Volunteers
Page 9
CALEB
Christopher!
The room is empty.
The bed, cabinets, everything, all gone.
CALEB (CONT'D)
Shit!
INT. HALLWAY
He backs out, running his fingers through his hair.
CALEB
This ain't happening.
SILLOH (O.S)
It already has.
He turns around and sees Silloh leaning against the wall.
SILLOH (CONT'D)
(smiles)
It's ironic. His belief so close to the truth.
CALEB
What did you do you do to him??
SILLOH
I have done nothing.
CALEB
Look me in the eye and say that you lying sack of shit.
Silloh approaches, taller.
SILLOH
(beat)
Why don't you look into my eyes.
Silloh's smile disappears, his eyes turn black, skin going pale.
Caleb freezes.
Silloh's hair falls our, replaced by two black horns. He finally growls, teeth rotted.
Caleb trips back, falling onto the floor.
Silloh laughs, back in his normal form.
SILLOH (CONT'D)
You really are just children. Is there anything you do not fear?
Caleb's fists clench. He leaps forward and pins Silloh to the wall.
CALEB
Where IS he?!
Silloh's laughter stops. He's gone.
Caleb backs away, trying to calm himself.
CUT TO.
EXT. GARDENS - PALACE - SUNSET
Eunice looks to one of the openings, growing impatient.
EUNICE
Damn it, what's taking them?
Suchin sits by the fountain, looking down at her rippled reflection.
SUCHIN
(beat)
Two years ago my mother took me to the city.
Eunice turns and sees Suchin smiling to herself.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
It was the first time I had left the village.
Eunice listens.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
They were giving medicine, doctors would see anyone. My mother took us all. It was not long after my youngest sister had died.
Eunice sits down beside her.
EUNICE
I'm sorry.
SUCHIN
I had gotten lost and a man found me, a foreign man. He was kind, sincere. He talked on his phone to others. A very small phone. I'd never seen one before.
I didn't understand what he was saying. I thought he would take me back to my mother.
Eunice closes her eyes, sensing where this is going.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
All I remember was that he turned off his phone.
She slowly looks at Eunice.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
That's all I remember, he switched it off.
EUNICE
Suchin I'm so sorry.
SUCHIN
Afterward he turned it back on and he was a kind sincere man again. He talked to other like him and continued helping those waiting to see the doctors.
EUNICE
There are monsters in the world. We all know that.
Suchin nods, quiet.
SUCHIN
(beat)
When my family discovered I was to have a child they were ashamed, especially my brother. They couldn't afford to cast me out. They needed us all to work the land. So I waited while my child grew inside me.
(smiles)
And with each passing day I became happier than I had ever been.
She looks at her reflection again.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
(beat)
She came early and was sick. We couldn't afford to take her to the city to see the doctors but somehow my family managed.
But when we got there all the doctors were gone. The few that remained wanted payment we didn't have.
And so my daughter died.
Eunice looks away.
EUNICE
... Suchin, I...
SUCHIN
(assures)
No no, I don't say this for your pity. I simply say all this because I want you to understand.
Eunice stops and looks at her.
EUNICE
Suchin they do this you're family WILL suffer. The world won't go away quietly, they will tear each other apart, everything will fall apart.
Suchin nods, slowly.
SUCHIN
Yes. The switch will be turned and they will all be animals again. But this will be the last time. The last time any will suffer.
She looks at her and smiles, tears in her eyes.
SUCHIN (CONT'D)
And for that I am grateful.
Eunice sees her fading.
EUNICE
-Suchin wait, don't!
She reaches out but her hand passes through her. Suchin disappears.
Eunice's hand trembles, still held out.
CUT TO.
INT. GRAND DINING HALL - EVENING
Caleb runs, passing tables of food, again he trips on a rug and scrambles back up.
CUT TO.
EXT. GARDENS - NIGHT
He bursts out. No one is there.
He frantically looks around.
CALEB
No no no. Eunice!
He runs forward.
CALEB (CONT'D)
Eunice, damn it where are you?!
EUNICE (O.S)
I'm here.
Caleb spins around and sees her sitting on a bench.
CALEB
Christopher, I can't find him anywhere.
EUNICE
Then they got him too.
Caleb stops.
CALEB
(beat)
Suchin?
EUNICE
She made the right choice.
She slowly gets up.
EUNICE (CONT'D)
The right choice for her.
She walks away.
CALEB
So it's just us?
Eunice laughs to herself.
EUNICE
For now.
CUT TO.
INT. CALEB'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Caleb sits alone on the bed, quietly drinking a bottle of beer.
Eunice stands by the far wall, smiling seductively in lingerie.
Caleb looks down, trying to ignore her. Her hand brushes his cheek. She's now beside him, still smiling.
Caleb continues to ignore her.
EUNICE
(softly)
I am here you know.
Caleb focuses on the bottle.
CALEB
(beat)
I know.
Eunice lifts a joint and takes a slow drag.
EUNICE
Hmmm. That's good.
The smoke drifts over his face.
EUNICE (CONT'D)
(beat)
She'll never look at you like I will.
Caleb nods to himself.
CALEB
I know.
EUNICE
Why torment yourself?
Caleb sips some more beer.
CALEB
Because I'm an idiot.
Eunice smiles, leaning in.
The smoke vanishes.
Caleb is again alone.
CUT TO.
EXT. MEADOW - NIGHT
Eunice slowly walks, the golden palace behind her, the moons and stars above.
She looks ahead and sees a figure by the edge of the forest.
He lifts a bucket and disappears behind the trees.
CUT TO.
INT. FOREST - NIGHT
Branches are pulled aside, Eunice makes her way forward.
She comes to a clearing and stops. The moonlight cuts down from above, illuminating an open patch of soil.
She sees the old gardener pulling out dead weeds, his back to her.
GARDENER
; (beat)
You're wondering, am I real or not.
EUNICE
The thought crossed my mind.
The gardener smiles and turns.
GARDENER
Well don't just stand there, come over and make yourself useful.
Eunice approaches.
The gardener hands her a weeding knife.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
We need to clear all this.
Eunice kneels down beside him.
EUNICE
Wouldn't it be better to do this in the day?
GARDENER
(laughs)
Day, night, makes no different.
Eunice starts cutting weeds.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
(smiles)
Good good, you know what you're doing.
EUNICE
I've worked a lot of jobs.
GARDENER
Means you're experienced, a person capable of more than one task is always of a greater value than a person capable of just one.
EUNICE
(teasing)
Like a gardener.
GARDENER
Gardening is far from one job. It requires knowledge, strength, patience, foresight.
EUNICE
-Right right, didn't mean to offend.
The two continue working. The gardener glances at her and smiles.
GARDENER
(beat)
You know there was a planet I once visited long ago. It reminds me much of this “Earth” you're from.
Eunice looks at him. The gardener glances at her again and chuckles.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
Yes, I'm real.
He continues weeding.
EUNICE
(beat)
What was it like?
GARDENER
I can show you if you like?
EUNICE
Is that allowed?
The gardener leans forward and puts a finger to his lips.
GARDENER
I won't tell if you won't.
Eunice pauses, then nods.
EUNICE
All right.
The moonlight gets brighter, turning yellow.
Eunice looks up and sees a sun in a blue purple sky.
She looks around. They're still on the patch of soil but the forest is now replaced by a country town.
Eunice studies the simple wooden huts and houses. None are familiar, the design and structures all alien.
GARDENER (O.S)
The Nesohc.
Figures materialize, going about their everyday business.
Eunice slowly stands and stares at them.
They're tall and bald, humanoid, their skin creamy white.
EUNICE
These are aliens, real aliens?
GARDENER
(glancing aside)
They were.
EUNICE
What do you mean? What happened to them?
GARDENER
They were a class 3, like you. When they became technologically aware their progression was the same as all the others.
Eunice sees time sped forward. Trees rise and fall, strange animals towing carriages are replaced by car-like vehicles.
Buildings are constructed, becoming wider and taller as planes zip by the sky.
GARDENER (O.S)
At least it was the same initially.
More Nesohc are seen, a population expanding.
GARDENER (O.S)
Unfortunately they were unable to accomplish First Unity.
A fierce flash of white light momentarily blinds Eunice.
She looks away, eyes stung, then sees a desolate rocky wasteland, no hint of towns or cities.
GARDENER (O.S)
They rose and fell so many times.
Eunice sees a skinny Nesohc emerge from behind a rock. He growls then throws a spear straight at her. She's about to jump aside when the spear passes through her.
She spins around and sees it cut through what looks like a Nescohc child. Three adults then leap forward and tear off the child's limbs, hungrily consuming his flesh.
GARDENER (O.S)
Tragic when they fall.
Eunice looks down at the gardener.
EUNICE
What happened to them? Did the Council wipe them out?
The gardener continues weeding.
GARDENER
No. They were observed from afar but nothing more. Their star was already old, there was little potential for the planet. When their sun finally died it took the Nesohc with it.
(chuckles to himself)
Not even one of the twelve chosen were willing to leave. After so many wars the Nesohc feared the sky itself, let alone any beyond it. They thought we were demons.
The forest and night return.
EUNICE
(beat)
This is what will happen on Earth?
The gardener sits up and sighs.
GARDENER
This is one example, but one example of many.
Eunice sits and goes quiet.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
(beat)
Consider the loss. Billions of years of life and potential, wasted. When a species is unable to rise beyond their limitations it is not only their loss it is a loss to all of us.
He looks down, pausing, then runs his fingers through the soil.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
Life is such a beautiful thing.
A sprout appears, growing into a healthy green plant.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
It is even more beautiful when it flourishes.
A red tomato appears.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
The reward is always unique.
He picks the tomato and smiles, handing it to Eunice.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
And it keeps on giving.
Eunice sees more plants growing beside the first, bringing forth more tomatoes of varying size.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
But if the root fails life can never truly flourish.
The first plant begins rot from the bottom up, the same then happens to all the others.
GARDENER (CONT'D)
And its poison will always spread.
Eunice looks at the gardener, quiet. The tomato in her hand disappears.
DISSOLVE TO.
EXT. PROMENADE - DAWN
Water crashes against rocks.
Eunice stands alone, staring out into the ocean.
CUT TO.
INT. COUNCIL ARENA - MORNING
Caleb nervously waits. The other five chairs are empty.
Belac turns his head.
BELAC
She's here.
Caleb gets up and sees Eunice walking down the isle, formally dressed.
Silloh stands on the main floor, hands behind his back.
Eunice moves behind the table, ignoring Caleb.
SILLOH
(smiles)
Please be seated Chosen of Earth.
Caleb sits, Eunice however remains standing.
EUNICE
(to Silloh)
I wish to speak.
Silloh looks at her, curious.
SILLOH
(beat)
Very well.
Eunice turns to the council.
Caleb watches, not sure what this is about.
EUNICE
(beat)
I understand what it is you want from us. Why you keep allowing us to come here and grovel before you. You want us to denounce our kind and embrace this... fantasy.
Caleb looks around. The faces of the council members are blank.
EUNICE (CONT'D)
You want convince yourselves that we are not as great as you. That you can control us like insects. And you may have succeeded with the others. But I will NEVER betray my kind.
She turns to Silloh.
EUNICE (CONT'D)