The

Experiments
By

Courtney Paynter
 The Experiments

ACT 1

CUT IN:

EXT. FOREST - DAY

VALERIE is running through the woods, breathing heavily.

VALERIE picks up the pace when she hears screams getting clos-
er. She reaches the opening to the forest and stops to look at
the scene in front of her.

VALERIE
“Goddamnit!”

CUT TO:

EXT. TRAILER PARK - DARK

A group of people are trying to fight off savage like humans,

and it is obvious that they are inexperienced with fighting,
except one person - LEO.

LEO
“Julie! Don’t go by there!”

JULIE is grabbed by a crazed human and brutally murdered right

in front of LEO.

LEO
“For God’s sake!”

LEO swiftly walks up to the animalistic human and hurriedly

chops it’s head off with his machete.

LEO
“Why can’t any of these people
bloody fight!” (mutters)

Crazed human goes to kill LEO, just as VALERIE arrives and

stabs it in the heart with her katana.
 VALERIE
“Speak for yourself, pretty boy.”

VALERIE smirks at LEO, as he looks taken back.

LEO
“I was fine! I totally knew
he was there!”

VALERIE laughs at LEO

VALERIE
“Sure thing, Hun.”

VALERIE and LEO continue to fight off the horde of savage-like

humans until there’s none left. However there aren’t many of
LEO’s group left either. They all gather around a YOUNG GIRL
who has been bitten by one of the savages.

VALERIE
“Oh God, poor girl.”

RANDOM MAN #1
“Someone’s gonna have to kill
her! And quick!

LEO looks towards RANDOM MAN #1 angrily.

LEO
“That’s your daughter!”

RANDOM MAN #1
“She ain’t my daughter anymore!
She’s one of them things now!”

LEO lifts his hand that holds his gun and points it at the
YOUNG GIRL’s head, but he hesitates and looks away. RANDOM MAN
#1 snatches the gun away and shoots her himself, causing every-
one to look at him with shock.

LEO
“Goddamnit!”

YOUNG GIRL starts to cry weakly as her bodily starts

LEO snatches his gun back and stalks off towards one of the
trailers in anger. VALERIE quickly jogs after him.

CUT TO:

INT. TRAILER - DAY

VALERIE enters the trailer and goes over to sit on the bed next
to LEO.

VALERIE
“That was pretty messed up, huh?”

LEO bitterly laughs

LEO
“Yeah, just a bit, this whole
world is pretty messed up
though.”

VALERIE and LEO sit in silence for a little bit until VALERIE
breaks it.

VALERIE
“I don’t get it.”

LEO
“Get what?”

VALERIE
“You didn’t hesitate one bit
when killing the other things,
some of them were even kids, so
why with her?”
LEO sighs.

LEO
“She reminded me of my sister.”

VALERIE
“Oh. That makes sense then I guess.
What happened to your sister?”VALERIE
“You didn’t hesitate one bit
when killing the other things,
 LEO
“I’d rather not get into that right
now.”

VALERIE looks down whilst nodding her head. LEO notices that he
made her feel awkward.

LEO
“Anyways! Thanks for saving my arse
earlier, pretty lady!”

LEO winks at VALERIE, making her laugh.

LEO
“In all honesty though, I think you
and I make a great team!”

VALERIE
“Oh yeah?”

LEO
“Yeah! So what do you say we team up
from here on out?”

VALERIE
“I mean, someone has to look out for
your stupid arse.” (laughs)

LEO
“You can look at my arse all day if you
want, darling.”

VALERIE smacks LEO’s arm as they laugh together.

FADE TO:

ACT 2

EXT. FOREST - NIGHT

VALERIE and LEO are sat in front of a blazing fire in a com-

fortable silence, until VALERIE speaks.
 VALERIE
“It still amazes me that you can
be useful when it comes to
survival skills.”

LEO
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

VALERIE
“Well… you’re not the brightest
of people, hun.”

LEO
“I’ll have you know that I used to
go camping and use my amazing survival
skills all the time. I’d take my
sister with me a lot…”

VALERIE looks at LEO in shock.

LEO
“What’s that look for?”

VALERIE
“It’s just, you never talk about
your sister.”

VALERIE and LEO both fall into silence. LEO then pulls the col-
lar of his shirt down revealing a tattoo that says “Penny” to
VALERIE.

LEO
“Her name is Penny, or was… I
don’t even know if she’s still
alive.”

VALERIE nods her head.

LEO
“I had a brother too, but he was
just like my dad - a d*ck.”

LEO sighs
 LEO
“The two of them would… hurt my mum
and my sister, and it annoye me
cause I couldn’t do anything
to help.
(Pause)
Then when all this crap went down,
my old man went and got bit - idiot.
Killed my mum in rage - as they do
- so I killed him.
(Pause)
My sister; she was distraught,
she was 15 at the time. Scared her
even more when my brother decided
to stab me in the stomach.”

LEO lifts up his shirt revealing a messy scar on his stomach.

VALERIE reaches out and touches it.

VALERIE
“Oh my gosh.”

LEO
“Yeah, so. My brother soon left after that.
Thankfully my sister loved to study medicine
and all that stuff, so she helped me
recover.
(Pause)
It was just me and her for a few
weeks, just surviving, until a horde
Came at us when we were just chilling.
Forced us to split up - God knows
where she is now.”

VALERIE blows out a puff of air.

VALERIE
“She could still be out there
somewhere.”

LEO
“Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping.”

VALERIE and LEO fall into silence again.

 LEO
“So… what about your family.”

VALERIE takes a sharp intake of breath.

VALERIE
“Long story short. My brother
became one of those things,
killed my mum, went to kill me
but didn’t - left this nasty scar
on my neck.”

VALERIE point to the obvious scar on her neck.

VALERIE
“Then he left, never to be seen
again - the end.”

LEO
“Wow, you’re a lot better at summing
things up than me.”

VALERIE
“It’s just cause I left out the
details, I’ll tell you them
another time. But right now, I
wanna go to sleep!”

LEO laughs.

LEO
“Good shout.”

LEO pulls VALERIE to lean on him, as she makes herself comfort-

able.

LEO
“I’ll take the first watch,
goodnight Val.”

VALERIE
“Goodnight, Hun.”

FADE TO:
ACT 3

EXT. FOREST - DAY

VALERIE and LEO are running through a forest whilst being

chased and fired at by bandits.

BANDIT #1
“You’re gonna die for stealing
from us!”

BANDIT #2
“Ain’t nobody who gets away from
us!”

LEO laughs.

VALERIE
“What are you laughing at?”

LEO
“I just never thought that my
goodie two shoes, Valerie, would
steal from bandits!” (Laughs)

VALERIE
“Shut up!”

LEO
“And - and that it would be- (laughs)
A cake that she would steal!”

LEO bursts into another fit of laughter.

VALERIE
“I haven’t eaten a chocolate cake
in a whole year, Leo!”

BANDIT #2
“That was my chocolate cake you
b*tch!”

LEO laughs more.

 LEO
“And the fact that they’re chasing
us for it! What is going on?!”

VALERIE and LEO continue running until they finally outrun the
bandits. VALERIE then bumps into a dirty little girl.

LEO
“Val! Look out!”

LEO pulls out his gun and aims it towards the the little girl
preparing to shoot.

VALERIE
“Leo, wait! She’s human!”

PENNY
“Leo?”

PENNY looks up towards LEO with teary eyes.

LEO
“Oh my God, Penny!”

LEO quickly rushes over to PENNY, hugging her. PENNY cries into
LEO’s chest.

VALERIE
“Wait! This is your sister?”

LEO
“Yeah. Thank god you’re alive.”

LEO slightly pushes PENNY away to look at her.

LEO
“Although it looks like you’re barely
living. Where have you been this whole
time?”

PENNY
“Kind of on my own, I was trying my
hardest to remember what you would
teach me when we went camping.”
LEO pulls her back into a hug.

LEO
“I’m so proud of you.”

VALERIE ducks as a gunshot hits a tree next to her.

VALERIE
“We need to keep moving!”

LEO
“Do these bandits ever give up?”

LEO pushes PENNY away again but grabs her hand as they all
start running in the opposite direction to the bandits.

CUT TO:

ACT 4

INT. CABIN - DAY

VALERIE, LEO and PENNY all stumble through the cabin door,
breathing heavily.

LEO
“They really wanted that chocolate
cake back.”

PENNY looks at LEO in confusion.

VALERIE
“I mean, to find one in this good
of a condition is so rare now,
you’d think they’d all be rotten.”

PENNY looks towards VALERIE in awe.

PENNY
“You have chocolate cake?”

VALERIE smiles at PENNY.

VALERIE
“Yeah, you want some?”
PENNY’s face brightens up as LEO chuckles.

PENNY
“Yes please!”

VALERIE, LEO and PENNY all walk into the kitchen as VALERIE
pulls the cake out of her back and sets it on the table. LEO
goes into multiple drawers until he finds a knife and hands it
to VALERIE.

PENNY
“Oh my gosh, it looks so yummy!”

VALERIE cuts off three slices and hands two of them to LEO and
PENNY, as she starts to eat her own slice.

VALERIE
“This is the best day of my
apocalyptic life!”

LEO
“I thought the best day was when
you met me?”

VALERIE chokes on her cake a little.

VALERIE
“Nice try, pretty boy.”

PENNY looks down after she finishes her cake and starts fid-
dling with the hem of her shirt.

LEO
“You okay, Kiddo?”

PENNY
“Um, well. You see. I was out here
looking for help, as there’s this, um,
school not too far from here; and
there’s a bunch of other kids stuck
in there.”

LEO and VALERIE look at each other cautiously.

 PENNY
“Could you help me please?
They’re my friends.”

LEO puts his hand on PENNY’s shoulder.

LEO
“Sure thing, but what’s the danger
there?”

PENNY takes a sharp intake of breath.

PENNY
“There’s a lot of those… things
there. But I know how to get
to the room they’re in quickly!”

LEO
“A rescue mission, huh? What do you
say, babe?”

VALERIE sighs.

VALERIE
“I mean we can’t just leave them
trapped there. We don’t really
have a choice.”

VALERIE puts her chocolate cake away and puts her backpack back
on.

VALERIE
“Well, let’s not waste any time,
I don’t fancy having to kill any more
kids that have turned into monsters.”

LEO checks that he has all of his equipment ready. PENNY

fidgets slightly.

LEO
“Let’s go then.”
 VALERIE
“You’re our guide, kid.”

VALERIE ushers PENNY to guide them.

EXT. ROAD - NIGHT

VALERIE, LEO and PENNY are quickly walking down an empty road
towards a school that is in the distance.

LEO
“It’s been a while since we’ve been
in the open like this.”

VALERIE
“Since we’re in the open, how about
you stay quiet?”

LEO
“Sorry ma’am.”

LEO mock salutes VALERIE. VALERIE shakes her head in annoyance.

PENNY
“We’ll be there soon.” (whispers)

FADE TO:

ACT 5

INT. SCHOOL - NIGHT

VALERIE and LEO are hastily fighting off 4 of the crazed hu-
mans, whilst PENNY cowers behind them. LEO chops off the head
of the last one.

LEO
“This place is full of these things,
what is it about schools? Whenever
you would watch a zombie film, there’d
always be a ton of zombies in schools.”
 VALERIE
“Do you ever stop talking?”

LEO
“You love it really.”

LEO winks at VALERIE. PENNY runs towards some stairs at the end
of the corridor.

PENNY
“They’re up on the third floor.
Follow me, quick!”

VALERIE and LEO quickly run after PENNY, as they make it to

the second floor a crazed human jumps on PENNY, making PENNY
scream.

VALERIE
“F*ck! That was loud!”

VALERIE kicks the crazed human off of PENNY and stabs it in the
heart whilst it’s lying on the floor.

LEO
“Are you okay, Penny?!”

PENNY looks shaken, but she quickly shakes her head and contin-
ues running up the stairs.

PENNY
“I’m fine! We have to keep going.”

VALERIE and LEO look at each other worriedly before following

PENNY. They all make it to the third floor without hassle. PEN-
NY leads them to a locked room.

LEO
“Penny, the door’s locked!”

PENNY
“I have a key, don’t worry.”
PENNY shakily pulls out a key from her pocket and unlocks the
door with it, quickly pushing LEO and VALERIE in. PENNY then
runs in after them locking the door behind her.

VALERIE
“I don’t see any kids here.”

LEO
“Penny, what’s going on?”

PENNY starts crying.

PENNY
“I’m so sorry!”

VALERIE and LEO quickly turn around when they hear growls.

VALERIE
“Oh my God.”

Three crazed humans slowly walk out from the shadows, the one
in the middle clearly being much more intelligent than the oth-
er two.

VALERIE
“Brother.”

BROTHER
“Hello, Valerie.”
CUT OUT.

THE END