by J. R. Rain
ZAHIR
You tugged my pants.
JACK
I most certainly did not tug your—
Zahir turns—and sees the hovering green vine out of the corner of his eye. He screams in terror. The vine, seemingly reacting to him, retracts quickly, retreating back across the floor, and back toward the strange plant growing in the corner of the room.
Zahir, completely freaked, turns to flee, but stumbles over the edge of a rug and pitches forward. He lands on his face—directly in front of the head of a skinned tiger. The creature’s massive jaws are wide in a fierce, silent snarl. Zahir screams.
TWO HANDS APPEAR and grab Zahir by the shoulders, as Jack easily lifts the gas station attendant to his feet.
JACK
Will you quit clowning around?
Zahir, for once, is speechless. He can only point with a shaking finger at the plant in the background. Scowling, Jack turns to see what the Iranian is pointing at—
And sees the same vine hovering next to him. Jack, however, is more curious than anything. He reaches out tentatively with his hand...and we watch as human and plant make contact. The vine curls through Jack’s fingers, coiling slowly over the back of his hand, over his wrists and up his arm. Like a boa constrictor. It continues up over his shoulder and neck and finally around his forehead...as a voice from behind them speaks:
CHIEF
It likes you, Jack.
Behind Jack, the Chief of Police and a small contingent of villagers all file into the room.
JACK
At the risk of sounding impudent, who exactly
are you people, and where the hell did you
get this plant?
CHIEF
We are the Keepers, Jack.
JACK
Keepers of what?
But the Chief doesn’t answer immediately and Jack continues to play with the strange vine. His eyes suddenly widen.
JACK
Is this...
(he tries again, swallowing)
Is this from the Garden of Eden?
The chief raises his eyebrows but says nothing. Instead, he smiles broadly.
JACK
You are the Keepers of Eden.
CHIEF
I guess we’ll have to kill you now, Jack.
ZAHIR
Please, no. I have heard nothing!
What is a Keeper? I do not even
understand—
JACK
Relax, the Chief is joking—
(to the Chief)
You are joking, right?
CHIEF
Of course, my friend.
JACK
But I don’t understand—you work in Tehran,
as the Chief of Police.
CHIEF
Indeed. And we have others working elsewhere,
as well. We are the eyes and ears of the Keepers.
JACK
But...I don’t understand.
CHIEF
Then left me help you. We are the Keepers of Eden,
sworn to protect the Garden for all eternity.
In particular, the Tree of Life.
JACK
But why?
CHIEF
To put it simply, Jack, the Tree of Life
is the source of all life on Earth.
Jack might have needed more convincing if it weren’t for the sentient plant currently interacting with him. Playing with such a plant makes it very easy for Jack to believe the Chief’s story.
JACK
So the Bible stories are true.
CHIEF
True enough.
(a beat, studies Jack)
As you are aware, the Russian billionaire is closing
in on the Garden. He’s found the Garden Temple,
which is the first step into Eden...and with their recent
acquisition we fear they will break through all the way.
JACK
Break through?
CHIEF
Into Eden.
JACK
And I suppose the recent acquisition is Tess.
CHIEF
You were supposed to help her, Jack,
not lose her.
(a beat)
But you can still be of use to us.
Zahir, who’s playing a sort of mimic game with one of the vines, suddenly looks up, very concerned.
EXT. MOUNTAIN OF GOD – NIGHT
WIDE SHOT of the extinct volcano. A full moon sits high above, the night sky full of glittering stars. The mountain itself dominates the landscape like something ominous and living.
TIGHTER SHOT on the mountain as men and equipment pour in and out of a temple built into the side of a cliff. Torches and lanterns light the stone façade. A beehive of activity.
INT. THE ANCIENT STONE TEMPLE – NIGHT
Torches flicker everywhere. The interior is badly damaged. Crumbled stone columns and archways. Arab men, mostly nomadic laborers, work steadily throughout the night, loading and removing broken stone blocks with wheelbarrows. In one corner of the main temple room is a cute little dark-haired boy playing happily with stone bricks. This is Tess’s son, RICKY MORGAN.
Around the corner, through a broken rock wall, we come to a once-hidden chamber, now revealed. This is the GARDEN CHAMBER. Relief carvings of majestic plants and flowers and vines are scrawled over the surface of its walls. Within the temple room is Boris Karakov, Tess Morgan, Morrie Morgan, Abdullah and a handful of armed men.
BORIS
This is as far as we’ve gotten, Miss Morgan.
We’ve reached an impasse. We know,
according to your father’s research,
that this temple leads into Eden. However,
we cannot find the elusive entrance.
But Tess isn’t really paying attention. She’s trying to catch a glimpse of her son playing just outside the Garden Room. A guard shakes her violently. She turns and glares at Boris, eyes smoldering.
TESS
So what do you want with me?
Her ex-husband, Morrie, steps forward and puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. She immediately shrugs the hand off.
MORRIE
We think you might be able to find the entrance,
or portal, or whatever the blasted thing is.
Your father’s research is surprisingly unclear
when it comes to this.
TESS
He knew better. He also knew that
there is only one way to find the portal.
Boris, after a short fit of hacking and coughing, wipes his mouth with a soiled handkerchief, which he then folds and neatly tucks away in a jacket pocket. Clearly unwell, he looks at Tess with watery eyes.
BORIS
Do tell, Ms. Morgan.
TESS
Trial and error. There’s no other way.
There’s a reason the passage is secret.
Boris’s face turns stony.
BORIS
I don’t have time for trials.
He flicks his gaze over at her son, who’s playing and humming contently in the next room.
BORIS
And, for his sake, there’s no room for errors.
INT. THE INN BASEMENT – EARLY MORNING
Jack, Zahir, the Chief and a handful of other Keepers emerge from a stairway and into the inn’s basement. The Chief stops before a heavy door.
CHIEF
A secret underground entrance that leads
directly to the mountain temple. The Russian
will hardly be expecting you.
JACK
We’re going alone?
CHIEF
The tunnels are too narrow for our horses and weapons.
JACK
I don’t understand.
CHIEF
We will be attacking at dawn.
(a beat)
Find your friend, save her and her child,
and get the hell out of there.
ZAHIR
(mumblin
g)
Easy for him to say.
The Chief pulls the heavy door open, which reveals a dark tunnel beyond. A cold draft of air issues out. Zahir shivers and steps forward. He takes a peek inside. He doesn’t like what he sees.
ZAHIR
Can I go home now?
INT. TUNNEL
Jack and Zahir, each holding a flickering torch, make their way through a dark and narrow tunnel. Jack’s cane clicks loudly. An irritable Zahir glances over at the cane.
ZAHIR
Can you stop doing that?
JACK
Doing what?
ZAHIR
(pointing to the cane)
Making all that noise.
DISSOLVE TO: We see that Zahir is now missing his right shirt sleeve. With only one sleeve, he looks ridiculous.
CAMERA TIGHT on the tip of Jack’s cane, which has been sheathed with Zahir’s shirt sleeve, now effectively muffling the clicking sound. Jack looks pleased. Zahir looks even more irritated
DISSOLVE TO: They come across a fork in the tunnel, branching off into three different directions. They stop.
JACK
We go left.
ZAHIR
No, the Chief said we take the middle.
JACK
We take the middle at the next fork in the passage.
ZAHIR
(shaking his head)
We take the left at the next fork in the road.
JACK
Christ, now you’re confusing me.
(a beat)
Let’s flip for it.
ZAHIR
I don’t have any coins—hey!
But Jack searches his pockets, finds nothing. Then spies Zahir’s pathetic shirt and reaches over and plucks off one of the Persian’s buttons.
ZAHIR
Why don’t we start using your shirt for supplies?
Jack ignores his protests and shows him the button, turning it over.
JACK
The dark side is heads. The lighter side is tails.
ZAHIR
Fine.
JACK
Heads we go left. Tails we go down the middle.
ZAHIR
Fine.
Jack flips the button, catches it, opens his palm. The dark side shows on top.
JACK
(smugly)
We go left.
ZAHIR
If you want to die a slow and miserable death
wandering endlessly through—
Zahir looks up and sees that Jack is already long gone, heading up the left tunnel.
ZAHIR
Hey, wait for me!
INT. TEMPLE ROOM – EARLY MORNING
A section of rock rolls away. Jack and Zahir, both covered in dust, crawl through a small opening and emerge into an empty stone chamber. As Zahir crawls out, he kisses the dusty floor of the chamber, clearly relieved to be out of the claustrophobic tunnels. And then he looks up and sees a massive statue of a truly frightening creature. Zahir, terrified, screams. Jack quickly covers the Arab’s mouth with his hand.
JACK
Quiet, idiot!
When Zahir calms down, Jack eases over to a stone doorway and peers out. We see what he sees: a long gloomy hallway. Voices drift down the hallway.
JACK
I hear voices.
Zahir opens his mouth to speak, but Jack promptly cuts him off.
JACK
And they’re not in my head.
INT. THE GARDEN CHAMBER ROOM
Tess, Boris, Abdullah and many armed thugs are all clustered together in the center of the room.
BORIS
The time has come, Ms. Morgan.
TESS
I told you—my father’s research made
no mention of the location of the portal.
BORIS
I do not believe you. It was purposely
left out of his research. Perhaps stored in
a safe place. I think that safe place was you.
Boris snaps his fingers and little Ricky is brought into the room.
BORIS
If you value the life of your son,
I suggest you find the portal.
Tess glaring at both Boris and her ex-husband, Morrie, steps deeper into the chamber. At the far wall, she runs a hand over the polished stone reliefs that beautifully depict a lush garden...
EXT. WIDE SHOT ON THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD – EARLY MORNING
A HORDE OF RIDERS set out from the small town of Abztul, led by the Chief. All the riders, dressed in desert tans, are armed to the teeth with rifles and scimitars. The contingent heads up a narrow trail that cuts through a mountain pass.
INT. THE TEMPLE – MORNING
Jack and Zahir move carefully through the empty corridor. They are surrounded by stone pilasters and strange carvings of extinct animals.
ZAHIR
I feel like I’m in a stone petting zoo.
JACK
Just don’t pet anything, Zahir.
(a beat, listening)
C’mon, this way.
INT. THE GARDEN CHAMBER – DAY
Tess moves purposefully through the ornate stone chamber. Torches flicker on the walls. Dust stirs on the floor. In the background, watching her with eagle eyes, is Boris, looking gaunt and haggard, dying by the minute. Although ill, he watches Tess with great interest. But Tess ignores them all. Deep in thought. Contemplative. What she may or may not know is not readily apparent. She could be stalling for time. Or remembering something lost.
INT. TEMPLE – DAY
Jack and Zahir work their way cautiously through the temple passageways, both nervous and jumpy. Jack’s cane is still muffled with Zahir’s shirt sleeve. Before them, around a slight bend in the temple’s tunnel, two soldiers stand guard outside a very ornate entrance into what must be a spectacular inner sanctuary.
JACK
They’ve got to be in there.
(a beat)
We need a distraction.
Jack heads back the way they had come, and quickly begins ducking into the smaller chambers, which are presently being used as storerooms.
ZAHIR
What are we looking for?
JACK
I’ll know it when I see it.
As he steps into the next room, holding his torch out before him, he smiles broadly. We see what he sees, as the flickering light reveals a crate of dynamite.
JACK
Bingo.
INT. THE GARDEN CHAMBER
All eyes are on Tess as she moves slowly through the intricately-carved Garden Chamber. She pauses before a stone frieze of a fierce-looking cherub, its fiery sword raised high. She briefly studies the legendary protector of Eden, then reaches up for its sword arm. Behind her, Boris steps closer, watching carefully—
INT. TEMPLE HALLWAYS
Jack and Zahir are lugging a crate of explosives, when suddenly an angry voice shouts at them from off-camera.
MAN
(in Farsi, subtitles)
Hey, you two!
Now, a tall FOREMAN in a long robe approaches them from a side chamber.
FOREMAN
(Farsi, subtitles)
What are you doing with those explosives?
Jack, who has donned a head cloth, keeps his head lowered. Zahir speaks for them. Zahir isn’t exactly cool under pressure.
ZAHIR
(Farsi, subtitles)
We’re, um, going to blow something up.
FOREMAN
(Farsi, subtitles)
Never mind that. We need diggers now.
The foreman hands Zahir a shovel. Zahir automatically reaches for the shovel—and promptly drops his end of the heavy crate of explosives. The crate crashes to the ground. Jack’s eyes bug out of his skull.
JACK
The dynamite!
The foreman suddenly turns suspiciously to Jack, for Jack had inadvertently blurted the words out in English.
FOREMAN
Remove your head cloth.
&n
bsp; JACK
(Farsi, subtitles)
Sir?
FOREMAN
(Farsi, subtitles)
I said remove your—
Zahir taps the Foreman on the shoulder, and as the man turns, the Iranian whacks him upside the head with the flat end of the shovel, knocking him out cold. The shovel vibrates violently in Zahir’s hands.
INT. THE GARDEN CHAMBER
Tess’s hand tentatively reaches for the stone arm that holds the relief carving of a fiery sword. Boris watches her closely, pleased and anxious. And desperate. Just as she’s about to grab hold of the arm, a massive explosion rocks the entire chamber. Dust sifts down from everywhere. Tess is jolted forward into the statue.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE