Harsh Realm "Duel" by Jon Sheppard TEASER EXT. WOODS - NIGHT The trees are thick, acacia, pine, maple, etc. This is the northeastern seaboard, perhaps Vermont or Maine. It's dark, but there's a full moon. The camera focuses on the smooth- as-glass surface of a small lake and then sweeps left, into the woods. We see three figures in the dark, moving quickly. It's too dark to see who they are at first, only that they appear to be soldiers. Slowly we move closer, and it gets a little brighter (the moon has come out from behind some clouds). We see the three pause in the woods, all of them carrying guns, looking around. First we see PINOCCHIO, his submachine gun in hand, staring at something off in the woods. Next is FLORENCE, facing the opposite direction, rifle in her hands, making sure no one is followng them. Finally there's HOBBES, in combat boots, cargo pants and a frayed sweater, crouched, carrying a handgun. HOBBES is dirty and needs a shave, looks like he could use a night's sleep too. He looks tired but determined. Back in the distance somewhere, we can see the front end of PINOCCHIO's battered car, a camo net thrown over it. HOBBES slides his gun into it's holster, relaxes a little. HOBBES Looks safe to me...we can make camp here. There's nobody around to see our fire. PINOCCHIO slides his submachine gun back into the clip on his thigh. He rests one hand on it's pistol grip, the other on the butt of the knife that's sheathed on his other hip. PINOCCHIO (sarcastic) Oh, yeah. It's Kentucky Fried C-Ration night in Harsh Realm...again. Yippee. HOBBES There's got to be some fish in that lake. I haven't had good salmon since... PINOCCHIO (sarastic) Yee haa. HOBBES Hey, lighten up. It tastes better when you cook it yourself. Right, Dexter? DEXTER, running around at their feet, looks up at the two of them, tilting his head. He blinks several times, panting happily. He knows he's gonna get fed soon. He's happy about it. HOBBES See? Told you. PINOCCHIO (mumbling) Damn dog. HOBBES smiles down at his dog. Kind of a that's my dog look on his face. EXT. WOODS - NIGHT Some kind of background music plays softly. Something on the guitar, slow, relaxing. We see a clock's face, the hands indicating one o'clock. The camera slowly moves back and we see it's not a clock, it's HOBBES's wristwatch. He is sitting on a fat log pulled up close to the meager fire they've built. His elbows are on his knees, his gun lying next to his boot, on top of his bedroll. He's singing quietly--we can just barely hear it. PINOCCHIO sits on the other side of the fire, his submachine gun partly disassembled. He's wiping it with a greasy cloth, looking down into the open end of the magazine he's just taken out. Wishing he had more bullets than he has (the last few weeks have been interesting, to say the least). PINOCCHIO What's that? HOBBES Huh? HOBBES has obviously been somewhere else in his head for the last few minutes, thinking about something else. That woman of his, probably, back in the real world. He's always thinking about her. They would've gotten married three weeks ago, if he hadn't been sent here... PINOCCHIO You were singing something. HOBBES Oh, uh...yeah. It was... PINOCCHIO looks at him, for once not glaring or scowling. The look on his face is one of quiet interest. He's wondering what's on HOBBES's mind. HOBBES It was gonna be our wedding song. PINOCCHIO You're always thinkin' about her. I can see it in your eyes, Hobbes. Sometimes it takes your eye off the ball. HOBBES Yeah, I...guess. HOBBES digs in his pocket, pulls out his beat-up wallet. He opens it to the picture of SOPHIE, tucked in behind his Army ID card. It's a little frayed around the edges, and there's a crease across one corner. He stares at her. She's a beautiful woman, in her mid- twenties, with blond hair and dark blue eyes. She's wearing a yellow sweater and smiling brilliantly. HOBBES Fire's getting low. I'll go find some firewood. Want to loan me your knife? PINOCCHIO I don't know if I should, after what I just said... PINOCCHIO takes his knife out of it's sheath, flips it around on his hand, passes it to HOBBES handle-first. HOBBES sticks it in his belt, and walks off into the woods, past where FLORENCE is sleeping in her fuzzy sleeping-bag with a tear in the outer layer. EXT. WOODS - NIGHT We can see the trio's encampment maybe a hundred yards away. HOBBES crests a hill, his flashlight in one hand, looking for some loose sticks or wood. If he can't find any, he's going to have to hack some off a tree. His free hand is close to the butt of the gun on his hip, just in case. He sweeps the flashlight around, looking. Suddenly he stops, his feet planted in the loose, dry leaves. His free hand moves so quickly it's little more than a blur, and his pistol is in his hand, the flashlight held next to it. He's heard something, but he isn't sure what. He takes a few steps to his left, slowly, sniffing, listening. Trying with every sense to pick up on what he thought he saw. He walks a little further, crouches against the trunk of a huge tree. After a moment he steps away from it, swinging his gun around to aim at his prey... And steps into the ripple of some kind of glitch. It shimmers, looks different from the ones he's seen before. He stares at it in wonder for a moment, not moving. Then he disappears, pulled into the glitch. He is gone. FADE. INTRODUCTION & OPENING CREDITS ACT ONE EXT. WOODS -- SUNRISE The encampment. The sky is a little brighter, moving out of black and into blue slowly. It looks as if the sun is going to be up soon. The stars are starting to fade. It's raining gently. Zoom in on PINOCCHIO and FLORENCE, asleep in their sleeping bags close together next to the fire. ==NEAR CALAIS, MAINE== ==HARSH REALM== PINOCCHIO snaps awake, sitting up, and we see the MP5 slide out from inside the sleeping bag, in his hand. He looks around. FLORENCE begins to stir. PINOCCHIO stands up, rolls up his sleeping bag and stows it with the rest of their gear, against the log that HOBBES sat on two hours ago. PINOCCHIO (mumbling) Where the hell did he run off to now? He works the bolt on his MP5, chambering a round. He stands up, the rifle in both hands, unfolds the stock. Turns in a fast circle, sweeping the area. Meanwhile, FLORENCE has awakened, and she seems to know something is wrong. She grabs her M-16, coming up on one knee. She looks a question at PINOCCHIO. PINOCCHIO I swear I'm gonna put a leash on that man next time we make camp. Who does he think he is, anyway? Pocahontas? The two of them start towards the water, and they find nothing. They head along the shore towards where the woods thicken. Walk up a steep hill, into the denser trees. We can see that this is near where HOBBES disappeared. PINOCCHIO (yelling) HOBBES!! (pause) HEY, HOBBES!! They run further into the woods, guns at the ready. But HOBBES is nowhere to be found. After a long moment PINOCCHIO returns his gun to his hip. He continues into the woods, looking. PINOCCHIO Where would he go? Unless...(pause) PINOCCHIO stops for a moment, looks back at FLORENCE. Her expression is uncertain--she doesn't have any idea what happened to HOBBES, not any more than he does. She holds her rifle at low ready. They continue through the woods, searching. INT. TUNNEL -- DAY We're looking straight down at HOBBES, who lays on a concrete floor. From the light it seems like he's indoors, although the setting is hazy, unfamilliar. The camera slowly backs off and we can see a little more--a rectangular tunnel, the walls and floor smooth, lights along the ceiling every ten feet or so, pipes running here and there. It looks like some kind of access to a sewer, and water drips here and there along the corridor. HOBBES rolls over, sits up quickly, reaching for his gun. There is a cut across the side of his head, as if he hit his head on something when he came out of the jump-port. In the bright light of the corridor we can see the stubble on his face, it's evident he hasn't shaved in a week or more. The camera closes in on HOBBES, to his hip. His hand claws under his jacket, and we see it curl around the holster there--there's no gun in it. Somewhere along the way he's lost his gun. He pushes himself to his feet, an angry look on his face. He looks around, up and down the corridor, doesn't see anything. He looks down at the ground where he was laying. His gun is gone and so is the knife he borrowed. His fatigue jacket is wet. He shrugs out of it, drops it on the floor, and starts walking. After a few steps he stops. He raises his head, as if to shout, ask if there's anybody around. Then he changes his mind. It's safer to keep quiet. He keeps walking, turns a corner. The corridor stretches away. He stands there for a moment, staring. Scrawled on the wall in some kind of black grease paint (or something) are the words ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE. HOBBES rounds a corner, still in this strange network of tunnels. EXT. WOODS -- DAY The forest. FLORENCE stands in a small clearing, rifle slung over her shoulder, turning in a slow circle, staring at everything. We can see the wheels turning in her silent head, thinking. Trying to figure out where HOBBES could have gotten to. She looks down at the ground, searching for tracks in the mud and leaves. There aren't any. We hear something. A twig snapping somewhere, some leaves crunching. She lifts her rifle, turning towards the sound. PINOCCHIO steps out of the thicker woods, carrying his gun down at his side. PINOCCHIO It's me. FLORENCE lowers the rifle a little, and something almost like a smile flashes on her face for a moment. She slings the rifle on it's strap back on her shoulder and walks with PINOCCHIO through the woods. PINOCCHIO He's not here. We've been searching for hours. He must've run into some trouble...maybe Republican Guard. Maybe he got into it with somebody else. The game maps say this area's mostly unpopulated, but you never know. FLORENCE looks at him, a question in her eyes. We can see that PINOCCHIO has become adept at reading her expressions, knowing what she's thinking. After all, these two have been working together for a while now. PINOCCHIO I'm not sure. Maybe he found Santiago. (laughs sourly) FLORENCE looks at him, her eyes sharp. If he did, he's got a long way to walk to his own funeral. Going after SANTIAGO single-handed isn't a real good idea, everybody knows that. EXT. WOODS -- DAY A road winding through the woods, fairly well-maintained considering this is on the wrong side of Santiago's fence. We see three vehicles working their way up the dirt road- -two Hummers and a troop truck, all bearingg the seal of Santiago's Army on the doors. The troop truck has a platoon of soldiers sitting in the back, rifles across their knees. Waiting. ==NEAR CALAIS, MAINE== ==HARSH REALM== The trucks stop at the crest of the hill, and the door of the Hummer leading the convoy opens. Major Mel WATERS gets out, in full combat gear, his beret tucked into the epaulet on his jacket. He carries an MP5 machine gun, similiar to PINOCCHIO's, and a pistol strapped to his hip. Another man gets out of the Hummer, small, bumbling, in a Republican Guard uniform that's a little too small for him and very uncomfortable. He isn't carrying a weapon, but there's a lot of gadgets and electronic devices clipped on his belt. WATERS turns to him, one hand on the butt of his sidearm. WATERS Move it. SMYTHE, the geeky looking guy who's just gotten out of the Hummer, hurries to WATERS' side. He stands there for a moment, one of his strange gadgets in his hand. It looks like some kind of sensor, very high-tech, lights blinking all over it, the occasional steady beep coming from it. SMYTHE Yes, sir, uh... WATERS (pointing at the device) Are you getting anything? SMYTHE It's close. Not more than five or six kilometers from here. WATERS Which way? Where is it? SMYTHE Uh, north. Through the woods. WATERS and SMYTHE get back in the Hummer and the convoy continues down the decaying dirt road. The pass a bent road sign that has the Interstate symbol on it, the number 87. WATERS sips coffee from a thermos. WATERS So, just how serious a problem are we looking at? Smythe? SMYTHE looks up from the little computer he's working at. It's a small Palm-Pilot-type device. SMYTHE It's, uh, just a minor programming error, Major. I don't think it'll be anything serious. If it was, it'd be easier to track. WATERS nods, and continues driving. EXT. WOODS -- DAY We see the two Hummers and the Troop Truck parked and emptied. WATERS, SMYTHE and several other foot-soldiers in full combat gear stand in a loose cluster, all sort of looking at each other. WATERS carries a map as well as his rifle. WATERS The readings we got came from those woods. Probably four or five kilometers that way. WATERS points. WATERS Whatever's going on in there, we're going to have to find it and fix it. We all know that this area of the game map is problematic--volatile. There are glitches, there are programming errors. Be careful. Be alert. The camera sweeps away from WATERS, SMYTHE and the soldiers, into the long grass and trees at the edge of the road maybe fifty yards away. We see PINOCCHIO, at first just his eyes. He's crouched low, his gun drawn, his face blacked out, staring coldly at what's going on. WATERS turns from his men, as if acting on instinct, and stares into the bushes where PINOCCHIO was just a second ago. But he's gone. We see PINOCCHIO, running back through the woods to where the car is hidden. FLORENCE stands next to it, her rifle at the ready. She recognizes him as he bursts out of the trees, running towards her. PINOCCHIO We gotta move the car. Republican Guard, half a mile back. They're up to something. They were talking, about some kind of...programming glitch. Some kind of game error. Something funky going on. FLORENCE points several times back into the woods. She's got an angry look on her face, and we can see exactly what she means from her expression: What about Hobbes? PINOCCHIO We'll come back when it's dark, find him then. Get the car started. I'm gonna go clear up the campsite. PINOCCHIO cuts through the woods to get back to the place where they built a fire and slept near the small quiet lake. As he nears the campsite, he sees something glinting in the sunlight, on the ground not too far away. He draws his gun and approaches cautiously, ready to fire if it's some kind of trick. His facial expression turns to one of fear, as he sees what was reflecting in the sun. Lying in the leaves, as if carelessly dropped there, are HOBBES's handgun, the knife PINOCCHIO loaned to him, and his dog tags. PINOCCHIO bends down, picks up the gun and sticks it in his belt. He picks up the dog tags, dangles them in front of his eyes, looking at them. They belong to HOBBES. He pushes the dogtags into a pocket, stares down at the spot where they lay for a moment, then looks around, sliding his gun back onto his hip. PINOCCHIO Oh, no... ADVERTISEMENT BREAK 1 ACT TWO INT. TUNNEL -- DAY Back in the tunnels we saw before, with HOBBES. The tunnels have changed now, gone from square to round. About six inches of water flows down the bottom of them. HOBBES splashes through it in his boots, occasionally grabbing a handhold here and there as he moves. He's quick, not quite running. HOBBES stops at a four-way junction in the pipeline, looking around every which way. He has a strange look on his face. Nervous. He knows he's being watched. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie) My dear Sophie. A week ago we would've been married. It was going to be wonderful...all the plans we made for our future together... our life. These thoughts of you and our life together are what keep me running, keep me alive. They give me the will to keep battling against Santiago and the empire he has forged across the wastelands. HOBBES picks a direction and heads that way, into the dark. We can barely see him now, though the camera is following him. Just for a few seconds, there's a sort of "Blair Witch" feeling to the camera work. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie, continued) I've gotten lost, Sophie, separated from the friends who would help me defeat General Santiago. I am in some kind of catacombs, or sewer system. I can't find a way out. I've searched for hours. I've lost my weapon and I have no way to protect myself. I am afraid, Sophie. Afraid that I'll never see the light of day again, virtual or otherwise. HOBBES freezes in his tracks, looking around without moving his head. He's gone stiff all of a sudden. We can see that he's frightened. His jaw works. Slowly he turns to face back the way he came from. Something skitters into the shadows, almost too quick to see. HOBBES runs towards it, but there's nothing there. He takes a deep breath, standing there for a moment, and then he keeps walking. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie, continued) These tunnels are unfamilliar. If they run in a pattern, I can't figure it out. Some are cylindrical, some are square. Water runs some places, it's dry in others. I have a bad feeling, Sophie. HOBBES hears a sound somewhere to the left and automatically reaches for his pistol, his hand finding the empty holster clipped on his belt. The sweater he wears is wet around the shoulders from the condensation on the pipes dripping down on him. But as quickly as his hand fumbles at the place where his gun should be, the sound is gone. He keeps walking. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie, continued--sounding a little scared) In the rigorous training to become a soldier, I learned what it is like to be both the hunter and the hunted, Sophie. And I know now that I'm being hunted. EXT. WOODS -- DAY A country road, thick trees on both sides, mountains in the distance. The hills on both sides of the road are steep, sloping up and away. Several soldiers come walking out of the bush, splashing through the water in the ditch. In the lead is WATERS, pistol drawn. He is followed by SMYTHE, carrying the same sensor device from earlier, and four soldiers: ANDREWS, FORBES, McCLAINE and DAVIS. SMYTHE Oh, we're close now. Real close. WATERS Specificity, Smythe. "Real close" doesn't tell me a whole hell of a lot, does it? SMYTHE looks at his boots for a moment. SMYTHE Should be just over that ridge, sir. SMYTHE points somewhere up into the trees. The camera leaves them and cuts hard left, across the road and up maybe ten yards. Lying in the bushes, flat on their stomachs, weapons at the ready, are PINOCCHIO and FLORENCE. They watch WATERS, SMYTHE and the GIs for several minutes, glancing at each other from time to time. PINOCCHIO reaches back to adjust the handgun tucked in his belt-- HOBBES's gun. After a moment they crawl back behind a very big tree. PINOCCHIO leans his back against it. He ejects the clip from his MP-5, checks it, slides it back in, works the action. PINOCCHIO (whispering) Six of 'em, plus the guns mounted on the Hum-Vees...and whatever they got stashed in that truck. He looks at FLORENCE, grimacing. He doesn't like the odds, not even with the element of surprise. PINOCCHIO (whispering) We should get the hell outta here. Some kind of programming screw- up, this place is gonna be lousy with Republican Guard real soon. And Soldier Boy must've seen them coming, went out to get himself killed. FLORENCE shakes her head emphatically. No. No. No. No again. No. Absolutely not. PINOCCHIO (whispering) He's probably dead, Florence. Probably saw Waters coming and went out to meet him. Got himself killed. Hobbes is a tough cookie, but he isn't real wise in the ways of the Realm. PINOCCHIO laughs a little at his own joke. FLORENCE continues to shake her head. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not possible. HOBBES can't be dead. PINOCCHIO (whispering) What do you mean, he's not-- FLORENCE grabs the collar of PINOCCHIO's jacket, tugs on it--not threatening him, just trying to get his attention. She points at the ground between them where they're crouched. He looks down. FLORENCE reaches out and grabs HOBBES' dog tags, now around PINOCCHIO's neck, lifts them so he can see them in front of his face...writes something in the dirt with her fingers, hard and deep, so her companion can read it. PINOCCHIO stares at what she's written in the dirt: ==THE 1== PINOCCHIO stares at what she's written for a moment longer, then looks at her. He raises an eyebrow, looks at her as if she's just said the world was flat. PINOCCHIO You really believe that-- FLORENCE nods emphatically. The camera sweeps away from them band back to WATERS, SMYTHE and the other SOLDIERS on the road. WATERS holds his pistol down at his side, against his leg. He adjusts the beret on his head, looks at his men. WATERS Fan out. Search the area. Work in a grid pattern, and notify me when you find it. This is a serious programming glitch, people, so it shouldn't be difficult to find. DAVIS Yes, sir! McCLAINE Yes, sir. They scatter and begin to search the area. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY We're back with HOBBES, in the tunnels. It's a little brighter, now, and there isn't water dripping from the ceiling anymore. He continues to walk, looking around. He now carries something in his hands--a three-foot steel pipe that he's pried from somewhere, one end wrapped with some kind of makeshift grip. It isn't much, but it's better than nothing. He stops, looking at the graffitti in black on the walls. We see the crossed-swords emblem of Santiago's army, circled and slashed-through with another colour. Something is written along the wall, up high: ONE NATION ONE GOAL ONE SANTIAGO. Written somewhere else in another colour is DIE OMAR DIE!!! HOBBES smirks a little at this. He glances at the wall on his other side, and the words sprayed there are bigger, bolder, in one colour. They seem important, as if they're prophetic or something: NO WAY OUT. HOBBES continues down the corridor. Suddenly a voice comes from somewhere, it seems to be coming over the speakers. VOICE (yelling) BOOOOO!!! The VOICE breaks into hysterical laughter. HOBBES (raising the pipe to swing it) Who's there!!? (pause) Come out!! The VOICE is still laughing. HOBBES Who are you!? The VOICE stops laughing. VOICE I'm your worst nightmare! HOBBES You're trapped here, aren't you? Like me. VOICE I'm not like you. Not even close. HOBBES You're not? You came here on your own? VOICE I was left here. Marooned, I guess you'd say. HOBBES Who did this to you? VOICE (stretching the name out) General O-mar San-ti-ago. HOBBES (shocked) Santiago threw you in here? VOICE Yesssssssss. The VOICE breaks into crazed laughter once again. EXT. FOREST -- DAY Early afternoon, it's raining in the forest. The road curves through the woods in the distance. The two Hummers and the troop truck sit there idle, a couple of soldiers guarding them. WATERS and SMYTHE stand next to a very large, thick tree of some kind, both staring at the readouts on the little computer-gizmo SMYTHE holds in his hands. WATERS is starting to look a little frustrated with this computer-geek, but he still needs SMYTHE-- for now, anyway. SMYTHE We're close. I know it. The air's crackling. The weather's been erratic since we got here. We're close to the error. WATERS (weary, a little angry) You've been saying that for four hours. SMYTHE We'll find it soon. WATERS We'd better. That sicko can't be allowed to escape. He's more trouble than anybody counted on. (pause) That gadget of yours is supposed to be top of the line. Straight from R&D. So how come you can't find the error? SMYTHE I'm not sure. The closer you get to the mountains, the more things tend to get screwed up. They aren't your garden-variety rock, you know. WATERS Closer...I thought we-- WATERS digs in his pocket, pulls out a small brass-cased compass. He flips it open, looks at the dial. The needle is turning steadily, around and around. North, west, south, east. North, west, south, east. After a couple of rotations it switches, goes back the other way. North, east, south, west. North, east, south, west. WATERS What the hell...? WATERS walks away, heading for where the rest of his men are pushing forward. He wants to talk to them, see what direction they think everybody's going. DAVIS has the map, so maybe they can figure out. SMYTHE stands alone in the woods, watching WATERS walk away. He turns around, looking at the trees, shoves his hands in the pockets of his field-jacket. He rests one hand for a moment on the butt of the gun holstered on his hip, but it's obvious from the way he fumbles at it that he has no idea what he's doing. We see PINOCCHIO creep up behind him, his MP5 in both hands, the folding-stock out against his shoulder. FLORENCE is right behind him, aiming her M16 over his shoulder. PINOCCHIO (quietly) Don't move. Get your hands up. SMYTHE is scared out of his mind. He immediately obeys. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY In the tunnels, the camera following HOBBES. He still carries the battered metal pipe, the only weapon he's been able to scrounge. There's an inch or so of water running down the floor, bubbling quietly. Water drips from the ceiling. HOBBES hair is wet, beads of water are on his face. VOICE Run, run, as fast as you can...(pause) HOBBES looks up at where he thinks there's a speaker, one eyebrow cocked, one corner of his mouth creeping up--he's trying to put some sense to this voice and what it keeps saying. But he can't figure this guy out. VOICE ...can't catch me, I'm the-- HOBBES ...Gingerbread Man? The VOICE laughs again--it's a strange laugh, a little crazy, like you'd expect from a witch or the bad guy in a B-movie, something like that. HOBBES Why don't you come out and talk to me? We're on the same side... They sent us both here to stop Santiago, didn't they. Maybe we can work together, find a way out of this...(he looks around)...dump. VOICE Find a way out of...(laughs maniacally). Sorry, but I don't trust you, G.I. Trusting people is a bad idea in this county. HOBBES Why don't you-- VOICE Oh, but you're forgetting, G.I.--I'm CRRRAYZEEE!!! The VOICE lapses into that slightly-crazed laughing again. After a while it falls quiet. The camera switches around to view HOBBES from far ahead, striding toward it slowly, the steel pipe in his hands. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie) The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The friend of my enemy is my enemy. That's the way it's supposed to work, Sophie. That's something they taught me in Basic. But in Harsh Realm, it doesn't always apply... From a distance, we see a man hunkered in the shadows, in tattered civilian clothes, his eyes wide and bright, watching HOBBES with a kind of derranged smile. In his hand is a homemade knife, some scrap of metal that he's sharpened down into a blade, some kind of tape around the other end for a grip. It looks very nasty. The man (who has been the source of the voice over the speakers) stands up and starts to follow HOBBES. ADVERTISEMENT BREAK 2 ACT THREE EXT. WOODS -- DAY Back where PINOCCHIO parked his battered car. The remains of the campsite where HOBBES disappeared, five hours ago now. It's getting into the afternoon. It's still raining. FLORENCE holds SMYTHE at gunpoint near the trunk of the car. PINOCCHIO (to FLORENCE) You got him? FLORENCE nods confidently, her finger resting on the trigger of her rifle. PINOCCHIO slides his MP5 into the clip on his thigh, opens the door of his car, pulls out his jacket. He climbs into it, zippers it up, turns up the collar. He takes the MP5 off his hip again, nudges SMYTHE in the middle of the chest with the barrel. His eyes are cold and hard. PINOCCHIO (to SMYTHE) I'll make this real simple for you, Jack. You can talk, or I can shoot you and heave your body in that lake back there. What'll it be? SMYTHE cowers, pale. We can see that he's very frightened. He thinks PINOCCHIO's going to shoot him any second now. He can't figure out why this rebel hasn't done it already. SMYTHE I'm not a soldier, I'm...I'm...I'm a programmer. I was...was...was... was out here to find and fix a programming error. A glitch in the g-g-game. PINOCCHIO What was Waters talking about? He said something about a sicko. Somebody that can't be allowed to escape. What the hell's going on around here? SMYTHE stammers. PINOCCHIO He's got Hobbes stuck in some kind of digital...venus flytrap, hasn't he? That's where he went, isn't it? PINOCCHIO nudges SMYTHE with the muzzle of his submachine gun a couple of times. Hard. SMYTHE No...No, it was...it's not like that. It's to keep somebody in. Somebody too dangerous to be running around loose. Even in Harsh Realm. PINOCCHIO Who? SMYTHE I don't-- PINOCCHIO pulls back the bolt on his MP5, snapping a round into the chamber. It makes a cold, hard, click when he does it. The sound seems loud in the silence. PINOCCHIO flips the safety off, raises the gun. PINOCCHIO Who!? SMYTHE They called him The Gingerbread Man. PINOCCHIO The Gingerbread Man?! What the... PINOCCHIO pauses, half-remembering something. Then it hits him. He knows who the Gingerbread Man is. FLORENCE looks at him, eyes wide, eyebrows lifted, obviously very curious to hear what's next. PINOCCHIO Lee Miller. I remember him...Special Forces. Years ago, that was... But he got his discharge. And I heard...he flipped. Killed a bunch of people, out in Oregon. For a long time the cops couldn't catch him. He got backed into this building, blockaded it. He wouldn't surrender. The FBI took him out. SMYTHE At that point Santiago had been in Harsh Realm for two months. And he'd already secured the states of New Jersey and Delaware for his Empire. Beaten the reigning Lord of the Realm. It seemed like he was unstoppable. Everybody they sent in to stop him ended up either dead, or wearing one of his uniforms... PINOCCHIO So the Army patched up a freakin' psycho killer and sent him into the game? Just let him loose. Probably told him, "Go get 'im, Tiger". What the-- SMYTHE The man is completely insane. Extremely dangerous. He almost killed Santiago, during the Pennsylvania Offensive. He was totally out of control. He killed soldiers, women...children... PINOCCHIO And Santiago managed to catch him, lock him up... SMYTHE There wasn't a holding cell or a bunker anywhere in the Realm that they could be sure would hold that monster. So they made one. Out here. PINOCCHIO Some kind of...quantum pocket? Unprogrammed game space? Something like that. SMYTHE Exactly, it's like a little universe they added into the programming, separate from the primary game map for Harsh Realm. No way in or out. They locked him up and threw away the key. PINOCCHIO So how is Manson in there still alive? FADE. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY The tunnels. Steam blows from vents here and there. There is a little building material scattered here and there...nails, chunks of brick, etc. HOBBES walks through it, waving one hand at the steam here and there, trying to see straight. He passes out of view, and after a moment, the man (MILLER), follows. HOBBES stops in place--a fallen beam is across the tunnel maybe three feet in front of him, a heavy beam of some kind of metal. He reaches out, touches it. Wraps both hands around an edge, tries to budge it. It's heavy. He grits his teeth and braces his legs and manages to shift it. It falls to the floor. Just as it clanks to the concrete, something swings out of nowhere--a dented, copper pipe, about a foot and a half long, thick, with nails sticking out all over it. Hundreds of them. HOBBES throws himself against one wall, dodging. One of the nails stops about half an inch from the bridge of his nose. He lets out a deep breath, looks around. He squirms under the booby trap he just tripped and keeps moving, jogging, just wanting to get away from there. MILLER (over the speakers) Watch out, G.I. There's some nasty traps in this stretch of tunnels. HOBBES Yeah. Thanks a bunch. MILLER They're not mine. They, uh, kinda came with the place. And you gotta watch, they're not always in the same place. Once in a while, they move to new locations. HOBBES continues, takes the next corner. He's trying to take a lot of corners, make his path erratic. HOBBES is a smart man, he's aware he's being followed. He doesn't know where MILLER is, but he knows he isn't far. And he's very aware that he's unarmed, except for a three-foot piece of dented steel pipe. MILLER Come on, G.I. Don't you ever get tired of running away from a fight? HOBBES (muttering) It's kinda becoming a habit... MILLER You know, you aren't the first poor sap to wander in here. I had a visit from one of Santiago's finest last month. Uhm...Stewart, his name was. HOBBES turns in a slow circle, as if expecting MILLER to be right behind him, whispering in his ear. He can't see his enemy anywhere. MILLER must know these tunnels and old bomb shelters better, he's been here longer. That's not a comfortable thought for HOBBES. HOBBES (half to himself) Well, great. What happened to him? MILLER (matter-of-factly) Oh, I killed him. Didn't I mention that? HOBBES steps around a corner, and finds a ladder shaft. He smiles--this is a step in the right direction, at least. He sees that it leads both up and down, several floors in each direction. He switches his steel pipe to his left hand, and starts climbing up the ladder. EXT. WOODS -- DAY Elsewhere in the woods, not too far from where we last saw PINOCCHIO, FLORENCE and their prisoner SMYTHE. The camera slowly closes in on several men in battle fatigues carrying rifles, standing near a fallen log in the woods. WATERS faces his men. ==NEAR CALAIS, MAINE== ==HARSH REALM== WATERS arms are folded behind his back as he looks at his men. ANDREWS, FORBES, McCLAINE and DAVIS. WATERS (angrily) Somebody better be able to give me a report. Right now. LT. FORBES (standing at attention) Sir. We've executed a complete search of the forest, for three kilometers in every direction, sir. We haven't found the programming glitch, sir. WATERS And what about the techie!? Smythe. LT. FORBES No sign of him anywhere...it's like he did a Houdini, sir. WATERS Even Houdini got in over his head eventually, Lieutenant. We're going to keep searching. And we're going to find that glitch. WATERS goes from being somewhat steamed to suddenly being eerily calm--his men are a little nervous about this. He gets this way sometimes, when he's royally pissed. WATERS Understood? LT. FORBES Yes, sir. The Republican Guard soldiers just stand there for a moment. WATERS stares at them for a moment. He takes a deep breath. WATERS (yelling at them now) Then, move!!! They jump to it. Continue their search. WATERS takes his own quadrant of the search area and starts walking. The camera tracks through the woods to three people crouched behind some thick bramble bushes, observing--PINOCCHIO, FLORENCE and SMYTHE. PINOCCHIO holds his MP5 trained at WATERS back. His eye narrows, and we can see he's toying with the idea. After a moment he shifts his aim elsewhere, angry at himself for developing a conscience all of a sudden. PINOCCHIO (quietly) The good Major is a little peeved. SMYTHE nods. PINOCCHIO (quietly) Maybe he misses me. He glances at FLORENCE, smiles. She returns it, just for a moment. She looks down for a moment. It's obvious that she'd laugh if she could. PINOCCHIO turns to SMYTHE, suddenly serious. He makes a fist, points a finger at the gadgetry in SMYTHE's hand, the same strange sensor device from earlier. PINOCCHIO Can you find Hobbes with that thing? SMYTHE I'm not sure, I, uh, I--maybe if... PINOCCHIO (lifting his gun a little) I don't deal in maybes, pal. We hear a sound nearby, a twig snapping or something. PINOCCHIO looks up nervously, sweeping his MP5 around, looking for a target. He doesn't see anything. After a moment he relaxes--a little. Fade. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY The ladder shaft where we last saw HOBBES. The lights in the shaft are red, blinking. We see HOBBES intermittently as he climbs, as the lights flicker in and out erratically. There are loose wires here and there in the shaft and he bats them out of the way with one grimy hand, continues to climb. He's come up a couple of levels now, and he's nearing the top of the shaft--though what's up there, he isn't sure. Is there a way out? As he passes up to another level, he reaches a hand up to take hold of another rung. MILLER Watch out, there's... As HOBBES wraps his hand around the next rung, we see something stab through his hand, into the palm and out between two of his knuckles. There's a little blood. He doesn't cry out, but from his face we can see that it hurts. A lot. He loses his grip on the steel pipe he's been carrying. It falls, clanging it's way down the shaft. MILLER ...some nails I soldered to the rungs here and there. Starting to get rusty. Sorry, I guess I should've told you sooner. HOBBES grinds his teeth together and reaches up for the next rung, pulling himself along, forcing his torn and bleeding left hand to work. He looks back, and sees MILLER in the corridor of the level that he's halfway up to (the floor is about waist-level to him as he stands on the ladder). Suddenly, one of the rungs HOBBES is gripping breaks, falls away. HOBBES flails, reaching out his wounded hand to press against the wall of the shaft, try to keep from losing his footing, but it's no good. His hands are bloody and sweaty and the rungs are slippery with some kind of grease and... MILLER Some of the rungs are shot. They programmed this place in a hurry, you know. Had to tuck me away somewhere safe once I almost took out the Big Cheese. Running, MILLER dives into the ladder shaft, grabbing onto the ladder with both hands. He's a little higher than HOBBES, on the side of the ladder, both feet hooked around the side on one of the rungs. MILLER You afraid of heights, soldier? MILLER kicks HOBBES ferociously in the stomach. HOBBES nearly loses his grip on the ladder. He flails, and catches a fistful of MILLER's pant-leg. He slides his wounded hand over another rung and hooks it with his elbow, so he'll be secure. He pulls himself up as hard as he can and slams a kick into MILLER's side. He flails again, almost losing his grip. MILLER, leaning down and holding a rung in one hand, punches HOBBES in the side of the head. HOBBES's head bounces off the ladder and we see a fresh cut across his cheekbone, the blood dribbling down the side of his face. He's hurt, but the shock to his head seems to jar him back to reality. Before, he was just trying to survive, but now he's angry. He lunges forward, and hits MILLER across the side of the head with the back of his fist as hard as he can. For the first time, MILLER slips, nearly losing his grip. His feet slip off their rungs and he falls maybe five feet before he manages to catch onto the ladder again, his legs dangling in midair. HOBBES, above him, looks down at him. MILLER Not bad, G.I. I figured I'd be checking your pockets for loose change by now. You're a lot more fun than the last guy that passed through these portals. MILLER laughs hysterically for a moment. MILLER Haaaah ha ha...portal. Portal. Ha haaaah ha ha ha. This is when MILLER pulls the knife out from under his shirt. HOBBES sees that it's his only chance--letting go of the rungs on the ladder, he drops right on top of MILLER, and they fall away from the ladder, fighting over the homemade knife brutally. ADVERTISEMENT BREAK 3 ACT FOUR EXT. WOODS -- DAY In the woods. PINOCCHIO and SMYTHE crouch together next to a tree. FLORENCE is in the background, guarding their flank. A Republican Guard soldier is walking nearby, no more than fifteen feet away. We see from the nametag on his fatigues that it's McCLAINE. PINOCCHIO steps back, around SMYTHE and around the tree, moving to the other side. At first it seems like he's running away, and then we see him step out behind McCLAINE. PINOCCHIO (quietly) At ease, Sergeant. McCLAINE whirls, reaching for the rifle strapped over his shoulder. He turns quickly-- right into the butt of PINOCCHIO's rifle. He stumbles back, his nose bloody. PINOCCHIO hits him again with the butt of the gun, and he falls flat in the bushes, not moving. PINOCCHIO reaches down, pulls out the unconscious soldier's pistol (a Beretta 92F). He pulls the slide back, checks that there's a round in the chamber, then de-cocks the gun and slides it into his belt under his jacket. PINOCCHIO Thanks, Sergeant. Bending down, PINOCCHIO grabs McCLAINE's ankles and drags him in behind some bushes. Quickly he frisks him and takes anything else from him that might be of use. Spare ammo, flashlight, a couple of candy bars, his knife, et cetera. SMYTHE (whispering) Why didn't you just kill him? PINOCCHIO You don't get out much, do you? In case you haven't noticed, genius, we're less than a hundred yards from the enemy. They've got us outnumbered five...I mean, four to two. SMYTHE What about me? PINOCCHIO Yeah, if we count you and Fido over there we're equal. But he's a Jack Russell, and you don't know what you're doing. SMYTHE I do-- PINOCCHIO takes out the Beretta he just took from McCLAINE. He tosses it at SMYTHE. SMYTHE catches it awkwardly, almost dropping it. He holds it on the palm of his hand. It's heavier than he thought. PINOCCHIO You know what you're doing, pop the clip out and tell me how many rounds are left. SMYTHE pulls the slide back, ejecting a perfectly good bullet from the chamber. He lets the slide forward, and then turns the gun over in his hands, running his fingers over it, trying to find the magazine release. He finds the safety instead, tries it several times. It won't work. He tries to pull the magazine out anyway. That doesn't work, either. He stares at it frustratedly for a moment. PINOCCHIO It's too bad you're not fighting on the front lines, pal. PINOCCHIO grabs the gun away from SMYTHE quickly, decocks it and slides it back into his jacket. Everything is quiet for a moment. PINOCCHIO watches the woods intently. Behind them, FLORENCE edges a little closer. Suddenly something beeps loudly, and everyone jumps. PINOCCHIO turns on SMYTHE. PINOCCHIO What the... SMYTHE I found it. I found the glitch. He fumbles the sensor device from his pocket, looks at it's blinking screen. SMYTHE (pointing) It's right over there. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY A dark, slimy tunnel. There's a foot of water in it, not moving much. It's dark, except for a small battery light here and there. Just enough for us to see what's going on. HOBBES stands shin-deep in the water, his hands balled into fists. The left one still bleeds, and looks painful, but not quite as bad as it was before. The camera turns, and we see MILLER, maybe five feet away, in a similar stance, still holding his knife. Added to the various cuts and scrapes of the fight so far, his nose is now mashed and bloody--Hobbes's work. The two of them bob a little, moving back and forth a foot or so. Testing each other. Getting ready for the main event. This is what it's come down to--this is where the fight's going to have it's finish. Down here, in one of the lowest of the tunnels. MILLER Your hand still sore, G.I.? HOBBES (managing half a smile) Your nose still broken? MILLER swipes wildly with the knife, driving HOBBES back a few feet. HOBBES tries to sweep his feet, but MILLER is too quick. He lunges. HOBBES drops to one knee, lifting one of his shoulders high. MILLER, charging, trips over him, flies a few feet and slams into the floor, in the water. He rolls over and sits up, gets his feet under him, slips. Gets his feet under him again. Circles in on HOBBES again. They jump at each other, punching, kicking, chopping, fighting ferociously. HOBBES, growling, grabs a fistful of MILLER's shirt and head-butts him hard. The bridge of his nose starts bleeding. MILLER staggers and falls, struggling to get a foot under him, clawing at the pipes bolted to the wall for help. EXT. WOODS -- DAY The woods. PINOCCHIO, FLORENCE and SMYTHE stand together. PINOCCHIO has his MP5 drawn, holds it down at his side, ready if he needs it. They can hear the Republican Guard in the area--it sounds like a few more vehicles have arrived. SMYTHE Look at that. Ahead of them, to the right a little, there's one section of the forest that looks strange. Flat, one-dimensional. Like it was drawn in quickly to cover a blank space in the picture. It flickers and jumps. It's still raining a little as they stare at this wierd little patch of air, four or five feet off the ground, a few feet wide. PINOCCHIO turns to SMYTHE, raising his gun a little, gesturing with it towards the wierd space they've been looking at for the last minute or so. PINOCCHIO Open it. Now. SMYTHE starts to work with his sensor device, punching buttons quickly, adjusting dials. He works as fast as he can, sweat beading his forehead. A beam of light eminates from one end of the gadget he holds, and the wierd space in the air starts to shimmer and jump even more, to become more strange-looking. Gradually we can see the shape of a hole, there, in the air. The hole coalesces into something bright and shimmering. Through it we can dimly see the other side--the dark tunnels where HOBBES and MILLER are imprisoned. INT. TUNNELS -- DAY In the tunnel. MILLER is on his knees, trying to get his feet under him. The knife is lost in the water somewhere, levelling the playing field. HOBBES watches him. He hears a strange noise, half-turns to see what it is. Some kind of hole has appeared in the air, constantly turning and changing shape, flickering, flickering. One second it's there, then it's gone, then it's there again. HOBBES turns to face it, fully. He stares at it for a moment, stretching out a hand towards it. Behind him, MILLER gets up. Blundering, he charges at HOBBES, screaming, catches him in a tackle around the waist. They both tumble into the glitch. And emerge on the other side, rolling on the leaves, at PINOCCHIO's and FLORENCE's feet. They roll over, grappling, punching each other, and gain their feet, circling each other warily, again. MILLER fakes a swing at HOBBES, and lunges instead at FLORENCE. He punches her several times quickly, twisting the rifle from her hands. He throws an arm around her throat, and pokes the barrel of the M16 against her head. PINOCCHIO raises his MP5 in one hand, aiming, ready to kill this guy. But he doesn't have the shot. Not without killing FLORENCE. HOBBES, getting to his feet, takes a few steps to towards them. PINOCCHIO Hobbes! Reaching to the small of his back with his free hand, he pulls out HOBBES's pistol, flips it around on his hand so he's holding it by the barrel, and tosses it towards HOBBES. The camera closes in on MILLER and FLORENCE. Everything goes into slow-motion. We see MILLER's finger curl around the trigger of the M16. HOBBES reaches out with his right hand (the one that didn't get wounded), without looking, and catches his gun out of the air. FLORENCE squirms against MILLER's grip. MILLER's finger starts to squeeze the trigger of the rifle. The camera closes in on HOBBES, raising his pistol to aim. His thumb clicks back the hammer and one of his eyes narrows as he raises the gun. He squeezes the trigger. Once, twice. The shots are loud. MILLER's head snaps back and he stumbles away from FLORENCE, who grabs her rifle from him. We see a bullet-hole in MILLER's forehead, above his right eye. Blood dribbles out of it. He stumbles again, and disappears in a flash of light, digitizing. HOBBES lowers his gun, letting out the breath he's been holding. He turns, looking at PINOCCHIO and FLORENCE. Tucks his pistol in the holster on his belt. Looks down at his bleeding palm. FLORENCE steps over, looking at it. It doesn't seem too serious, once she gets the blood cleaned away with a piece of gauze. Suddenly, bullets start to hit the trees and the leaves near them. PINOCCHIO Republican Guard!! Come on! The three of them race for PINOCCHIO's car, passing out of range of the camera. We hear the car starting up, then spinning it's tires in the gravel as it speeds away. WATERS and the other soldiers appear to find SMYTHE standing there, looking confused. WATERS raises his gun and fires a few times at the receding car, but his bullets miss-- except for one, which bounces off the bumper. EXT. WOODS -- SUNSET A tiny fire burns in the middle of what was once a children's playground. PINOCCHIO crouches next to it, taking a few canned rations out of a canvas bag he has slung over his shoulder. HOBBES peels off his jacket and hangs it over the branch of a tree to dry. He turns up the sleeves of his sweater, looks down at his freshly bandaged hand. ==HOULTON, MAINE== ==HARSH REALM== We can see the tattoo on HOBBES's arm through one of the newer rips in his sweater. He sits down on the ground a few feet from the struggling little fire, takes his pistol out and checks it's action, removes the magazine and wipes it, puts it back in. He looks up at PINOCCHIO and FLORENCE. HOBBES PINOCCHIO, this time it's your turn to get the firewood. PINOCCHIO moves off into the dark to find somefirewood, the MP5 strapped to his hip. HOBBES leans back against the fender of the car, closes his eyes. HOBBES (voice-over to Sophie) Sophie, my dearest, my friends and I have come face-to-face with the Republican Guard and lived to fight another day. I've fought with a murderer and I've killed him. I had no choice--I couldn't let him hurt Florence or PINOCCHIO...I care about them--they're my friends. I did what was necessary--what I was trained to do. I'll do it again if I must. But as I curl up next to the fire without you and lay my weary head to rest, the fact remains that it's going to be a long night. HOBBES lies down in his sleeping bag, slides his pistol under the pillow, and falls asleep. FLORENCE sits a few feet away, against the side of the car, cleaning her rifle. She pauses, looks down at HOBBES for a moment as he dozes. FADE. END CREDITS