Tuesday, January 20, 2009

BORDERS: Better Than Hunting Rats (David's Entry)

EXT. HUNTING BLIND - NIGHT

Bobby Lee (Early twenties, thin with scraggly hair) and Jasper (Late forties, tall with a beer gut and a camouflage jacket) are hunkered down, staring out over the rail of the blind toward a chain link fence across a plowed field. The fence is torn and curled back. Beyond the fence piles of junk rise in heaps.

BOBBY LEE

We're wastin' our time out here, Jaz. I knew you were full of crap.

JASPER

Just sit still and keep your eyes open. You loaded?

BOBBY LEE

Not yet, but there's a bottle of Jack in the truck...

Jasper turns and glares at Bobby Lee.

JASPER

You see me smiling? Your gun, dumbass...it loaded?

BOBBY LEE (WHINING)

Jesus, Jaz, you know it is. The shotgun and the rifle. Not like there's anything to ...

JASPER

There!

Jasper points out over the field and Bobby Lee follows the pointing finger with his gaze.

One of the piles of garbage has begun to move. Earth is tossed, and something very low to the ground is in motion.

BOBBY LEE

I'll be damned.

JASPER

Happens every time they move a truckload to the landfill. Be ready.

Both men lean down and grab a gun.

JASPER (CONT'D)

Remember now ... just like in the movies. Head shots.

Bobby Lee is barely listening. He raises his 30/30 and takes aim at a shambling figure rounding the wrecked carcass of an old Ford truck. A rotting, shambling form with a rebel cap perched on its head comes into clear view in the moonlight. Bobby Lee pulls the trigger, and the thing's head explodes with a pop.

BOBBY LEE

Hoo Ha!

Bobby Lee turns to Jasper, who pays him no attention but sites in on his own second target.

JASPER

Don't screw around boy. Be quick! If we let them get past that fence, they'll be headed toward town, and it can be hell trackin' 'em all down. It's like border guard duty.

Both men aim and fire repeatedly. Zombies explode all over the dump.

BOBBY LEE

You were right about one thing. This beats hell out of shooting rats.

Finally the very last of the things crawls out of a pile of garbage, shakes its head, and looks directly at the blind. Bobby Lee aims and fires and the thing's head pops up in the air, severed at the spinal cord. It bounces like a ball.

When there's no more movement in the dump, Jasper leans back and starts gathering his guns.

JASPER

Let's go get that bottle.

The two men climb down slowly and walk back to Jasper's truck. As he puts his gear in the truck bed, Bobby Lee stops and glances down at the bumper. He starts laughing.

JASPER (CONT'D)

What the hell is wrong with you?

Bobby Lee points at the bumper sticker. It reads "The South Will Rise Again."

3 comments:

R.A. Porter said...

There is *nothing* unfunny about slow zombies getting shot, so I was a fan early. Then the perfect tag to seal the deal. Nice first entry, David.

Ken Robertson said...

Zombies, rats, Yankees...they're all good fun when you got some Jack and a shootin' iron.

(I know whereof I speak...I was born in Alabama, and spent the first 10 years of my life in the deep south...all of my extended family is still there).

I am a little disturbed to find out what "The South Shall Rise Again" really mean though. I never pegged Robert E. Lee as a voodoo guy.

David Niall Wilson said...

Thanks... I felt like I'd better stay "close to home" on my first time out of the gate.