by Stephen King
Why would Lloyd chop his head in two, Robbie? He was going to get married, come spring.
12 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.
HATCH (also babbling)
I just went out to use the can and get a fresh coffee he was fine then. But he kept lookin' at him
. . . like a snake lookin' at a bird ... he ... he ...
MIKE looks at LINOGE. LINOGE looks back.
MIKE What did you do to him?
No reply. MIKE turns to HATCH.
MIKE Help me get him down.
HATCH Mike ... I don't know's I can.
MIKE You can.
HATCH gives him a pleading look.
LINOGE
(very pleasant) Let me out and /'// help, Michael Anderson.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 137
MIKE looks at him, then back at HATCH, who is pale and sweaty. But HATCH takes a deep breath and nods.
HATCH
Okay...
13 EXTERIOR: BEHIND THE STORE NIGHT.
A snowmobile pulls up next to the loading dock, and two men, bundled up in heavy nylon snowsuits, clamber off. They have rifles strapped over their shoulders. It's KIRK FREEMAN and JACK
CARVER, the next watch. They go up the steps.
14 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE and HATCH have just finished putting a blanket over PETER we can see GODSOE'S
fisherman's boots poking out when a HAMMERING on the back door begins. HATCH gasps and lunges for the desk, where the pistol sits beside the makeshift sign, which the men took off the suicide's chest. MIKE grabs HATCH'S arm.
MIKE
125
Relax.
He goes to the door and opens it. KIRK and JACK come in with snow swirling around them, stamping their feet.
138 STEPHEN KING
KIRK FREEMAN Right on time, by God, storm or no st
(sees the blanket-covered corpse) What ! Mike, who's that?
JACK CARVER (sick to his stomach) Peter Godsoe. I reckinize the boots.
JACK turns to look at LINOGE. KIRK follows his gaze. These men are new to the situation, but still understand instinctively that LINOGE has been a part of what has happened they feel his power.
In the corner, the CB RADIO CRACKLES.
URSULA (radio voice)
. . . ike . . . come in, Mike An . . . have a bad sit ... town hall . . . Lloyd Wish . . . gency . . .
emergency . . .
That last word, at least, comes through clearly. MIKE and HATCH exchange a startled, worried look what now? MIKE goes to the shelf where the CB sits and snatches up the microphone.
MIKE
Ursula, say again! Say again, please . . . and go slow! The roof antenna's snapped off and I'm barely picking you up. What is your emergency?
He lets go of the button. There is a tense pause. HATCH reaches past him and TURNS UP THE
VOLUME. SOUND OF STATIC, then:
URSULA (radio voice)
. . . oyd . . . shman . . . Ferd says . . . Robbie Beals . . . Henry Bright . . . have . . . can . . . hear me?
MIKE looks frustrated, then has an idea.
MIKE (to HATCH)
Go out front and get her on the Island Services CB. Come back as soon's you know what her trouble is.
HATCH
Right.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 139 He starts away, then looks back doubtfully.
HATCH You'll be okay?
MIKE He's locked up, isn't he?
HATCH looks more doubtful than ever, but he leaves.
KIRK FREEMAN Mike, do you have any idea what's going on here?
MIKE holds up a hand, as if to say, "Not now." He reaches into his coat pocket and brings out the Polaroids he took at MARTHA CLARENDON'S house. He shuffles through them until he finds the one from over the door. He lays this down in the corner of the paper he and HATCH took from around PETER GODSOE'S neck. They are identical even the drawing of the cane over MARTHA'S living 126
room door looks the same as the ones dancing on the sheet of paper.
JACK CARVER
What in God's name is happening?
MIKE starts to straighten up, then sees something else.
15 INTERIOR: THE OPEN POWERBOOK, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.
The entire grid of HATCH'S crossword has been filled in with variations of "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY," plus the little cane-icons in the black squares.
16 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE I'll be damned if I know.
17 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE, WITH URSULA NIGHT.
She's working the CB microphone for all it's worth. Behind her, looking anxious, are a number of men and women, SANDRA BEALS and CARLA BRIGHT among them.
140 STEPHEN KING
Mike, are you there?
URSULA f
MOLLY, also understandably worried, works her way through the knot of onlookers.
MOLLY Can't you get him?
URSULA
The wind's knocked the damned antennas down! Over here . . . over there ... all over the island, most likely.
HATCH (staticky radio voice) Ursula, do you read me? Come on back.
URSULA I'm here! I read you! You gettin' me, Alton Hatcher?
HATCH (radio voice)
You're breaking up some, but it's better than it was. What's your problem?
URSULA
Ferd Andrews says Lloyd Wishman has killed himself over at the firehouse HATCH (radio voice) What?
URSULA
only it doesn't sound like any suicide I ever heard of ... Ferd says Lloyd cut his own head open with an axe. And now Robbie Beals and Henry Bright have gone over there. To investigate, Robbie said!
HATCH (staticky radio voice) And you let 'em go?
i
STORM OF THE CENTURY 141 CARLA takes the mike from URSULA.
CARLA
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There was no way to stop Robbie. He practically shanghaied my husband. And there could be somebody there! Where's Mike? I want to talk to Mike!
18 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.
He sits behind the wheel, holding the mike and thinking this over. Events are spinning out of control here, and HATCH knows it. At last he raises the mike to his lips again.
HATCH
I'm calling from the truck Mike's inside. With the man who . . . you know, the prisoner.
CARLA (very staticky voice) You have to send him down there!
HATCH
Well . . . we got us a little bit of a situation right here, you see, and . . .
19 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE NIGHT. MOLLY grabs the microphone from CARLA.
MOLLY
afe, Is Mike all right, Hatch? You come on back and tell me.
20 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.
Poor guy actually looks relieved. Here, finally, is a question for which he can provide a satisfactory answer.
MOLLY
He's fine, Moll. That's a big 10-4. Listen, I have to go. I'll pass on the message. This is Island Services.
He lowers the mike, looking simultaneously perplexed and relieved, then racks it. He opens the door and gets out into the HOWLING STORM. MIKE has parked the vehicle next to GODSOE'S truck.
Now, as HATCH looks up, he sees LINOGE'S ghastly, grinning face peering 142 STEPHEN KING
out at him from the snow-caked driver's side window of the pickup truck. LINOGE'S eyes are DEAD BLACK.
HATCH GASPS and staggers backward. He looks at the window of the truck again. Nothing there.
Must have been his imagination. He starts toward the porch steps, then turns and looks back, like
"it" trying to catch one of the other children moving in a game of Red Light. Sees nothing. Goes on.
21 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.
Grinning. He knows perfectly well what HATCH saw in GODSOE'S truck.
22 EXTERIOR: THE FIRE STATION NIGHT.
The side door is open FERD didn't bother to close it when he fle
d the sight of his partner's corpse and the emergency lights inside the garage are throwing their glow out onto the snow.
A HEADLIGHT appears; the WASPY WHINE of a Sno-Cat accompanies it. The Sno-Cat pulls up.
ROBBIE gets out from one side (the driver's side, naturally) and HENRY BRIGHT from the other.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 143
HENRY I don't know about this, Robbie
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ROBBIE
You think we can wait for Anderson? On a night like this? Someone's got to take charge, and we happen to be the ones on the scene. Now come on!
ROBBIE strides in through the open side door, and after a moment, HENRY BRIGHT follows.
23 INTERIOR: THE FIREHOUSE GARAGE.
ROBBIE is standing to one side of the nearest pumper. His hood is pushed back, and he has once again lost most of his pompous authority. In one hand he holds his little gun, and now he waggles the barrel at the floor. HENRY looks, and the two men exchange an uneasy glance. FERD left BLOODY TRACKS when he fled.
ROBBIE and HENRY are both reluctant now, but as ROBBIE pointed out, they're on the scene.
They walk around the back of the pumper.
24 INTERIOR: ROBBIE AND HENRY.
As they come around the pumper, their eyes widen and their faces KNOT WITH REVULSION.
HENRY claps both hands over his mouth, but that isn't going to keep it in. He bends out of the frame, and we hear the SOUND OF VOMITING. (Sort of like the SOUND OF MUSIC, only louder.) ROBBIE looks at:
25 INTERIOR: THE BLOODY AXE, FROM ROBBIE'S POINT OF VIEW.
It lies on the floor, beside one of LLOYD WISHMAN'S boots. THE CAMERA TRAVELS UP the side of the pumper to the words printed there in paint as red as blood: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL
GO AWAY."
26 INTERIOR: ROBBIE BEALS, CLOSE-UP.
Wide-eyed. Beginning to pass fear and perplexity and into the land where panic dwells and really bad decisions are made.
144 STEPHEN KING
27 EXTERIOR: ANGLE ON ATLANTIC STREET NIGHT.
The STORM IS HOWLING. We hear a LOUD, RENDING CRACK, and a tree branch falls into the street, crushing the snow-covered roof of a parked car. Conditions are still getting worse.
28 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
JACK CARVER and KIRK FREEMAN are looking at LINOGE, fascinated. MIKE is still standing by the desk, looking at the weird crossword puzzle on the PowerBook. He's still got the Polaroids in his hand. When JACK takes a step toward the cell, MIKE speaks without looking up.
MIKE
Don't go over there.
JACK stops moving at once, looking guilty. HATCH comes in through the market, shedding snow at every step.
HATCH Ursula says Lloyd Wishman's dead over at the firehouse.
KIRK FREEMAN
Dead! What about Ferd?
STORM OF THE CENTURY 145
129
HATCH
Ferd's the one who found him. He says it's suicide. I think Ursula's afraid it might be murder.
Mike . . . Robbie Beals took Henry Bright over there. To investigate, I guess.
JACK CARVER claps his hand to his face. MIKE, however, hardly reacts. He's holding on to his cool, and thinking furiously.
MIKE
Streets still passable? What do you think?
HATCH
In a four-wheel drive? Yeah. Probably until midnight. After that HATCH shrugs, indicating "Who knows."
MIKE
You take Kirk and go on over to the fire station. Find Robbie and Henry. Keep your eyes open and be careful. Lock the place up, then bring them back here.
(long look at LINOGE)
We can keep an eye on our new pal while you do that. Can't we, Jack?
JACK
I dunno as that's such a good idea
MIKE
Maybe not, but right now it's the only idea. I'm sorry, but it is.
None of them look really happy, but MIKE is the boss. HATCH and KIRK FREEMAN head out, zipping up their coats. JACK has gone back to looking at LINOGE.
When the door is closed, MIKE starts shuffling through the Polaroids again. Suddenly he stops, looking at:
29 INTERIOR: THE POLAROID OF MARTHA'S CHAIR, CLOSE-UP.
Bloody and spooky as an old electric chair, but empty. MIKE'S HANDS shuffle to the next photo of the chair. In this one, the chair is also empty.
146 STEPHEN KING
30 INTERIOR: MIKE, CLOSE-UP. Surprised and puzzled. Remembering.
31 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, WITH MIKE (flashback).
He has just pulled the drapes across the broken window and anchored them with the table. He turns back to MARTHA'S chair, raises the Polaroid, and TRIGGERS IT.
32 INTERIOR: THE WOLF'S HEAD CANE, CLOSE-UP (flashback).
It stares at us with its bloody teeth and eyes like a ghost wolf in a stroke of lightning, then FADES.
33 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, FEATURES MIKE. He's got three two pictures of MARTHA'S chair, side by side.
MIKE It's gone.
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JACK What's gone?
MIKE doesn't answer. He shuffles a fourth photo out of the stack. This is the one featuring the message written in MARTHA'S blood, and the rudimentary drawing of the cane. MIKE looks slowly up at LINOGE.
34 INTERIOR: LINOGE.
He cocks his head and puts his forefinger beneath his chin, like a girl being coy. He smiles a little.
35 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE walks toward the cell. As he goes, he hooks a chair to sit in, but his eyes never leave LINOGE'S face. He's still got the Polaroids.
JACK
(nervous) Thought you said to stay away.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 147
MIKE
If he grabs me, why don't you shoot him? Gun's there on the desk.
JACK glances that way, but makes no move for the pistol. The poor guy looks more nervous than ever.
36 EXTERIOR: THE ISLAND DOCKS NIGHT.
They have been pretty well erased by the POUNDING OCEAN.
37 EXTERIOR: THE HEADLAND LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.
It stands straight and white in the SHEETING SNOW, its big light going round and round. WAVES
CRASH HIGH around it.
38 INTERIOR: LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM NIGHT.
It's completely automated, and empty. Lights BLINK and FLASH. The SOUND OF THE WIND
outside is very strong, and the anemometer is flickering between fifty and sixty-three MPH. We can hear the place CREAKING and GROANING. Wave-spume splatters the windows and beads up on the glass.
39 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.
A big wave a monster like the one that destroyed PETER GODSOE'S warehouse strikes the headland and all but inundates the lighthouse.
40 INTERIOR: LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM NIGHT.
Several windows shatter, and water SPRAYS ACROSS THE EQUIPMENT. The wave withdraws and everything continues working ... so far, at least.
41 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE FIREHOUSE NIGHT.
ROBBIE BEALS and HENRY BRIGHT come out, shoulders hunched against the storm. They're not the men they were when they went in ... ROBBIE is especially shaken. He takes out a huge ring of keys (ROBBIE has keys to almost everything on the island, town manager's perogative) and begins to fumble through them, meaning to lock the
148 STEPHEN KING
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door. HENRY puts a tentative hand on his arm. Once again, both men SHOUT to be heard above the HOWL OF THE STORM.
HENRY
Shouldn't we at least check upstairs? See if anyone else ROBBIE
That's the constable's job.
He sees the look HENRY'S giving him, the one that says, "You sure changed your tune," but he won't back down; it would take a lot more man than HENRY BRIGHT to get ROBBIE upstairs after what they just saw downstairs. He finds the right key and turns it in the lock, securing the firehouse.
ROBBIE
We ascertained that the victim is dead, and we have s
ecured the scene. That's enough. Now come on. I want to get back to the
HENRY
(pedantic, fussy)
We never really made sure he was dead, you know . . . never took his pulse, or anything . . .
ROBBIE
His brains were all over the running board of Pumper Number Two, why in God's name would we have to take his pulse?
HENRY
But there might be someone else upstairs. Jake Civiello . . . Duane Pulsifer, maybe . . .
ROBBIE
The only two names written on the duty board were "Ferd Andrews" and "Lloyd Wishman."
Anyone else in there would likely turn out to be a friend of that Linoge, and I don't want to meet any of his friends, if it's all the same to you. Now come on!
STORM OF THE CENTURY 149
He grabs HENRY by the coat and practically drags him back to the Sno-Cat. ROBBIE fires it up, guns it impatiently as he waits for HENRY to clamber in, then turns it in a circle and heads back for the street.