See, if we’re talking about my fucked-up head versus your fucked-up head …
As he’s talking, an invisible force compels Anderson to a kneeling position in front of him.
… your fucked-up head is going to lose.
Kay unzips himself.
Speaking of head.
We close on Kay’s upper body.
He laughs.
KAY
Figured that would shut you up. Gives me a moment to think up something really –
ANDERSON
(off-screen)
Hey.
Kay jumps.
Anderson’s voice came from over his shoulder.
His head turns, and he sees her. She’s back in uniform, and standing directly behind him.
ANDERSON
I can play mind games too.
KAY
What the –
Kay’s head turns again, to see who is fellating him –
– and shouts with alarm.
KAY
Fuck!
The naked woman fellating him is Ma-Ma.
Kay pulls back like a scalded cat.
KAY
Aaaagh! Fuck! Jesus! FUCK! You sick bitch!
ANDERSON
We haven’t even started.
Cut to:
INT. ABANDONED PRIMARY SCHOOL ⁄ CLASSROOM – CONTINUOUS
Stillness and quiet in the abandoned classroom.
From what Dredd can see, there is no indication of the strange battle of wits between Anderson and Kay.
They are both in the same positions they were in previously.
Kay kneeling with his hands cuffed.
Anderson standing in front of him.
Both with their eyes closed.
The calm moment is sustained.
Then, abruptly, Kay pisses himself.
As the dark stain spreads across his trousers, Anderson opens her eyes and looks at Dredd.
ANDERSON
Peach Trees is the manufacturing base for all the slo-mo in Mega City One. Ma-Ma is controlling the production and distribution across the whole city.
Kay looks down at the puddle on the floor, then up at Anderson.
In Kay’s eyes, it’s pure hatred.
DREDD
Interesting.
Cut to:
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – NIGHT
The Clan Techie looks under even more pressure than usual. He’s shaking with fear.
Ma-Ma is leaning over behind him, with her head uncomfortably close to his, and her right arm around his torso.
On the monitor in front of him, we can see the exterior of the South entrance.
And standing by the closed blast door are three Judges.
CLAN TECHIE
But Ma, please – I can’t refuse them entry!
Reveal that Ma-Ma is holding a knife across the Clan Techie’s stomach. Ready to cut.
MA-MA
If you want to keep your insides in, you better keep the judges out. So I guess you’d better think of something fast.
The Clan Techie takes a steadying breath.
Then flicks a switch on the console and speaks into his headset.
CLAN TECHIE
Peach Trees. Can I help you?
On the monitor, one of the Judges speaks into the intercom.
JUDGE
(over intercom)
We’re responding to a report of judges under fire from within this block.
CLAN TECHIE
Judges under fire? I’m not aware of any such activity. We’re actually under a scheduled nuke defence test …
JUDGE
(over intercom)
Not any more you’re not. Open the blast door right now.
Sweat rolls down the Techie’s face. But he keeps his voice under control.
Cut to:
EXT. PEACH TREE BLOCK ⁄ ENTRANCE – CONTINUOUS
The entrance to the block.
The video screen has been vandalised, but the Techie’s voice comes through the intercom.
CLAN TECHIE
Yes, sir. The problem is, we have a software malfunction and we’ve lost control over the system. We’ve had a fire on level seventy-six …
The Judge glances upwards, to the hole Dredd blasted in the side of the building.
JUDGE
(over intercom)
You’d better get control. Fast. Or I’m slapping you with an obstruction of justice charge. Five years in the cubes, mandatory.
Cut to:
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS
The Clan Techie. His relief palpable.
CLAN TECHIE
Will do, sir. On it right now.
The Clan Techie hits the disconnect button and pulls his headset off.
Wipes his hand over his mouth.
Then glances round at Ma-Ma nervously.
Beat.
MA-MA
Good.
Cut to:
INT. ABANDONED PRIMARY SCHOOL ⁄ CLASSROOM – NIGHT
Away from Kay, Dredd and Anderson talk quietly.
DREDD
We have new intel about Ma-Ma, and we’ve managed to get a 10-24 call to Control. Parameters are shifting. What are our options, Anderson?
ANDERSON
Find a position to defend, or keep moving and attempt to avoid further detection. Same as before. Except now at least we know back-up is inbound.
DREDD
You’re giving us two options. Defend or hide.
ANDERSON
Yes, sir.
DREDD
What about we attack? Head straight for Ma-Ma.
ANDERSON
… Is that an option?
DREDD
She’s guilty. We’re judges.
ANDERSON
Sir – if back-up is inbound we should wait until the odds have shifted in our favour.
Beat.
… Wrong answer?
DREDD
You’re the psychic.
Anderson glances at Dredd.
Cut to:
INT. LEVEL 125 ⁄ CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS
Dredd exiting from the school, into the corridor.
He looks left and right …
… and the corridor is empty.
DREDD
Clear.
Anderson follows, leading Kay ahead of her.
Cut to:
INT. LEVEL 125 ⁄ CORRIDOR – CONTINUOUS
In the recess of two doorways, opposite each other in the corridor, two young Clan, mid-teens, are hiding.
Amos and Freel.
They look nervous. Bright beads of sweat on the top lips. Eyes darting.
They whisper to each other:
AMOS
Why didn’t you shoot them?
FREEL
Why didn’t you?
Amos peeks around the recess – and sees the Judges and their prisoner, walking away from them.
AMOS
We could do it now.
FREEL
Go on then.
Amos looks back around the recess –
– and the corridor is empty.
The Judges have gone.
AMOS
Shit.
Amos wipes the sweat off his face with the back of his sleeve.
Why’d have to be us that found them? (Beat.) Come on.
INT. LEVEL 125 SHOPPING ZONE – CONTINUOUS
Dredd, Anderson and Kay move down the corridor away from the abandoned school.
Ahead of them, the corridor widens into a lobby area.
It’s a mini-shopping zone – like the clusters of shops at the bases of large estate tower blocks. Metal grilles over the windows. Everything covered in the ubiquitous graffiti.
The shops are all abandoned or closed.
Set into the wall is a machine that looks like a large cash dispenser. It is in fact a block info point.
There is also an elevator door.
DREDD
Wait. Map point. Let’s get
bearings.
Dredd approaches the info point.
Taps the console.
Surprisingly, it works.
He taps the screen.
Brings up a map of the block, similar to the map we saw in the med centre.
He rotates the map.
A flashing marker reads: YOU ARE HERE.
They are about two-thirds of way up the block.
At that moment –
– Amos and Freel make their move.
AMOS
FREEZE!
Dredd looks round.
By the entrance to the lobby, Amos and Freel are standing with their guns aimed respectively at Dredd and Anderson.
A beat.
Dredd sees –
– the fear in their eyes. The sweat. The shake in their hands.
Cut to –
– Kay, who is standing beside Anderson with his hands cuffed behind him. Next to the elevator control panel.
Cut back to –
– Dredd.
DREDD
Why?
AMOS
… Why what?
DREDD
Why should I freeze?
Amos is momentarily thrown.
AMOS
… Because otherwise I’ll shoot you.
DREDD
With the safety on.
Amos’s eyes flick to the safety catch of his gun.
Which is, in fact, off.
AMOS
It isn’t –
The words dry up.
In the brief instant that Amos and Freel glanced at their weapons, Dredd and Anderson have drawn their own guns, and are pointing them back at Amos and Freel.
Amos gulps.
DREDD
I don’t like to kill juvies if I can help it. Drop the fucking weapons, kids.
Cut to –
– Kay.
Who can see the way this is about to go.
And now makes his move.
The following action is fast and fluid. A surprise.
Kay’s hands are cuffed behind him.
In a contortionist’s move, Kay dislocates his left shoulder, then sweeps his looped arms over his head.
Now, like magic, his cuffed hands are in front of his body.
It’s an amazing trick, and he’s obviously been waiting for the right moment to do it.
Anderson is reacting to Kay’s move –
– but she’s too slow. Kay has grabbed her gun, forced his finger over her trigger finger, and jammed the aim in Dredd’s direction.
And now Anderson’s gun is firing.
Almost simultaneously, panicked by the sudden explosion of action, Amos and Freel open fire.
Dredd dives for cover.
As he dives –
DREDD
Stun.
The ammo swaps on his gun –
– as Dredd rolls to upright position and returns fire.
Amos and Freel are dropped by stun rounds.
And when Dredd brings his gun to bear on where Anderson and Kay should be –
– he sees Kay has twisted Anderson’s gun back against her head, and has backed into the now open elevator doors.
A glimpse between Dredd and Anderson.
Then the elevator doors close.
INT. ELEVATOR – CONTINUOUS
The elevator is rising.
Still gripping Anderson, Kay slams his shoulder against the side of the lift, popping it back in to place.
Looks unbelievably painful, but Kay deals with it.
KAY
Wow.
Kay pushes the gun harder against Anderson’s head.
You are so fucked.
INT. LEVEL 125 SHOPPING ZONE – CONTINUOUS
Amos and Freel lie on the floor, dazed, gasping for breath.
Dredd turns …
… watching the digital display show the position of the lift.
The numbers rise – all the way up to 200.
Then stop.
On Dredd’s face, cut to:
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ LOBBY – CONTINUOUS
Kay. Back on home turf – and a hero. Dragging Anderson through a group of Clan, who are cheering the capture of one of the Judges, and slapping Kay on the back.
One of them spits at Anderson.
Kay throws Anderson to the floor.
KAY
Now then. What am I going to do with you?
MA-MA
You’re going to do nothing.
Kay turns.
Sees, coming through the Clan, Ma-Ma and her Bodyguards.
MA-MA
All this trouble is your doing. When you got busted, you should have killed the judges or been killed yourself. But instead, you let yourself get taken. Like the dumb fuck you are.
KAY
But –
Ma-Ma silences him with a vicious blow from the back of her hand.
MA-MA
Shut the fuck up. I’d kill you myself, but I already lost plenty today, and I can’t afford to lose more.
Ma-Ma turns to Anderson. Looks her up and down.
Sooner or later, the Justice Department is going to come through the blast doors, looking for their judges. And they’ll find their bodies, all shot up. One on level twenty-five, and one in the slo-mo den they took down. Just a bust that went wrong.
Ma-Ma’s hand reaches back and closes around Kay’s hair, allowing her to yank his head close to hers.
MA-MA
That means no torture. No raping. No skinning. Just a bunch of bullets in the head and chest. You understand me?
Kay hesitates.
Ma-Ma’s fist tightens so hard we can see the hairs getting pulled out of Kay’s head.
MA-MA
Do you fucking understand me?
KAY
Yes.
MA-MA
Good.
At that moment –
– the Clan Techie arrives.
CLAN TECHIE
Ma.
Ma-Ma turns. Wipes stray hairs from her hand.
The guy looks worried.
CLAN TECHIE
You’d better come quick.
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Ma-Ma, followed by Kay, enters the CCTV room.
The Clan Techie is hurriedly working his console.
MA-MA
Now what?
CLAN TECHIE
It’s the other judge. He’s patched himself into one of the terminals. I think he’s trying to access the PA.
MA-MA
Can’t you stop him?
CLAN TECHIE
I can shut down the whole system. But if we let him talk, I can trace which terminal he’s using. We’ll know exactly where he is.
On cue, over the Tannoy, Dredd’s voice cuts in.
DREDD’S VOICE
Inhabitants of Peach Trees. This is Judge Dredd.
The Clan Techie looks back to Ma-Ma.
MA-MA
Let him talk.
INT. ATRIUM – CONTINUOUS
Dredd’s voice echoes down the whole atrium.
All around the balconies and apartments, the Citizens, many of them armed, listen.
DREDD’S VOICE
In case you people have forgotten: this block operates under the same rules as the rest of the city. Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law.
Beat.
Ma-Ma is a common criminal.
On Ma-Ma’s face:
DREDD’S VOICE
Guilty of murder. Guilty of the manufacture and distribution of the narcotic known as slo-mo.
Ma-Ma’s head snaps round to Kay.
The look in her eyes silences him.
DREDD’S VOICE
And as of now, under sentence of death.
Cut to –
– groups of armed Clan.
DREDD’S VOICE
Any who obstruct me in carrying out my duty will be treated as an accessory to her crimes. You have been warned.
The Clan exchange glances.
Cut to:
Ma-Ma.
DREDD’S VOICE
As for you, Ma-Ma …
Cut to:
Close up on Dredd’s mouth.
DREDD
Judgement time.
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS
As the Tannoy cuts out, we find Ma-Ma.
Beside her, Kay, ashen-faced.
Behind her, the Clan Techie, appearing.
CLAN TECHIE
I’ve got him. He’s only ten levels below us. South Quad balcony. Terminal five.
Cut to:
INT. LEVEL 190 ⁄ CORRIDORS – NIGHT
Two groups of Clan, automatic weapons in hand, run down corridors, exiting on to the –
INT. LEVEL 191 ⁄ BALCONY – CONTINUOUS
From the point of view of the opposite balcony, either one or two levels up …
… we watch the group of Clan, automatic weapons in hand, move down the balcony …
… converging on Terminal Five: one of the information access booths dotted around the block.
Through the frosted glass of the booth, we can just make out the shape of a tall man.
We watch them making hand signals to each other.
Then raise their weapons.
Then one inches forwards …
… and opens the door.
Revealing the body of a Clan member.
Shot dead. Held upright by the plasti-cuffs that secure him to the terminal console.
Reveal –
– we have been watching from the point of view of Dredd.
DREDD
Incendiary.
The setting on Dredd’s gun changes.
Then he opens up.
Three phosphorus rounds are fired down to the balcony of level 190. They leave a white plume like the vapour trail of a plane on a blue sky. A few metres before their target, the rounds blossom into a scatter of multiple phosphorus particles which engulf the clan below.
Dredd walks, calmly shooting. Spreading the flame. Until it is a wall of fire.
Out of which, a blazing Clan member blinded, panic-stricken, throws himself into the void of the atrium.
INT. MA-MA’S BASE ⁄ CCTV ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Kay, Ma-Ma and the Clan Techie look at the devastation on the monitor.
KAY
Holy shit. How the fuck are we going to stop this guy?
A beat.
Dredd Page 6