(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In)

House
Written by James Anderson

Complete Draft 1

Copyright, 2023. James Anderson

jamesandersonworking@gmail.com
 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 2.

Sounds of high pitched electrical buzzing.

1 INT. TV STATION MONITOR ROOM- DAY 1

We pull close to a large array of blank monitors and

switches activate. News stations and gossip channels appear
on screen. Reporters on screen talk with statistics growing
behind them.

REPORTER 1
Unprecedented reports of crime
originating from East Anglia...

REPORTER 2
The World Health Organization declare
this an international emergency...

REPORTER 3
(Panicked)
Whatever you do, do not let them in-

Suddenly, a monitor switches to a talk show. The HOST, 30s,

sits in a chair staring into the camera. Graphics of human
anatomy project behind him.

HOST
Just remember, the first step to a
healthy outside is a healthy inside.

The monitor freezes and distorts momentarily.

CUT TO BLACK

Sounds of a distorted radio buzzing in and out.

2 EXT. COUNTRYSIDE STREET - NIGHT 2

GREG, 20s, and SARAH, 20s, dressed in sporty gym clothes sit
in a broken down car at the side of the road.

Greg fiddles with the key in the ignition. The car flutters,
briefly starting the radio before the engine floods.

SARAH
You flooded it. Great.

GREG
I didn't.

SARAH
Well it sounds like you did.
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 3.

Greg turns the key, but again the car flutters and doesn't
start.

SARAH (cont'd)
I guess we're walking then.

Greg and Sarah unbuckle their seat belts.

Suddenly, KHALID, 20s, dressed in ragged homeless attire,

appears in the passenger window outside. He twists around
his finger, motioning them to "roll down the window".

GREG
Fucking hell! What does he want?

SARAH
Should we roll down the window?

GREG
Um, look at him, Sarah. Probably
wants to rob us.

SARAH
Really? He looks harmless.

Khalid knocks on the window.

SARAH (cont'd)
I'm rolling it down.

GREG
Dont-

Sarah rolls down the window an inch. Khalid bends down and
smiles at them.

KHALID
(Broken English)
Ve-Ate? Petrol?

GREG
Mate, the petrol station is behind us
a few miles.

KHALID
No. Ve-Ate? You drive?

GREG
No. We're not driving you to the
petrol station.

KHALID
No. You drive?
 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 4.

GREG
Can't you understand a fucking word
I'm saying!?

SARAH
Greg!
(To Khalid.)
Here.

Sarah takes out a few coins from her pocket and hands them
to Khalid.

Khalid looks at them confused before shuffling away.

GREG
Why did you do that?

SARAH
Made him go away, didn't it?

Greg turns behind him and peers out the window.

GREG
I can't see him. It's black as shit
out there.

Greg steps out of the car, followed by Sarah.

Khalid stands on the other end of the road with a hand of

coins stretched out to them.

SARAH
What's he doing?

GREG
I don't know.

Khalid begins shuffling toward them. He stops, hunched over,

shaking and coughing violently.

Greg and Sarah turn back to the car.

Khalid faces them and shuffles to them again. He coughs and

moans loudly.

Greg and Sarah run down the road away from him.

Khalid stands in the middle of the road.

3 INT. HALLWAY. HOUSE - NIGHT 3

We pull close to the front door of a dirty hallway. Takeaway

containers pile up near the entrance.
 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 5.

Greg and Sarah run up to the door and bang on it from the
outside.

GREG
Hello! Open the door!

SARAH
Help! Please!

ROBERT, 40s, dressed in filthy unwashed clothes staggers to

the door. He opens it and Greg and Sarah rush inside
breathless. He locks the door shut with a set of keys.

SARAH (cont'd)
Somebody's chasing us!

Robert opens the letterbox and peers outside. No one is

there.

He turns to Sarah and helps her up, leaving Greg on the

floor.

ROBERT
Come sit down.

4 INT. LIVING ROOM. HOUSE - NIGHT 4

Robert and Sarah enter a messy pigsty of a living room. Greg

follows close behind.

Half-eaten Indian curries are left on the floor beside cans

of German lager, while the rest of the room is decorated
with posters of American action movies, and empty IKEA
furniture boxes.

Robert falls into a lounge chair and immediately opens up a

fresh can of lager. He ignores Greg and Sarah as he switches
on the TV.

News channels are quickly changed, creating an epileptic

glow on Roberts eyes.

SARAH
Thanks for letting us in.

Greg accidentally trips over some empty pizza boxes.

GREG
Jesus Christ!
(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 6.

ROBERT
Don't blaspheme!
(Calming down)
Your guests in my house after all.

GREG
Can we use your phone to call the
police?

ROBERT
Why would you want to do that?

GREG
To report the guy that was chasing
us.

ROBERT
Oh. Phone lines are down.

SARAH
Do you have WiFi? I can get an Uber
to the-

ROBERT
No internet. I'll drive you wherever
you need to go in a bit. You just got
here. Relax.

GREG
I didn't see a car in the driveway.

ROBERT
It's parked down the road.

GREG
Look, I don't want to rush you or
anything, but we'd like to leave-

Robert stands up.

ROBERT
Don't you tell me what to do in my
own house!

Suddenly, the lights start to flicker. Robert sits down.

ROBERT (cont'd)
Go downstairs and switch the mains on
the fuse box on and off. That works.

GREG
Excuse me?
 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 7.

ROBERT
I'm scared of the dark. You're more
than capable of doing this, right?

Greg awkwardly gets up and goes to the basement door. Robert

smiles at Sarah.

5 INT. BASEMENT. HOUSE - NIGHT 5

Greg walks slowly down the basement steps. The lights

flicker quickly.

He touches the wall, trying to find his way down safely.

6 INT. LIVING ROOM. HOUSE - NIGHT 6

Robert switches the TV off and turns to Sarah.

ROBERT
Do you watch the news?

SARAH
Not really.

ROBERT
They're coming.

SARAH
Who's coming?

ROBERT
Coming from squalor. Infecting anyone
who gets close. It's their blood.

7 EXT. STREETS - NIGHT 7

A ragged Khalid shuffles down the road, coughing violently.

A spot of blood falls on the floor.

ROBERT
(O.S)
They come in the night. When it's
dark and cold. And they look for
people like you.

8 INT. BASEMENT. HOUSE - NIGHT 8

Greg opens the fuse box and looks at the various switches.

The sounds of muffled moaning and a bag rustling.

 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 8.

ROBERT
(O.S)
Sometimes they run, or sometimes they
tip toe.

Greg turns and slowly walks toward the noise.

9 INT. LIVING ROOM. HOUSE - NIGHT 9

ROBERT
But in the end, they always get you.

10 INT. BASEMENT. HOUSE - NIGHT 10

Greg grabs a flashlight nearby. He turns it on and squints

into the darkness.

ROBERT
(O.S)
You can scream, whisper, but no
matter how careful you are, they will
get inside.

11 INT. LIVING ROOM. HOUSE - NIGHT 11

SARAH
Your scaring me.

Robert gets out of his chair and walks slowly to Sarah.

ROBERT
Scared? You don't even know what
scared is. I've seen things that will
haunt me forever. Bodies on the
beach, yet somehow more of them
arrive in our towns taking everything
from us. Our food, women, children.
They'll take the blood from our very
bones. I'll show you!

Sarah grabs a fork and stabs Robert in the eye. He falls and
screams.

12 INT. BASEMENT. HOUSE - NIGHT 12

Greg looks down at the source of the muffled cries in

terror. He runs back up the stairs, dropping the flashlight.
 (Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 9.

13 INT. LIVING ROOM. HOUSE - NIGHT 13

Greg rushes into the doorway as Sarah falls into his chest.

GREG
We need to leave!

Robert stands up injured, holding the bloody fork high.

ROBERT
You little bitch!

14 INT. HALLWAY. HOUSE - NIGHT 14

Sarah tries desperately to open the front door. Greg turns

back to a bloody fork on the ground. He looks to Robert.

Robert stands in the kitchen doorway, smiling. He holds up a

knife and a set of keys.

ROBERT
According to the law I can defend
myself against intruders. Especially
if I'm attacked first. Which means,
tonight, you're both going to die.

Robert rushes toward Greg. They tumble around, wrestling

over the knife. The knife and keys drop on the floor, but
before Robert can pick them up, Greg pushes him down the
basement stairs.

Greg picks up the knife and stares down at Robert.

Robert screams as he tries to crawl back up the stairs. The

lights flicker, providing light only for a snapshot at a
time. Each flicker, Robert is dragged closer into the
darkness.

Suddenly, it's pitch black and Robert's screams cease.

The basement steps creak closer to Greg, one by one.

Greg, terrified, slams the door shut.

All the lights begin the flicker. The TV turns on, and a
news channel blurts out messages.

REPORTER 1
(O.S)
They're coming. And there's no way to
stop them from coming.

The basement door bangs loudly, with muffled cries within.

(Printed with the demonstration version of Fade In) 10.

Sarah grabs the keys and fumbles with them at the front
door. They fall.

Greg picks the keys up and unlocks the door, with knife in
hand.

REPORTER 1 (cont'd)
(O.S)
Whatever you do, if there's anything
that can be done at all, may God have
mercy on your souls.

Greg opens the door.

A ragged and bloody mouthed Khalid stands innocently holding

out his hand full of coins. The lights flicker on him,
creating a menacing shape.

Greg stabs Khalid in the chest. Khalid falls along with the
handful of coins.

Greg stands over him shocked.

The pounding noises behind the basement door stops.

Greg and Sarah fall to their knees, sobbing above Khalid.

A pool of blood travels over the coins.

HOST
(O.S)
When it all seems hopeless, and you
can't understand why all these bad
things are happening to you. Just
remember, the first step to a healthy
outside is a healthy inside.

The sound of high pitched electrical buzzing switches off.

CUT TO BLACK.

THE END.