SOUL SURVIVOR

  

PREFACE 
 
	Scientists have been predicting that the world was
	long overdue for a devastating FLU PANDEMIC like
	those that killed more than 20 million people in
	1918 and tens of thousands in 1957 and 1968. Could
	the recent outbreak of the H5N1 virus in Hong
	Kong be the next worldwide catastrophe?  

  

Sweeper Cove  Adak,  Alaska

                                  
Adak in its wild beauty, with a few sunny days through the year, can be wet, foggy, stormy, 
windy and almost persistently overcast, with a mean temperature of 40º F and a seasonal
variation of less than 20º, relatively mild for its northern latitude of 52º. Record temperatures 
were 75º F (August 1965) and 3º F (February 1964).   

	FADE IN
        
	EXT.	ANCHORAGE  ALASKA        DAY
	EXT.	VILLAGE OF BREVIG MISSION 
	
	Arial Shot - Snow Storm

	View of small bay heavily covered with sheet ice 
	with breakage's showing a path where the North Star
	Research Ship has broken through the ice to reach
	a very remote Eskimo Village. The AMGEN Team has
	traveled quietly through the Village so they would
	not raise too much fuss among BREVIG'S residents.
	By that afternoon the team and a local crew had
	begun digging, and they eventually produced a 
	trench 9 ft. wide, 30 ft. long and 8 ft. deep.
	They came across several bare skeletons before 
	they hit pay dirt, the well-preserved body of
	a 30 year old woman so obese that her fat had
	insulated her organs from the effects of 
	decades of frost and thaw. Drs. KIM JACOBSON
	and SEAN RILEY are wearing heavy sub zero
	clothing. The winter has started in the frozen 
	north, the Arctic wind is blowing and the 
	figures are barely seen. They've just removed
	samples from the frozen body of a woman buried
	nearly 80 years ago in the remote Northwest
	Alaska Village of BREVIG MISSION, and it has 
	yielded valuable clues about the deadly 1918 
	Spanish influenza epidemic that swept the globe.
	While they're packing flesh samples Dr. Jacobson
	gives her assistant some vital history.

					JACOBSON
			In 1988 I took part in an expedition
			to BREVIGN MISSION, to try to extract
			virus from long-frozen victims of
			the 1918 flu. Now we're ready to
			try again. 

	With the wind blowing at 45 to 50 miles per hour 
	and the wind chill factor pushing the temperature
	down to 36 degrees below zero, DR. JACOBSONS
	voice is barely audible. But she raises her voice
	and continues.

					JACOBSON
			We knew from hard experience that 
			no live virus had survived under 
			the permafrost. But our paper
			convinced them that technology 
			had advanced to the point where
			even a dead virus could be of
			immense value. 

					RILEY
			The moment I saw your Science paper,
			I told myself, There. This is it.
			I must go with her!

	They finish bagging the tissue samples and head
	back to their quarters. The blowing snow now is
	so heavy they are barely seen through the blizzard.

	INT.	SUB ZERO PORTABLE QUARTERS (PRE-FAB)

	They finally arrive at their quarters and enter 
	the warming room. They close the outside door and 
	the sound of the blizzard is still heard but the
	temperature now starts to go up. They remove 
	their outer garments and strip down to their 
	thermal undergarments. The get into heavy sweat
	suits and open the door into the main living 
	quarters.

					JACOBSON
			I asked Dr. MOSS whether he would
			accept and analyze samples of lung 
			tissue from frozen graves, he said
			yes if I went to Alaska to get them.
			Two weeks later, here we are.

	The samples put to rest any doubt that Moss's 
	lab had indeed found and sequenced key portions
	of the original Spanish-flu virus. 

					JACOBSON
			I was struck by the uncanny timing 
			of this journey, which took place
			just as a strange virus with great
			pandemic potential was emerging in 
			Hong Kong. I was very apprehensive,
			as I was waiting for it to come 
			and it didn't. But another pandemic,
			is inevitable. 

					RILEY
			I was told that in 1918 another village
			thirty miles from here where its elders,
			after learning of the advancing plague,
			stationed armed guards at the village 
			perimeter with orders to shoot anyone
			who tried to enter. The village 
			survived unscathed. 

					CUT TO:

	INT.	SUB ZERO PORTABLE QUARTERS   -  MORNING

	Dr. Jacobson turns on the TV in the living room 
	where the balance of her crew is seen. A newscast 
	is in process with breaking news coming from
	Seattle Washington.

					NEWSCASTER
			Researchers from the AMGEN INSTITUTE 
			of Pathology, based in Washington D.C.
			has found genetic material from the
			body of the INUPIAT ESKIMO woman, a 
			victim of the disease that killed 85
			percent of the villagers in a single
			week. The body exhumed by researchers
			in their search for the virus remnants 
			had been buried in a mass grave. 
					
	Dr. Jacobson is seen meeting with the research staff
	Ryan Grant, Captain of the North Star, A man in his
	middle fifties. Skip Westover the first mate of the 
	North Star a strong looking man in his late forties
	and several members of the crew and Amgen staff.
	They are reviewing important points on flu viruses.

					JACOBSON
			Hi folks, I've been asked by some
			of the members of the supporting
			staff to give a brief rundown on
			what our research here is about.
  			The genetic material from all flu 
			viruses is in the form of RNA, a 
			single-strand structure that is far 
			less stable than the double-strand
			DNA. RNA usually breaks down in less 
			than a month, and that makes it 
			particularly difficult to preserve. 
			
	A young Amgen staff member DR. SEAN RILEY has joined
	the review of the newly found flu virus.

					RILEY
			This could help health officials
			in the United States cope with 
			the next flu pandemic.

					JACOBSON
			Records dating to the 1700s indicate
			that global flu epidemics occur every
			10 to 30 years. With the last major
			outbreaks occurring in 1957 and 1968,
			I think the world is due for another
			such experience. We definitely will
			see another flu pandemic. The 1918 
			epidemic was particularly vicious, 
			killing about 2.5 percent of the U.S.
			population. Victims often succumbed 
			within a few days of contracting the
			virus. 

					CUT TO:
	
	EXT.	ALEUTIAN ISLAND CHAIN      DAY
	EXT.	ADAK ISLAND 

	A team of women from GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL are
	seen playing cards in an old deserted World War
	II barracks. This evening four women, Gloria,
	Stephanie, Julie, and Janet, are enjoying a game 
	of bridge. Gloria and Julie are beating Stephanie
	and Janet by a very large margin. But this did not
	matter, they were only playing for fun.

					GLORIA
			Julie, think we should play for 
			money?  

					JULIE
				(Laughing)
			I think that's a great idea. 

	The time quickly passed and before long it was eleven 
	o'clock.  Janet declared that she had to depart, and 
	within the next couple of minutes, both Gloria and
	Julie also left. Stephanie cleaned up and went to 
	sleep, as did the other women when they reached their
	own room. The next morning Stephanie awoke at her 
	normal time, and performed her routine morning tasks.
	But this wasn't a normal morning. By that afternoon,
	Stephanie checked on Janet, Gloria, and Julie. They
	had all passed away overnight.

					CUT TO:

	EXT.	ANCHORAGE  ALASKA        DAY
	EXT.	VILLAGE OF BREVIG MISSION

	INT.	SUB ZERO PORTABLE QUARTERS  

	Dr. Jacobson is seen watching the latest News with
	her staff. They are watching the report on the 
	death of three GREENPEACE women by the Flu virus.

					NEWSCASTER
			Health officials report three women
			died at ADAK ISLAND of what appears 
			to be a rare strain of the flu. We
			have a special report from our 
			Health Newscaster Dr. ROBIN SAK
			of Alaskan Health Services.

					SAK
			The influenza pandemic, a global 
			epidemic of 1918-1919 is the most
			devastating flu outbreak ever 
			recorded, killing over 196,000
			people in the United States during
			October alone. 

					JACOBSON
    			We need to check those bodies to
			see if there's a match to the one
			we found here. Captain Grant, will 
			you check on weather conditions 
			to see if we can head up there as
			soon as possible?

					GRANT
			I'll get right on it!

					JACOBSON
			 After the discovery of the micro organism,
			bacteria, by Louis Pasteur, another scientist, 
			Richard  Pfeiffer, argued that a bacteria, 
			known as Pfeiffer's bacillus, caused the flu. 
			A French scientist, DEBRE, began to
			doubt Pfeiffer's claim and by 1918, had 
			concluded that the flu is caused by a
			new, smaller organism, known as a virus.
			
					SAK   (Cont.)
			Viruses are a shell of proteins, which cover
			a clump of	genetic material. Many scientists 
			don't believe viruses should be considered
			living organisms, as they aren't totally self
			sufficient. 

					JACOBSON
			The virus that causes the flu is a 
			relatively small one. About two 
			hundred million influenza virus cells 
			would fill the space taken up by the 
			period at the end of a sentence. 
		
					SAK   (Cont.)
			Influenza virus spreads into the body
			either by inhalation or by physical
			contact. The incubation period of the
			virus is very short, one or two days.
			The virus spreads and attacks quickly.
			Symptoms occur with the onset of the 
			virus, including a runny nose, sore 
			throat, congestion, fever, headaches, 
			fatigue, and cough. 

					JACOBSON (Cont.)
			The immune system communicates very 
			closely with every cell in the body,
			allowing this system to quickly 
			counterattack the virus.  White blood 
			cells are designed to attack any foreign
			substance, while antibodies are
			made to attack particular foreign 
			substances. They latch onto the
			foreign substance, and white blood 
			cells surround and destroy the 
			substance. 

					RILEY
			Severe cases of the flu may last several
			weeks. Alone, the flu is not deadly, but
			it can weaken an area of the body so 
			badly that a secondary bacterial infection
			can easily overwhelm the immune system.
						
					JACOBSON
			The immune system temporarily makes 
			antibodiesto combat any specific strain 
			of the flu that the body had encountered. 
			Then if the body is attacked again 
			by that same strain of flu within a 
			period of six months, it will be able
			to prevent it. 

					RILEY
			This natural immunization process is 
			utilized by scientists, in the 
			production of vaccines. A flu vaccine
			is made of the flu virus itself. 
			Vaccination involves injecting a dead
			strain of influenza into the body,
			which easily overwhelms the dead virus
			and continues to make antibodies which 
			fight that strain of the virus. 

					JACOBSON
			There are, however, several problems 
			with flu vaccination. First, all
			vaccinations are only temporary, 
			lasting for about six months. The
			second problem is the need to choose
			which strain to vaccinate against,
			since it is impossible to vaccinate
			against all strains. 

					RILEY
			Another problem with vaccinating against
			the influenza virus is its ability to
			mutate. This virus mutates very readily
			its genetic material, RNA, recombines 
			or changes its arrangement. Most often,
			the changes are insignificant and the 
			virus will still be recognized by the 
			same antibodies. 

					JACOBSON
			It usually occurs in animals, such as 
			ducks, which can be infected by several
			different animal strains at once. For 
			example, ducks can be infected by both
			a water foul and a human form of the 
			virus. And this is the problem we have with 
			the H5N1 virus.

					RILEY
			Many of the most severe flu problems
			can be directly attributed to man 
			and human behavior, more than to 
			natural mutations. For example, on
			multi-animal farms, certain animals
			feces are used as fertilizer. One
			species may get influenza from the
			feces of another species of animals, 
			increasing the possibility of 
			antigenic shifts.

					STAFF MEMBER
			Why do we even bother with shots?

					RILEY
			Many new methods of dealing with the 
			flu are being explored, promising to 
			lessen both the number of occurrences 
			and the severity of the flu. 

					JACOBSON
			A flu shot of the future may also involve
			the protein NEURAMINIDASE. This protein 
			would be injected into the body along 
			with the virus, theoretically alerting
			the immune system to the virus's ability
			to spread, allowing the immune system 
			to better combat the virus.

					RILEY
			Certain drugs may also be able to
			significantly decrease the threat 
			of the flu. 

					JACOBSON
			Interferon is another drug that shows 
			promise. During any viral infection 
			the body's white blood cells make 
			small amounts of interferon, which 
			stops viral reproduction. The drug
			would be safe because it is naturally
			found in the body. 

					RILEY
			We've been tracking the H5N1 FLU virus, 
			which has killed fifty of the hundreds 
			of people who are known to have been
			infected since the outbreak began last
			spring. The virus, which first began
			killing chickens, can easily be passed
			from one person to another and according
			to scientists at the Center for Disease
			Control in Atlanta and The World Health
			Organization. 

					JACOBSON
			Because H5N1 challenges a prevailing 
			scientific theory, Birds, it was believed,
			needed to pass the flu virus on to pigs
			before it would be genetically compatible
			enough to infect people. But in this case, 
			the virus, appears to have gone directly 
			from chickens to people, who likely
			became infected by contact with chicken 
			droppings, or other chicken secretions
			or exposure to chicken blood. 

					RILEY
			The jump across the species barrier
			didn't diminish the role that pigs
			play in the development of new flu 
			strains. The latest strain was 
			identified in 1961, when it killed
			thousands of South African terns. 
			But until the Hong Kong cases emerged,
			it had not been seen in people. We
			say it's not possible that this virus
			has been in humans for a while and 
			only recently came to light. We are
			now trying to unravel the mystery
			of how the virus was able to jump from
			chickens to humans. 

					STAFF MEMBER
			Do you think this could be another 
			pandemic?

					JACOBSON
			Like other viruses that carry their
			genetic material in the form of RNA
			rather than DNA, the flu virus 
			mutates very rapidly as it uses the 
			genetic machinery of its host cells
			to churn out new copies of itself. 
			So yes, I think we could have another
			Flu Pandemic!

					RILEY
			RNA viruses are notorious for copying
			errors as they replicate either 
			deleting a sequence of the chemicals
			known as nucleotides or inserting a 
			sequence in the wrong place.

					JACOBSON
			In the flu virus, these random mutations
			account for what's known as antigenic 
			drift, minor changes in the two proteins
			that stick out like spikes on the surface
			of the virus. 

					RILEY 
			This recombination of genes from
			different viruses kind of like viral
			sex and can lead to major changes in 
			the surface proteins, changes known 
			as antigenic shift. When such a shift
			occurs, people who are infected with 
			the new strain of flu virus have no
			natural immunity to it because the 
			virus is radically different from the
			flu viruses to which they have been
			exposed in the past.

					JACOBSON
			If the new strain is virulent enough,
			a worldwide flu outbreak can occur.
			Even with the advances of modern 
			medicine, an entirely new strain of
			flu virus that was easily transmitted
			could kill thousands of people in the
			six months or so it might take to
			manufacture and distribute a vaccine.

					RILEY
			We are racing to develop a human 
			vaccine against the H5N1 flu, if
			indeed it proves necessary. The
			most common strain is H3N2, the 
			virus that emerged with the 1968
			outbreak of Hong Kong flu, which 
			killed 34,000 Americans. 

					JACOBSON
			We fear that one of the people
			infected with H5N1 might also 
			be infected with H3N2 and that 
			the two types of viruses might
			swap genes, creating a new 
			strain that could be more easily
			passed from one person to another.
			That's exactly what happens in
			pigs, which provide a vast 
			reservoir for gene swaps because 
			they can harbor flu viruses from 
			birds, other mammals and humans. 
			
					STAFF MEMBER
			Dr. Jacobson, what is the worst case
			as you see it?

					JACOBSON
			Worst case, if we have a really bad
			strain! We could lose over a million
			people before we get it under control!

					CUT TO:

	EXT.	ADAK ISLAND ALASKA        DAY
	EXT.	VILLAGE OF ADAK
	INT.	WORLD WAR II BARRACKS 
                             
	The Adak Complex is unique in that there is no
	adjacent civilian community on the island. All
	personnel, both civilian and military, are 
	entirely dependent on the Navel Complex for
	housing and support. 
 
	Adak International Airport include, two 7,800 ft.
	runways, taxiways, aircraft parking pavement,
	aircraft maintenance hangars, ground support 
	equipment, control tower, terminal building,
	aircraft crash/fire station at a yearly cost 
	to the U.S. Government of more than 30 million 
	dollars. Sitting strategically halfway between
	Russia, the Orient and the U. S. West Coast.

	A Northwest Airlines Boeing 737 is seen landing
	on runway 35.  It taxies up to the terminal and
	the passengers start to leave the airplane. Drs.
	Jacobson and Riley are seen discussing the Flu 
	Virus with WOLF BLAZER of CNN News.

					JACOBSON
				(Walking down the ramp)
			Research deals with how flu viruses 
			get into cells. The virus appears
			like the earth, and  it has many
			mountain peaks and many canyons.
			Antibodies grab onto the peaks of
			the virus, because they cannot
			reach the canyons. However, these
			peaks are the mutating, part of the 
			virus. Deep in the crevasses of the
			virus, there is an area, which allows 
			the virus to enter the cell and is
			known as the receptor site. It will
			never be possible to totally eliminate
			the flu, health officials continue to
			investigate a cluster of illnesses
			due to infection with H5N1 virus. 
			
					BLAZER
			Will humanity be wiped out by a 
			deadly disease? 

					JACOBSON
			If one day a virus emerges that
			can be transmitted as easily as
			the common cold and that has a 
			100% mortality rate, the answer 
			is yes. A factor in the death 
			equation is the high density of people
			on our planet today. Thousands 
			of years ago, civilizations 
			were significantly more isolated. 
			If a cave man had contracted
			a killer flu, his local community
			and perhaps a few surrounding
			communities would have been wiped
			out. But others, being far from 
			the afflicted regions, would have
			been left unscathed. 

					BLAZER
			Why is that?

					JACOBSON
			There, people often live in close
			proximity to livestock. Ducks, pigs,
			horses, chickens and other farm 
			animals sometimes pass to a person 
			what had previously been a virus
			absent in humans. With dense
			populations in the region, it does
			not take long for the new disease
			to spread through Asia and then the
			world. The most prominent example
			was the plague, which struck Europe
			and Asia in the 14th century. 

					BLAZER
			How serious is this STRAIN?

					JACOBSON 
			A 54-year-old man involved was admitted
			to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Monday
			and died on Friday of complications 
			arising from pneumonia. A 13-year-old
			girl was admitted into treatment at
			Prince of Wales Hospital. She died in
			three days. Investigations into the
			two suspected cases are still continuing.

					BLAZER
			Sounds pretty nasty too me.

					RILEY
			We advise the public that the best
			way to combat influenza infection
			was to build up body resistance 
			by having a proper diet with 
			adequate exercise and rest. The 
			World Health Officials say the 
			flu is credited with infecting
			20 to 30 percent of the population
			each year and that 116,000 to 
			170,000 people ages 18 to 64 are 
			killed by the flu and related 
			illnesses annually. 

	They arrive at the terminal and wait for their luggage.

					JACOBSON
			Meanwhile, in Europe, an outbreak of 
			swine fever in Germany and the
			Netherlands led to a pork ban by 
			Belgium. The News Agencies reported 
			that Belgium would slaughter 112,000
			pigs to prevent the spread of swine
			fever, there is no vaccine, and no
			cure. Two months later the same news
			services were reporting 800,000 to
			a million pigs would be killed.

					BLAZER
			So what are they going to do?

					RILEY 
			Veterinary experts are meeting in 
			Brussels today to review measures 
			the Dutch have taken to contain 
			and eradicate the highly contagious 
			disease. The Associated Press 
			reported that Weiss Labs has found
			that the possibility of humans 
			becoming infected with pig viruses
			is more plausible than a fanciful
			scare story, as the British 
			researchers wrote in Nature 
			Medicine. 

					CUT TO:

	EXT.	ADAK ISLAND ALASKA        AFTERNOON
	EXT.	VILLAGE OF ADAK
	INT.	ADAK HOTEL 
                             
	Drs. Jacobson and Riles are sitting in the hotel
	lobby watching the news from Seattle. A newscaster 
	is seen with late breaking news.
		
					NEWSCASTER
			Worldwide epidemic threat by new 
			flu virus. This unique strain of flu
			never before seen in humans could
			rage around the globe if the virus
			mutates so that it can be transmitted 
			between people. 

					JACOBSON
			It just never quits!

					NEWSCASTER
			WHO lab's around the world are
			making preliminary preparations
			to combat a possible pandemic 
			or international epidemic from
			this new strain of flu. WHO 
			sent an expert team to South
			China's GUANGDONG Province 
			last week to trace the A H5N1 
			virus, contracted by 160 Hong 
			Kong residents. It's the way
			they farm, out in the villages.
			They keep the pigs in the house,
			and they raise the ducks right
			next to the pigs, so there's 
			a lot of opportunity for close
			interaction of the three species.

					RILEY
			This just doesn't look good!

					NEWSCASTER
			The theory is that influenza
			goes from the poultry to the 
			pigs, from the pigs to the
			humans. This happens when
			human flu viruses exchange 
			genes with flu viruses that
			infect birds or animals. The
			swapping takes place in pigs, 
			which can be infected by both
			human and bird flu viruses. 
			South Asia has the largest
			concentration of pigs and
			poultry, and will be the most
			likely epicenter for the next
			pandemic. The next plague,
			according to health experts,
			is most likely to be the flu. 
			These new strains are the
			cause of flu pandemics. Pigs,
			which can catch both bird and 
			human flu's, pick up POULTRY
			viruses from feces in the water.
			Humans enter the mix when they 
			give pigs the flu, providing 
			ample opportunity for bird and
			human viral genes to mix.

					BLAZER
			How soon before the rest of your 
			crew gets here? 

					JACOBSON
			They're picking up supplies in
			Anchorage, they should be here
			in a couple of days.

					BLAZER
			Is there anything we can do until
			they get here?

					JACOBSON
			We can take a cab out to the 
			morgue and take a look at the 
			three women.

	An elderly man approaches them and he seems 
	distraught, he looks around and sees the trio
	are the only people in the terminal.


					ELDERLY MAN
			Excuse me are you Dr, Jacobson?

					JACOBSON
			Yes, I am. Are you Dr. Wayne?

					WAYNE
			Yes, yes, the flue virus is
			spreading and half the city
			has it and were loosing people
			left and right. Please tell us
			what to do?

	The man falls to his knees and rolls over on his
	back. Dr. Jacobson checks him for a temperature.

					JACOBSON
			Shit Dr. Riley, he's burning up!
			Were too late, the entire city
			is probably infected. 

	They run over and grab their bags, opening them
	and grabbing masks, which they quickly place on
	their face. They hand a mask to Wolf Blazer.

					RILEY
			If you want to live a little longer
			you better put this on. 

	They spray disinfectant on their hands before 
	adjusting the masks.

					WAYNE
			Most of the city is in the 
			hospital, but some of the 
			infected ones left on a 
			plane back to the mainland
			this morning. We tried to 
			keep it contained but we 
			failed.

	Dr. Wayne coughs a few times and rolls his eyes
	back and is still. Dr. Jacobson checks his vital
	signs.

					JACOBSON
			He's gone. it looks like
			respiratory failure. Shit
			I just can't believe how
			fast it's spreading!

					RILEY
			We need to call the WHO and the
			CDC and see if they can head 
			off the people that left this
			morning.

					JACOBSON	
			It's probably too late!


					CUT TO:

           			TO BE CONTINUED
 


Copyright 1998 by Rob Perry and NorthStarr Productions

All Rights Reserved
 


Back to beginning of script
 


OR
 


 Go to Home Page