17. The Wall - Leslie

FADE IN:

EXT. DESERT VILLAGE - TWILIGHT

KARA stands in the wind, sand whipping around her face.

She shoves her goggles up and blinks as the wind dies down.

She readjusts the scarf around her mouth and watches as lights blink in the distance.

Uniformed torch-bearers move silently through the thick dust, lighting the evening lamps.

She hears a soft crunching behind her and turns.

ARIEL stands behind her, towering above on curved stilts like a strange faun. A large gun is strapped to her back and she holds a lacy black parasol daintily above her head.

KARA
Good evening, Mistress Ariel.

ARIEL
Good evening, Kara. Be watchful tonight, my watchers tell me of Barbarians at the wall.

KARA
You know, I’m tired of this, the constant waiting and fear.
We have numbers, why don’t we go across the wall, why don’t we stop them?

ARIEL
Perhaps one day, but whatever lies beyond the wall carries a strange magic,
something we have not been able to fight.

There is a distant rumble and the sounds of whooping carry across the sand.

KARA
They’re coming early tonight.

Ariel nods and raises a curved horn to her lips. The mournful sound carries across the small curved homes of the town.

Lights flicker out as the torch bearers hurry to snuff out the lights they so recently lit.

More watchmen appear from the darkness, graceful in their stilts.

They begin to form a perimeter.

Ariel pulls the gun from her shoulder and peers into the darkness.

She turns to Kara.

ARIEL
Go home, defend your household.
We can’t have the Matriarch getting hurt.

Kara nods, and claps her hands.

A ball of flame appears above her outstretched palm and she holds it out in front of her.

She hurries off into the dark.

Ariel nods to her squad and softer horn calls are heard across the plain.

The whoops grow louder and the sound of rumbling increases,

A rusty Humvee appears from out of the dark, headlights first.

A gun mounted on the roof begins fire, it’s roar silencing thought.

Ariel moves smoothly signaling her troops and they begin firing back.

INT. BARRIER WALL POST 81 - NIGHT

ERIC leans back as he watches the flexi-screen in front of him. There are several views of the gun fight.

MATT sits next to him sipping from a coffee gel-pack.

ERIC
Do you think they’ll ever realize what’s out here?

MATT
They’ve been out there for at least a hundred years...who knows?
Maybe they do...it’s probably all sinking into myth at this point.

ERIC
Eh, whatever, bloody barbarians.

MATT
They’re the barbarians and yet we let those madmen in to hunt them?

ERIC
Eh, CEO’s need their fun too...let them drive around their little antique cars. And besides, people need something to watch while the stupid writers are striking.
I say we throw them beyond the wall too.

Matt shakes his head.

The gunfight progresses on the screen and the humvee turns and begins a speedy retreat back to the wall.

ERIC
Oh, looks like the freaks win today.
I can’t imagine trusting those ancient wheeled things
...who wants wheels on their car?...seems so unsafe.
My Dad used to tell me stories about driving in those things.

Matt is distracted.

ERIC
Look, they’re freaks, they deserve to be out there...and if the filthy rich want sport, well why not? Look at how much better our society has become, how much cleaner.

MATT
Really? Come on, we hunt people for sport...people.

ERIC
Not really people...

MATT
Oh yes...

ERIC
You bleeding heart...you people never change, always some new cause. Those...people...were put behind the wall for a reason and they won’t ever infect my country with their bile again.
Let them turn into the barbarians they always were.
And the mutants, throw them all out there too, we don’t need their kind.

MATT
Hello dystopia...

ERIC
Un-American as always; one of these days, I’ll report you.

MATT
You keep saying that, I’ll start believing you.

ERIC
If you feel so strongly about it, why don’t you do anything?
You’re all talk Matt.

Matt nods in agreement.

MATT
I guess I am.

The action on the screen has died down, a smattering of gunfire explodes across the plain, but most of the hunters have returned safely to their side of the wall.

Matt watches them climb out of the humvee and slap each other's shoulders.

A valet takes the antique car away and the men step into a sleek dark limo which hums quietly as it lifts off the ground and whizzes off toward the interstate.

He shakes his head again.

MATT
One day, one of those 'freaks' is going to cross this wall
and rain the hell we probably deserve down on us.

Eric smirks and swivels back to the monitor.

ERIC
We’ll wipe their barbarian filth off the planet if they try,
we should have a long time ago if you ask me.

MATT
I didn't. Arrogance comes before a fall...

Eric laughs and returns to his console.

Matt sips his coffee thoughtfully, watching the screens as the village lights slowly flicker back to life.

FADE TO BLACK.