCKER ON THE
PHONE!
Joyce hands the phone to Gleason.
GLEASON
Redmond.
REDMOND
You lied to them. You and that
tart reporter who I thought
would spread the word--
Eight Ball 78
GLEASON
She saw the truth and embraced
it.
REDMOND
After everything we've been
through, you and I.
GLEASON
That's what keeps me going.
Redmond struggles backs into the car.
REDMOND
God has given me this task and
has delivered this divine
instrument into my possession.
GLEASON
Stop with the shit--
REDMOND
She embraced the truth. Will
she embrace the apocalypse?
GLEASON
Tell me where you are so I can
come and kill you, you fucking
lunatic!
REDMOND
You haven't told her, have you?
About the Final Solution. About
fourteen million dead and dying
within the next six weeks--
GLEASON
I'm going to find you--
REDMOND
Jack-- I'm betting I get there
before you do.
Redmond laughs, hurls the phone out the window.
He peels off, spinning up dirt and debris.
INT. BUZZKILL HQ -- DAY
GLEASON
REDMOND! REDMOND!
He slams the phone into the wall--

Eight Ball 79
GLEASON
You son of a bitch!
And then it hits him, his whole world collapses.
GLEASON
Oh, shit--
Gleason charges for the door, everything else abandoned.
Carney, just as fast, right behind him--
CARNEY
What is it? Gleason!
Joyce plays catch up, grabs her camera as she runs.
GOOSE
I'M CALLING THE POLICE! YOU
POINTED A GUN AT ME!
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT -- DAY
Insistent hammering on the door.
Audrey, up and moving-- fast-- urgent.
AUDREY
I'm coming!
She unlocks it-- jerks it open-- stunned!
Redmond Gates!
REDMOND
Audrey, my love...
She screams-- tries to close the door--
He kicks it open, walks in, dripping blood.
Audrey shrieks again-- backs off-- turns and flees.
REDMOND
We haven't much time.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; BEDROOM -- DAY
Audrey, terrified, jerks open the closet doors.
Tears through the top shelf-- seeking something.
Redmond follows her into the bedroom.

Eight Ball 80
She turns-- got it-- trains on him the heavy pistol.
Borderline hysterical, she squeezes the trigger.
Redmond holds up the small ampule of Eight Ball.
It crawls with the virulent black grease.
Audrey gazes at the vial-- hypnotically captured.
Her addiction overwhelms her, consumes her.
She steps forward, the gun trembles in her hands.
She drops it to the floor, lunges forward in a rush.
Lust explodes across her face, fixated on Eight Ball.
Redmond snatches the vial back from her grasp.
He backs into the wall-- slicking it with his blood.
Audrey is all over him, kissing, stroking, groping.
Redmond pockets the vial.
REDMOND
Later, my dear.
AUDREY
Red, please-- I remember-- I
remember all those things-- I
know what you like--
Overt seduction, demanding, pulling her clothes open.
He guides her hand to the bloody wound on his back.

REDMOND
Fix this.
AUDREY
Red-- please--
REDMOND
Fix this and you shall have all
you crave.
He takes her head in his hands.
REDMOND
Save my life and I will save
your soul.
He kisses her, a deep, passionate kiss.

Eight Ball 81
Like Gleason, he has done this before.
Her bloody hand holds his face, smears blood--
AUDREY
Yes...
Anything for another hit of Eight Ball.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; OUTSIDE HALLWAY -- DAY
The elevator thunks in place-- dings open.
Gleason surges out, gun drawn, murder in his eyes.
Carney follows, Joyce behind him.
Joyce sees the blood trail on the floor.
The door to his apartment stands open.
The door jamb smeared with dark, copious blood.
Gleason barges forward, rocked and ready to roll.
GLEASON
AUDREY!
Carney and Joyce follow, Joyce very nervy and tense.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT -- DAY
Gleason tears into each room, slamming through doors.
Carney hovers in a central place, gun ready.

GLEASON
Gates, you motherfucker...
(then)
AUDREY!
CARNEY
Who's Audrey?
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; LIVING ROOM -- DAY
Joyce skittishly moves through to the living room.
Watches Gleason and Carney search the apartment.
The big screen TV is on.
Freeze framed with REDMOND GATES on the screen.

Eight Ball 82
This is Redmond Gates the scientist, a year ago.
Joyce, inquisitive, picks up the remote.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; BEDROOM -- DAY
Carney hovers in the doorway, scanning everything.
Gleason rushes from the bathroom.
A fist of bloody towels which he throws to the floor.
GLEASON
He's got her.
CARNEY
Got who? Gleason?
Then they both hear it, from the living room.
REDMOND (O.S.)
My test subject is a young lady
we'll call Audrey X.
Gleason-- rocked-- freezes-- he knows what's coming.
He pushes past Carney to the living room.
Carney follows.
Joyce stands staring incredulously at the TV.
Gleason scrambles in, the video on the screen shocking him.

Carney walks in-- this is all new to him.
TV-- GLEASON, a year ago, security man, holds--
TV-- Audrey-- a year ago-- stringy hair, shabbier.
REDMOND
Last week, this girl tried to
kill herself. She was saved
from the brink of death by quick
thinking doctors. Locor has
paid her to participate in this
clinical study.
AUDREY
(out of it)
Yeah-- paid me--
Eight Ball 83
Gleason, wrecked, eases into the living room.
He relives the moments of that day as it unfolds--
TV-- Gleason holds her as Redmond approaches.
TV-- A small vial of virulent black grease.
JOYCE
Oh. Jesus...
Joyce turns aside-- she's seen enough of this horror.
Her hate melts away when she looks at Gleason--
His stricken face torn and twisted in pain.
Emotions slam him now-- even he can't watch.
TV-- Audrey screams as the Eight Ball hits her.
TV-- Gleason holds her, fights her.
Carney looks at Gleason, still not sure.
CARNEY
She's infected?
Gleason deflates, implodes down into himself.
He walks from the room, a ghost of himself.
TV-- Audrey writhes and contorts, falls to the floor.
TV-- the marble like eyes, twin pulsing circles of light.
REDMOND
In this heightened sexual state,
every nerve pulsing with the
alien bacteria, even pain is
translated as pleasure.
TV-- Gleason picks Audrey up from the floor.
TV-- he pushes her to the chair, quickly cuffs her to it.
Joyce recoils physically from the screen.
Carney-- shocked-- staggers back.
TV-- Audrey spasms with orgasms.
TV-- suddenly, she mutates, the brow gets larger.

Eight Ball 84
REDMOND
Within four minutes, the alien
bacteria takes over, mutating
the host human into the first
level of something-- beyond
human.
TV-- Audrey thrashes, chained to the chair.
TV-- her skin darkens, her mouth opens--
TV-- needle like alien fangs.
TV-- the tongue shoots out, slithers--
TV-- Audrey stretches for Gleason-- who enters the picture.
REDMOND (V.O.)
We were soon discover that after
a full mutation, there was still
more to learn.
TV-- GLEASON GRABS AUDREY FROM BEHIND!
TV-- Audrey tries to bite him-- BUT GLEASON--
TV-- SLINGS A LEATHER MASK OVER HER MOUTH!
TV-- restrained-- Redmond Gates moves in closer.
REDMOND
What would a second dose of the
alien bacteria do, now that the
first has begun this
transformation?
TV-- Gates peels back both alien eyelids--

TV-- Administers a drop of Eight Ball to each eye!
REDMOND
The life force of this organism
is in a constant fight for
survival--
TV-- The Audrey-alien SCREAMS-- jerks free from Gleason!
TV-- she drops and convulses on the floor--
TV-- she shrieks, thrashes as the camera zooms in and--
TV-- THE ALIEN RETREATS-- allowing the real Audrey to show!

Eight Ball 85
REDMOND
It was then we discovered a
second dose-- and further,
regular doses of the alien
bacteria-- resurrected the
original host-- held the alien
force in abeyance--
TV-- flash and sizzle to a different date.
TV-- same room, a month later, Audrey with longer hair.
TV-- but now she is emaciated, a full addict--
TV-- Gleason doesn't have to hold her.
REDMOND
And that this resurrection is
beyond anything human, it dwarfs
any form of human perception.
It is beyond human.
(Messianic)
It is Jesus like!
Carney-- unable to take more-- walks off.
EXT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; OUTSIDE HALLWAY -- DAY
Gleason sits on the floor next to the open door.
Carney slowly walks to the open door.
Carney can't convey, and when he sees Gleason's face--
Swollen with pain, anguish, guilt and loss--

Carney doesn't even try.
Joyce watches the last of the video.
TV--
REDMOND
But the human host has to be
dosed with the bacteria on a
regular basis. Without Eight
Ball-- at least once a week--
she will desiccate, dry up--
and become even more dangerous.
TV-- fuzzy edit-- spliced-- and then:

Eight Ball 86
TV-- Redmond with the ampule of Eight Ball.
REDMOND
Is it not possible this is the
apocalypse, where all shall die
in the rapture, where all pain
becomes pleasure and all be
reborn?
(then)
Is this at once our destruction
and our redemption?
The screen goes black.
Joyce stares at the final blackness, frozen in horror.
INT. GLEASON'S APARTMENT; OUTSIDE HALLWAY -- DAY
Carney and Gleason stand outside in the hallway.
Joyce walks out to them, shaken, quiet into herself.
She has her camera.
JOYCE
He's insane.
GLEASON
This is as far as you go, Miss
Norton.
JOYCE
I didn't come all this--
GLEASON
He left that video for me. I
know where they are.
JOYCE
He can't think that Eight Ball
will wipe out the human race!
How hard can it be to find them?
When your eyes go fucking black
and you gotta lizard tongue and
you try to eat people, I mean,
it sort'a stands out!
GLEASON
It's not that simple.
JOYCE
IT IS THAT SIMPLE!
Gleason heads for the elevator.

Eight Ball 87
GLEASON
Stay here, post your story.
JOYCE
I can follow you.
Carney turns and lays four shots at her feet.
She dances back and screams, freaked out!
CARNEY
But you won't.
Gleason and Carney enter the elevator.
It dings, thunks and drops.
Joyce turns and runs back into the apartment.
Joyce stabs the USB stick into the player on the TV.
It fires up from the beginning.
LOCOR INDUSTRIES-- ICE44 / EIGHT BALL STUDY:
She grabs a phone off the end table.
Keys in numbers from memory.
TV-- exterior day of the LOCOR RESEARCH CAMPUS.
JOYCE
Goose, it's me-- I'm going to
send you a picture. I need you
to tell me where it is.
INT. GOVERNOR'S COMMAND CENTER DOWNTOWN -- DAY
An aide races across the dark room to the Governor.
Hands him a phone.
GOVERNOR
Carney!
INT. GLEASON AND CARNEY IN CAR -- DAY
Carney drives fast, totally focused and determined.
Gleason on the phone.

Eight Ball 88
GLEASON
It's me.
Intercut:
GOVERNOR
Tell me you got him.
GLEASON
Here's the plan, and it might
save you a whole lot of bad
press.
GOVERNOR
I'm listening.
GLEASON
I think I know where he is. If
he's there, I'll wring his
chicken neck and dump his head
in your lap. If he ain't, well,
who knows, another sleepless
night.
The rain starts, hard and sudden.
Carney flips on the wipers--
GOVERNOR
I heard about Marvel. I've got
another burn team if you need
them.
GLEASON
Lucky me.
He hangs up.
Carney looks over, doesn't ask.
EXT. LA FREEWAYS -- DAY
The car speeds away in the driving rain.
Heavy rain slams the world and blackens the horizon.
INT. GOVERNOR'S COMMAND CENTER DOWNTOWN -- DAY
The Governor turns to the men standing close up.
Six men is suits, four in military garb.

Eight Ball 89
GOVERNOR
He says they're closing in on
Gates.
The head HONCHO of HOMELAND SECURITY steps forward.
HONCHO
It's been almost forty eight
hours. You and I both know
what happens to Eight Ball after
forty eight hours.
GOVERNOR
They've been burning--
HONCHO
It was never certain they could
get it all and you know it.
GOVERNOR
You kill a whole city because
you're not certain?
HONCHO
The president will make that
call, not me.
GOVERNOR
I'll have something to say about
that!
HONCHO
No. You won't.
EXT. LOCOR RESEARCH CAMPUS -- NIGHT

Huge expanse of buildings, mostly dark.
Soaked in rain, the guard shack is the only lit area.
Carney slows down for the open gate--
Two guards lay sprawled and wet in the rain.
Both shot dead at close range.
Carney moves onto the lot.
EXT. LOCOR RESEARCH CAMPUS; BACK AREA -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney spot a car in the distance.
The small car from east L.A.

Eight Ball 90
They approach slow, stop back a hundred feet.
Gleason and Carney crawl out the car into the rain.
They check their guns-- start walking toward the campus.
CARNEY
What is this place?
GLEASON
The original research facility.
We did Eight Ball here.
CARNEY
Something else nobody told me.
They reach the doors-- Gleason swipes his card on the lock.
It buzzes green and thunks open-- Carney swings the door open.
INT. BACK ENTRANCE -- NIGHT
Gleason and Carney enter-- guns drawn-- ready--
The trail of blood on the floor is spotty.
Gleason tries the lights-- nothing.
They put distance between them as they move forward.
The corridor to the lab units are just ahead.
Light oozes around the doors.
Gleason walks to them, tries them-- locked.

CARNEY
You gotta key for this one?
GLEASON
Same key you got.
Gleason and Carney step back and fire into the locks.
Shatters the locks-- opens the doors.
Bright light mushrooms out-- both men back into shadow.
Gleason scans the corridor, finds it benign-- quiet.
Carney follows him as they enter--
GLEASON
What's the phrase you hear all
the time--
Eight Ball 91
CARNEY
Too damn easy.
GLEASON
That's the one.
INT. BUZZKILL HQ -- NIGHT
Goose at his computer, rattling keys--
On his screen is a picture from the video Joyce saw--
The Locor Research Lab--
Goose jabbers into his phone headset.
GOOSE
I'm telling you, this is the
older campus-- shut down six or
seven months ago.
(then)
I'll text you the address.
Rain pounds the place-- wetter now but just as dark.
Except for the guard shack.
Joyce speeds forward to the gate-- and slows down.
She sees the two dead guards.
She's seen too much death-- she enters slowly.
Joyce drives past Carney's car, finds it empty.
She advances to the small car Redmond stole.
She stops-- restrains her terror and gets out of her car.
Before her, the dark building intimidates.
Again she falters-- questions her own motives.
Shielding her camera from the rain, Joyce races forward.
Dripping, she turns on her camera.

Eight Ball 92
JOYCE
Joyce Norton at the old,
abandoned Locor Research facility
in the low foothills.
She tries the door-- locked up tight.
JOYCE
And the door is locked.
BEHIND HER-- A STEEL DOOR BANGS IN THE WIND!
JOYCE
SHIT!
Startled, she turns, sees the open door.
Moves to it, slow and deliberate, just in case.
THE LOUD METAL DOOR CLANGS like shots fired in the night.
She reaches the door-- grabs it-- peers in--
INT. SIDE ACCESS CORRIDOR -- NIGHT
A narrow corridor along the inside wall.
A string of lights flicker and crackle along the ceiling.
Used for supplies, tools, materials, storage.
Joyce works her way in, pulling the door closed.
JOYCE
(whispered)
Man, I've done some dumb things
in my life--
She turns to the corridor-- fear clenches her.
The corridor is long, narrow, leading to only one door.
JOYCE
(whispered)
And I don't know why I'm
whispering, except-- maybe--
I'm scared shitless.
She edges along, tries to remain as quiet as possible.
As she nears the door, she bangs over a box of supplies.
She cringes low as the shit rolls across the floor.
Back into spooky silence-- somewhere a machine hums.

Eight Ball 93
She eases forward, ready to bolt-- touches the door.
It opens into a blue / dark room.
INT. LAB EXPERIMENT CUBES -- NIGHT
A cavernous arena of research cubicles.
Joyce enters-- her eyes adjust to an eerie blue light.
The ghostly chamber a series of connecting glass cubes.
In each, a table, chair, desk, counter.
Bright flat screen monitors running code.
Medical gear in various stages of destruction.
Also-- each one has a dead body in it.
Joyce shudders-- eyes each cubicle-- along the row.
Twelve sealed rooms-- each with a dead body.
Joyce eases close to the first one-- a dead woman.
She lays face up, as if she died just today.
Fighting fear and nausea, she scans the other cubes.
In all twelve, the shadows of corpses.
Then she sees the one in the middle-- different.
She moves closer-- and what she sees jolts her!

A dead man-- WAS a dead man!
Now desiccated-- dried out with caked, brittle flesh.
Fossilized yes-- the entire TORSO SPLIT OPEN!
LIKE A MONSTROUS HUMAN SEED POD!
JOYCE
Oh, God--
SUDDENLY-- THE LIGHTS ALL COME ON!
Joyce screams-- wheels-- drops her camera!
REDMOND (O.S.)
God, indeed!
Redmond Gates, hammered and dying, almost bled out.

Eight Ball 94
He grins, stumbles forward.
REDMOND
What do you think of my harvest?
Joyce, shocked and rocked-- can barely breathe.
REDMOND
Some of the truth Gleason didn't
bother to share with you.
She jumps as he corners her into a smaller place.
REDMOND
Alien bacteria, trapped in a
dead host, pulls back from the
tissue as the flesh grows cold.
Redmond smears his blood as he moves down the glass.
REDMOND
Ever wondered why they burned
them after they killed them?
JOYCE
Because they're not dead. They
come back. Like Audrey.
REDMOND
You know my Audrey?
Joyce moves-- and Redmond slinks in even closer.
REDMOND
The one's that don't come back,
like our friend there-- grow
dry and desiccate.
Redmond gets closer-- Joyce knows she has no place to run.
REDMOND
After forty eight hours, the
alien bacteria goes airborne.
That amazing survival instinct
converts to a microscopic
particle, lighter than air.
He lunges in closer to Joyce.
REDMOND
My human seed pod snaps open to
release the spores. They drift
like pollen, riding the breeze
like the smells from a bakery,
a barbecue or a brush fire.
Eight Ball 95
Redmond grabs her arm, pulls her toward him.
REDMOND
Soon, everyone is breathing it,
and the dry spores work faster--
killing-- incubating-- mutating--
bringing you back to life as it
did with our poor Audrey!
He turns her to face the cube of a dead scientist.
Joyce and Redmond watch-- and he smiles.
The dead scientist moves-- rolls over--
JOYCE
Oh, Jesus--
REDMOND
Once it spreads, it's as
contagious as the common cold.
Joyce struggles-- Redmond leans her into the glass.
The scientist turns-- looks at her--
Eyes black with EIGHT BALL!
Another dead scientist stirs-- then another--
REDMOND
I am God's Messenger and shall
deliver his word of resurrection
to the world.
Joyce pushes back as the HALF HUMAN ALIEN ATTACKS!

It SLAMS THE GLASS and Redmond pushes her against it!
Now, a dozen screaming resurrected dead attack!
BLACK EYES, NEEDLE FANGS, SLITHERING TONGUES!
Redmond Gates drags Joyce to the sealed door.
REDMOND
Time to open the door to
everlasting life!
Joyce fights him, tries to jerk free.
Suddenly-- the far door kicks open!
Gleason and Carney storm in--

Eight Ball 96
GLEASON
REDMOND GATES!
That fast, Redmond jerks Joyce up close--
Using her as a shield, his own gun at her head.
REDMOND
Gleason-- I knew you you'd come
back to me in our cathedral of
discovery.
Carney circles, a quiet killer, gun ready.
REDMOND
You waited too long, old friend.
The half human aliens throw themselves at the glass!
Screaming, clawing, rampaging against confinement.
GLEASON
Where's Audrey?
CARNEY
Take your shot, Gleason.
REDMOND
By all means, take your shot.
CARNEY
What are you waiting for?
GLEASON
Where's Audrey?
REDMOND
In a room full'a glass filled
with Eight Ball airborne, by
all means, take your shot!
Carney scans the dozen half human aliens.
He begins to understand--
CARNEY
Airborne?
REDMOND
He never told you. He always
liked to keep his little secrets.
The reanimated rampage and attack the heavy glass walls!
Gleason lowers his gun, pulls his cell phone.

Eight Ball 97
GLEASON
You talk too much.
Gleason punches up a number and waits.
REDMOND
You're wasting your time!
Carney sees the desiccated corpse in the center cubicle.
He watches the fans swirl and spin the dust particles--
Watches the fans suck them up into the duct work--
CARNEY
Airborne-- that's why you burned
them.
GLEASON
Yeah--
(into phone)
Governor. Can you track this
phone?
REDMOND
You can't stop the hand of God!
GLEASON
(into phone)
Well, send in the clowns. Make
it big and do it fast.
Gleason tosses the phone to a table, leaving it on.
REDMOND
IT'S TOO LATE!
GLEASON
One last time-- where's Audrey?
REDMOND
Waiting for you, right through
that door.
He nods to the side door-- the research room--
Where the video was made those many months ago.
Gleason moves to the side door--
CARNEY
We gotta get outta here!
REDMOND
Too late for that!
(MORE)
Eight Ball 98
REDMOND (CONT'D)
Too late for everything! FEAR
GOD AND GIVE GLORY TO HIM FOR
THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT IS
COME!
Gleason opens the side door-- and--
BAM-- AUDREY-- FERAL AND FULL BORE EIGHT BALL--
LEAPS THROUGH-- HITS GLEASON-- TEARS AT HIM!
GLEASON TURNS-- STUMBLES BACK AS AUDREY TAKES A BITE!
BLOOD EXPLODES FROM GLEASON'S SHOULDER!
THE TWELVE RESURRECTED HALF HUMAN ALIENS GO BATSHIT!
Carney tries to get a shot--
Gleason turns-- pushes the half human woman back--
Takes aim up close and personal--
Something he should have done years before--
Bam bam bam--
THREE SHOTS drive AUDREY BACK into the room she came from!
REDMOND
Looks like Audrey finally went
bad on you, Gleason!
Gleason turns, holding his bleeding neck--
Gun up, level, instinct instead of logic: Bang.

Redmond Gates head snaps back.
Blood and brains blow out the back of his skull.
Joyce screams, twists free, stumbles away!
Redmond Gates collapses.
Blood drips from the glass cube behind where he stood.
The bullet radiates a spider web crack four feet across.
Lead slug embedded in the brain spattered glass.
Twelve half human aliens lunge against their glass cages!
Joyce runs to Carney, not exactly certain why.

Eight Ball 99
Gleason, bleeding, moves to the open door--
CARNEY
Gleason--
Gleason ignores him.
INT. RESEARCH LAB - FROM THE VIDEO -- NIGHT
Audrey lays on the floor, half-dead, writhing in pain.
Gleason walks to her-- slumps to the floor.
Pulls her to him, weeps as he cradles her against him.
With her last strength, she tries to talk.
Carney and Joyce stand in the doorway.
GLEASON
You better get out of here.
Joyce turns away-- sickened--
Suddenly--
JOYCE
Carney!
He looks--
The glass crackles LOUDLY around the bullet hole.
The pressure too much--
Carney looks up at it as--

THE GLASS CRACKS ACROSS ALL THE SHEETS-- ALL THE CUBES!
The bullet pops from the embedded glass.
AIR HISSES OUT-- filled with gray spores--
CARNEY
MOVE! NOW!
They rush to the main door.
JOYCE
No, this way!
She turns him to the access door along the side!
The resurrected half human aliens SMASH THE GLASS!

Eight Ball 100
The camera lays abandoned and forgotten by the wall.
Carney and Joyce snake through the door and are gone!
INT. SIDE ACCESS CORRIDOR -- NIGHT
Joyce leads Carney swiftly through the junk.
Behind them, the door crashes open!
AND THE CHASE IS ON!
Two black attack helicopters sweep over the trees.
Like red eyed vultures, they separate and speed in.
Rocket launchers deploy on noisy gears.
High speed approach, blazing over the tree tops.
INT. LAB EXPERIMENT CUBES -- NIGHT
The first of the aliens fall on Gates-- feeding-- snarling--
Others chase Carney and Joyce.
Three race for the side door--
INT. RESEARCH LAB - FROM THE VIDEO -- NIGHT
Gleason sits-- NAILS EACH EIGHT BALL ALIEN as they rush in!
All three drops and writhe, shrieking.
Gleason holds Audrey closer-- closer--
The first rockets spray out over the guard shack!
WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!
The entire front of the research lab is blown to pieces!
FIREBALLS SCREAM HOT AND YELLOW INTO THE RAIN CLOUDS!

Eight Ball 101
Carney and Joyce lunge through the door.
The building shudders-- glass shatters--
CARNEY
MOVE!
They race for the distant black Challenger--
Rockets tear into the structure--
Yellow fireballs sweep through the complex--
Carney and Joyce leap into the car--
Eight half human aliens escape the building--
Leaping and sprinting away from the falling wreckage--
The building rocks with fire and destruction--
Carney slams the car into reverse--
Boiling flames billow toward them.
The inferno engulfs six of the half human aliens.
The other two-- ahead of the holocaust-- race forward.
JOYCE
CARNEY!
CARNEY
I SEE THEM!
They leap to the hood of the car.
Carney slams on the brakes--
JOYCE
Are you fucking crazy?
CARNEY
No, but it helps!
He waits-- as the rolling thunder of FLAME TEARS OVER THEM!
PAINT SIZZLES-- GLASS BLACKENS--
THE VIOLENT FLAME INCINERATES THE TWO ALIENS--
SWEEPS THEM FROM THE CAR--
The front glass sags into the dash and then--

Eight Ball 102
The car is lifted and tossed in the flames--
It crashes across the lot-- all four tires burning!
Ends up roof down in the grass a hundred yards back!
INT. INVERTED WRECKED CAR -- NIGHT
Carney crawls into the back seat.
Flames trickle around the edges of the wind screen.
Carney grabs Joyce, pulls her with him.
He kicks out the back glass-- air sucks out the smoke.
Flames burn through the seats above them.
Carney rolls out onto the wet grass.
Drags Joyce with him from the car.
EXT. WRECKED CAR -- NIGHT
Carney hauls Joyce back a good twenty, thirty feet.
Torrential rain cools them down.
He cranes his neck upwards as the twin choppers go by.
A couple more rockets reduce the standing structures.
Beams and steel crash into the heap.
Joyce rolls over, looks up as the fire burns steady.
EXT. MAIN ROAD -- NIGHT
Carney and Joyce emerge down slope.
Behind them, Locor is a glowing, fiery memory.
They lurch out onto a paved road, get their balance.
Headlights sweep toward them in the rain.
The caravan of black SUV's-- the Governor and entourage.
The caravan stops, targeting Carney and Joyce in light.
Dark suits get out, well heeled-- fan out.
The Governor and Honcho step out.

Eight Ball 103
GOVERNOR
Gates.
CARNEY
Dead as hell.
HONCHO
Eight Ball.
CARNEY
I don't know. If that's all
there was, it's gone now.
(then)
How about a ride back to town.
Honcho and his men step closer.
HONCHO
Are you absolutely positive?
CARNEY
No. For all I know, you got
some frozen away somewhere.
(turns to the Governor)
-- and I'll bet you they do--
(back to Honcho)
Gleason said he'd get Gates and
he did. End of story.
He takes Joyce's arm, walks past the trucks.
HONCHO
Where do you think you're going?
His men reach for hidden weapons-- do not pull them.
Carney and Joyce keep walking.

CARNEY
I changed our mind about the
ride.
GOVERNOR
Carney, you work for me, you do
what I tell you.
CARNEY
I quit.
They walk down the road, away from the trucks.
EXT. DINER -- NIGHT
Edge of a dark town, slick from rain.

Eight Ball 104
INT. DINER -- NIGHT
A lonely, shabby place.
Carney and Joyce sit along a rear window.
Buzz Kill News plays on a TV screen, the sound down.
Someone different tells a different story.
Edgy graphics with killer video.
They drink steaming coffee, sandwiches remain untouched.
JOYCE
I can never tell this story,
can I?
She gives him the anxious eye:
CARNEY
What do I care? No one's paying
me to stop you.
JOYCE
Not that you would.
He smirks a smile, fast and forgotten.
CARNEY
Anyway, you lost your camera.
She palms a small tape from her pocket.
Carney smiles and drinks his coffee.
JOYCE
Redmond Gates had a God complex
and thought he was doing humanity
a favor by killing it.
CARNEY
Or Redmond Gates tried to
facilitate an alien takeover of
the planet earth. But he was
kind to his mother.
(looks at Buzz Kill)
There'll be a new crisis tomorrow
and then one after that. And if
there isn't, you can always
make one up. Doom and gloom
and we're all about to die.
(drinks his coffee)
Right after this commercial.
They grow silent.

Eight Ball 105
Outside, it starts to rain again.
... the end ...

Eight Ball 2010

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Eight Ball

Copyright © 2010 Keith Kjornes

The soft strains of classical music

EXT. THE HENRY MEADOW'S ESTATE -- NIGHT

Expensive home somewhere exclusive-- dripping money.

Normal, actually, except that EVERY LIGHT IN THE HOUSE IS ON.

GLEASON stands at the end of the drive way.

A world weary man, has seen more than he cares to admit.

Dressed in dark suit and tie, tailored but now rumpled.

A car approaches behind him.

Black Dodge Challenger, low profile, stops.

Driver door opens-- the younger man gets out.

Professional, proficient, skilled-- his name is CARNEY.

The young man stalks up behind him.

Gleason glances back with disdain.

Gleason ignores the outstretched hand.

Instead, he pulls his heavy .44 magnum automatic.

Carney pulls a Sig Sauer 9mm.

Suddenly-- from the house--

AN INHUMAN SCREAM-- A SHRILL SHRIEKING SOUND!

Gleason has heard this before.

He watches Carney's startled reaction.

He watches Carney recover and shake off the fear.

Carney catches Gleason staring at him.

Gleason starts up the drive to the house.

Gleason opens his cell phone-- pops a single number.

Gleason pockets his phone, toes the door open.

Gleason turns to Carney.

Before Carney can answer, Gleason eyeballs his collar.

A curly of white plastic runs from an ear into his collar.

Gleason jerks the plastic wire--

Pulls the small communicator from the collar--

Speaks into it--

Gleason pitches it into the grass.

Carney-- pissed-- follows.

INT. MEADOW'S FRONT ROOM -- NIGHT

Glass and tile, all white and pristine.

A beautiful house-- except for the blood.

Spattered and spewed everywhere.

Gleason clocks the room, moves in further.

Carney follows, all pro-- gun out, looking for targets.

On the wall-- a large photo of the family.

Henry Meadows with wife, two daughters, one son.

Below the picture on the floor, soaked in blood--

A BUTLER-- slaughtered-- sprawled on the floor.

And right then-- on cue-- FROM UPSTAIRS--

The hissing shrill shriek of a scream.

Definitely NOT HUMAN-- freezes them both.

Gleason starts up, listens, hesitates-- hears it again.

INT. MEADOW'S UPSTAIRS -- NIGHT

Gleason and Carney move up the stairs.

At the top landing, the music is louder.

Blood on the carpet-- careful not to step in it.

Two doors off this upper landing.

SUDDENLY-- from a side room-- A YOUNG BOY!

15-- 16-- half naked-- TOTALLY FERAL!

His face contorted with rage-- twisted OUT OF HUMAN!

Gleason doesn't need a good look to know.

Without hesitation, one shot-- Gleason caps him.

The kid drops and shrieks, kicks, dies.

Gleason scowls, both men stand over the dead boy.

Carney takes a hard look--

The boys bulging eyes are like oversize BLACK MARBLES.

The half human "alien face" stares up at Carney.