8. Hunter - Leslie

FADE IN:

EXT. CITY STREET - NIGHT
JAEL walks carefully along the sidewalk, her half-closed eyes betraying the fact that she is listening carefully to everything that is going on around her.

Thick, neat dreads fall around her face, which is the color of warm cinnamon.

She is wearing loose pants that cascade around her feet, revealing just the soles of her boots. A messenger bag is slung around her shoulder and she carries a long board under her arm.

She wears a belt around her waist, ringed with oddly-shaped holsters.

She walks with a measured but confident stride.

She feels a cool breeze whisper down the empty street, and knows immediately what is coming, but continues walking at the same pace.

The Dream-Stealers have begun to come out. There are many stories about what the Dream-Stealers are. Some suspect that they slipped, along with other strange beings, through a rift in dimensions. Jael heard a man once explain that the Federation Astronauts had inadvertently brought them back to Earth after the first Jupiter mission.

Jael was curious enough to listen, but she was pretty sure she knew what the truth was, and when it came down to it, it didn’t matter...growing up in the Dark Wards, she’d just learned to avoid and survive.

The wind blows stronger.

She looks around and sees that she is approaching an alley.

JAEL
Ok, ok...One, Two...

On three, she ducks left onto the street as a Stealer lands on the sidewalk where she was standing not a second before.

She is on her longboard in a smooth movement and racing down the street.

DREAM-STEALER
Darling, come play.

Its voice is at once enticing and chilling.

It chuckles and begins to run after her, picking up speed.

It looks like a strange, long-legged man, dressed in an immaculate suit and bowler hat.

It’s face is pale, with large eyes and lips so thin they might as well not exist.

DREAM-STEALER
Darling, just one dream, I promise...maybe two.

It hisses gently.

Jael rockets around a corner looking for an escape route.

A second Stealer takes up the chase, but the first slows and waves his hand.

DREAM-STEALER
No, brother, this one is mine.

The second Stealer nods, and fades into the shadows.

Jael shifts her messenger bag and crouches low, trying to pick up speed.

The Stealer is moving closer.

Jael sees a dead-end alley.

JAEL
Perfect.

She kicks the board into the air, grabs it and runs down the alley, crouching in the dark.

The Stealer runs past her.

JAEL
One, Two...

The Stealer races back around the corner with terrifying speed and down the alley.

She stands, back against the wall as he stops inches away from her.

DREAM-STEALER
Darling...

It licks its lips with a gray tongue, and stretches out with its right hand.

The hand is covered with tiny suckers, reaching out like hungry little mouths.

It begins singing a lullaby.

Jael’s eyes flutter.

Tentacles begin to wind their way out of his collar and towards her.

He reaches for her neck with a single finger, and then she reacts, lighting fast, grabbing its neck, revealing rows of pulsing suckers on her on hand.

He gasps, writhing, as his tentacles retract.

JAEL
Darling, I don’t like being hunted.

DREAM-STEALER
Half-breed!

JAEL
Rude...

She pulls a syringe from a holster.

The Stealer eyes flutter as she begins to sing her own lullaby.

She plunges the syringe into his hand, and he drops.

She kneels, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small camera.

She flips it over and pulls up one of its sleeves, revealing a strange barcode and a corporate logo.

She snaps a picture as the Stealer begins to dissolve into dust.

She steps away and trades the camera for a tiny recorder.

JAEL
19:35 May 10th, ‘35. Walker Street, the Dark Wards.
New model, faster self-destruct, looks like its down to 15 seconds.

She puts away her equipment and slips back down the alley.

JAEL
Hello, darlings....

FADE TO BLACK.