DARKNESS FALLS "THE GRIM ORDER" BY KEN VADEN AND BENJAMIN VANDERNECK SECOND DRAFT PROLOGUE EXT. FOREST - DUSK CALEB and MARY KORDERAS walk through the Woods; CALEB with a gun drawn to MARY'S head. MARY carries a shovel, crying. CALEB watches her dig a large hole, gun still drawn. She finishes and kneels down inside. Caleb lowers the gun to the back of her head and she closes her eyes. INT. PHONE LINE - PITCH BLACK GARETH Do you enjoy failure? Do you enjoy letting me down, Mary? MARY Gareth, uh, sir, if you- GARETH Mary, shut up. Listen, we've got big things in mind for you. Remember what we talked about? MARY Yeah, I do. GARETH Mary, we want you to succeed. We really do. We know you're not incompetent, but these burnouts you're mixed up with, they're bad for you, they drag you down to their level and we can't have that. MARY Pauses, we hear her breathing hard. GARETH So where were you last night? Pauses. Were you with Rob again? MARY How did you- sir, leave Rob alone! He- GARETH Spare me, Mary. We know everything- we know where you eat, where you sleep, we know when you're not doing your job so you can get some quality time in with your slimey ex-boyfriend. You know that. There is a substantial pause. MARY Sir, I- it's not going to happen again. I promise. We hear a knock at her door. Oh, Lucas is here, I have to go. GARETH Mary? You're right. It's not going to happen again. I'm not going to let you disappoint the company again. MARY Okay. She hangs up. INT. - MARY'S APT. - NIGHT MARY KORDERAS hangs up the phone, walks across her messy apartment and opens the door. LUCAS GRADO enters and follows her into the living room. He sits in a chair in front of her. MARY No. No, Lucas, I told you we're not gonna go through this again - LUCAS Mary... C'mon. Mary, you know you can - MARY What? I can trust you? Lucas, are you even listening to your - Mary sighs. MARY I'm not gonna let you walk out of here and into the exact same mess that just about got us all - LUCAS Mary, what the hell have I been saying??? Now if you would just step back for a sec and look at this whole thing objectively I think you would - MARY Lucas, when I am willing to do business with the scum of the goddamned earth whom YOU vouch for, and they start showing up at MY door looking for help, I get a little less than objective. I get pissed the hell off. I get the feeling that- LUCAS Mary, just -- MARY Shut the hell up! LUCAS Look, I talked to him, okay??? So help me Christ if anything like that... Mary, this isn't for him, it's for me, I... MARY Lucas. I don't care anymore. I trusted you, but thanks to this... Lucas looks at her damn regretfully. LUCAS Mary, you understand I got no place else to go, right? You understand I wouldn't even consider this an option if I wasn't completely screwed. I don't know what to do... I know you're gonna kill me if I mess up again, okay???? Lucas is about to cry. MARY Give me your gun, Lucas. Lucas hands her his gun nervously. LUCAS I know you're gonna kill me... Mary pauses and thinks about it. She puts the gun on a table, then produces a bag o' drugs. MARY Get out. Right now. MARY hands LUCAS back his gun and the drugs and he leaves. MARY utterly begins to break down & cry. She goes into hysterics, suddenly throwing furniture and things around her apt. Eventually she slumps over, vacantly staring at the telephone. After some hesitation, MARY picks up the phone and dials a number, pulling a cigarette out of a pack. MARY is talking on the phone, with one hand puts out a cigarette in the ashtray, now full of cigarette butts. MARY I dunno... Look, I don't know, okay??? I don't think I can do this anymore, Simon!!! I... yeah. Yeah, I understand. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay. It's just that - What? I don't... MARY looks at the gun on her dresser. MARY All right. I'll be there in a couple minutes. EXT. SIMON'S OFFICE - NIGHT MARY walks down some stairs to a below-ground level door, next to it sits one of the company's flunkies. MARY I'm here to see Simon. FLUNKY Hold on a second. He opens the door and leans inside. Mary's here to see you. SIMON Yeah, okay. I'll ring you if something's up. MARY approaches the door, and it swings open as CALEB exits. They bump into each other, and stare into each other's face for a substantial moment, then continue in their directions without word. FLUNKY Entre-Vouz MARY enters. MARY Who was that, Simon? SIMON Uuhh.. MARY Gareth called me. Again. Why the hell is this man calling me?! What does he want? SIMON He called you? What did he say, exactly? MARY I want to know who in the hell I'm working for! What's going on? SIMON You work for me, Mary. That's all you need to know. Tell me what Gareth said to you. MARY Shut up! I can't deal with it anymore, Simon! Do you think I can keep going on like this, with spooks calling me at all hours of the night while I'm trying as hard as I can to make my damn money for you?!! SIMON You need to calm down, Mary. MARY produces the gun. MARY I'm not calming down. I'm out. Right now. SIMON Mary, I think you need to think about what you're doing. Put the gun down. MARY Simon, so help me Christ pu, you sh that goddamn button and your head comes OFF. SIMON Mary... I don't... You wanna talk about it? You wanna tell me what happened today? MARY No, Simon. No don't. I want out. SIMON fidgets with the panic button under his desk. SIMON I... Mary, you know it's not that simple... MARY shoots SIMON in the face. After she leaves, Flunky walks into office, freaks, makes phone call. INT. CALEB'S APARTMENT - NIGHT LUCAS stands, talking to CALEB who is holding a bag o' drugs. CALEB'S girlfriend lies on bed in the back. LUCAS Jesus, man, you understand how close I came to just - I mean, total headjob... I don't know if I can... CALEB Lucas, I understand, I... LUCAS No, I don't think you do... I went to bat for your ass. Your whole Mr. Self-Destruct act is coming dangerously close to severing our ties with these people. You like this stuff so much, you gotta start dealing with the grunt work too. I'm sick of explaining my mysterious psycho companion to this chick. Lucas storms out the door. CALEB Thanks, Lucas. The phone rings and Caleb answers it. CALEB Yeah. Yeah. Really? Goddamn. Yeah, he's on his way out. Yep, I'm watching. Caleb watches as Lucas is walking toward his car. Several FIGURES dressed in black apprehend him and drag him to their car. He is kicking and resisting, then becomes very still. One FIGURE produces a screwdriver and jabs it into Lucas's eye. Lucas collapses in their arms and the others toss him into the back seat of their car. They drive away. CALEB No, you certainly weren't. No problem. Thank you, sir. INT. SIMON'S OFFICE - LATER THAT NIGHT GARETH sits on SIMON'S desk surrounded by FLUNKIES. SIMON'S corpse is still slumped over in his chair. As GARETH speaks, MARY is seen running to her house, packing her things, talking on the phone, etc. Also, shots of the room that they are in (dead bugs inside a fluorescent light's cover, etc.) GARETH Obviously I came up here as quickly as I could. Mary... was special, I think we all understand that. Sold her medicine like goddamn Girl Scout cookies, right? And all without Simon's help. I put Simon in charge of this operation a few years ago... I'm here to tell you I made a lapse in judgment, guys. It happens. The past few months have been nothing but the "How is Simon gonna piss me off even worse than last time" show, okay? So last week I passed word along to Mary that I'm thinking about letting her take over. End of our worries. Except what does she do? Friggin' wigs out... She does a very good thing by killing Simon for me, but then she decides she doesn't want to work here anymore. And I know you guys don't get in on a lot of the closed-door stuff, but I'm here to tell you that just doesn't happen in the Company. I just finished talking to a man named Caleb, maybe you've heard of him - he's done business with us mostly through Mary. All of Mary's chances are now going to be his. Experienced dealer himself, done a but of cybertheft, occasional bounty hunting, and pimping. So I expect you to treat him with a bit more respect than Simon, because frankly, he's already made a hell of a lot more of an impression on me. FLUNKY Sir, I know a guy who did a few jobs with Caleb, says he's... I mean, he just can't be trusted, totally crazy and not willing to - GARETH Orson? First of all, you're repeating the secondhand opinions of one of your junkhead buddies who can't seem to wait to get back to prison, and thus will never get the same opportunities as someone like Caleb. Secondly, I'm well aware of Caleb's... quirks... he needs the proper environment before he can live up to his potential. And I don't know what the hell kind of show Simon ran around here, but you assholes speak when you are spoken to, is that clear? No one answers. GARETH You were just spoken to, answer me! FLUNKIES Yes, sir. The man rises to leave. GARETH All right. Caleb won't be in for a couple days... he'll be going through the usual... period of adjustment. But as soon as he gets here, he's taking the blood-thirstiest of you freaks and we're gonna settle this Mary thing. Betrayals have been made... highly unforgivable stuff. So get your killing faces on. GARETH stares at SIMON'S corpse as he walks by. GARETH Somebody get that outta here. CALEB'S P.O.V. His GIRLFRIEND is sitting up in bed, staring at him in shock, breathing shallowly. INT. CALEB'S APARTMENT - MORNING CALEB is covered in blood, without any cuts. She begins screaming uncontrollably; CALEB ignores her & picks up the phone. CALEB Yeah, is Gareth there? Huh... well, I really need to talk to him... Caleb... yeah, you're working for me now, huh? Hmm. Yeah, you have any idea why I woke up this morning covered in blood & shredded flesh with no memory of the past couple hours and the worst headache? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'll go check that out. What's his name again? Stag? And he's gonna explain all this. Okay. Thanks anyway. CALEB walks into his bathroom, begins washing his face and hands calmly. GIRLFRIEND stops screaming. He cuts the water off, looking at his hands- now marked with strange, dark scars. Water drips slowly, GIRLFRIEND sniffles. Scars on CALEB's hands are seen clearly now, blood and water running off of his fingertips. GIRLFRIEND Caleb? INT. KITCHEN IN ROB'S APARTMENT - MORNING MARY stands talking to ROB. ROB So you sure you don't wanna stay here tonight? MARY Rob, I don't even think it's a good idea for you to stay here tonight, not to mention- ROB God, gimme a little credit. I know what you're up against, and I don't think these guys are gonna come busting up my place, that's all. I made sure all the girls were cleared on out, y'know? Give my lady a little breathing room. This may surprise you, but my every move isn't part of some master plan to get you back, sweet thang. MARY Well, gooood. And I appreciate the offer, but it's just best that I get outta here... I don't think you really know what I'm up against here. ROB Well... you haven't told me much - MARY For your own good - ROB Yeah, well, I mean... it sounds like these guys put you through way too much crap for you to not strike back. MARY But you don't do that to these guys, you just don't, especially when you're... ROB What? MARY Rob, I was up for a promotion. ROB But wouldn't that have meant no more dealing? Isn't that what had you so burned out in the first place? MARY Yeah, but it's more than the stress... Gareth singled me out for this job. Yesterday he called me and told me I'm not living up to my potential. I'm a little worried, then he keeps telling me all this stuff no one else would know about me. And you're right, when he told me about the promotion, I should've been thrilled, but something in my head was just screaming run. I wasn't meant to do this. Pauses. I'm always running from the good things because I'm scared to death they're gonna blow up in my face... ROB Where have I heard this before? MARY Rob... Look, I gotta go. I'm sorry I can't say more than I have... but you really should try to get out of here. Stay out of trouble. ROB Yeah... you too. INT. THE DUNGEON BAR - NIGHT CALEB sits talking to STAG. STAG has black eyes and the same strange marks on his hands that CALEB discovered earlier today. STAG Yeah, my first couple days were pretty rough too. I woke up in the desert surrounded by all these dead Sisters of Santa Maria, smelled like goat blood & bad burritos. Initiation. Gotta love it. Drinks. I gotta say, you're already a lot easier to get along with than Simon. Guy just could not drink - always looking over his shoulder, y'know? Man, (flaps arms) it's just great to have a new boss. CALEB Aw, don't start with that, bro... things are crazy enough already and here you gotta make me feel like this authority figure. STAG Authority figure nuthin', man, you're the guy, the chosen one, the punisher. Gotta set things right again. CALEB What do you mean? They continue talking, but their words can no longer be heard. Eventually, CALEB grins evilly and his eyes darken until they are black too. INT. MARY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT MARY sleeps. CUT TO: MARY'S "DREAM WORLD" MARY is in a graveyard with flashing lights, crazy music and circular whispers repeating and getting louder. She crawls between gravestones until CALEB appears behind her; she spins around and they both draw guns but neither fires. Before CALEB speaks, there is total silence. CALEB YOU'RE GOING TO DIE. INT. MARY'S APARTMENT - DAY A figure stands above her. MARY Whuh... huh... RAPHAELA Shhh. MARY Aaaahhhhh!!!!! No, no, whoa, I... those people... RAPHAELA Shhh. MARY Okay, I, I know I'm not an upstanding person or anything, I'm - screw it, I'm a drug dealer. I make money, people trip, it's win-win - I'm not evil. I just worked for evil people, people who knew everything about me... and they wanted to make me just like them and I - RAPHAELA And you turned them down. And that was not unnoticed. MARY Unnoticed by whom? RAPHAELA By my Company. MARY Are you an angel? RAPHAELA You are. RAPHAELA is gunned down from outside. MARY runs to the window & several FLUNKIES, including STAG step out. Chase ensues culminating in CALEB getting apprehended by COPS. INT. JAIL CELL - DAY Enter ATTORNEY EDGAR SNYDER. CALEB sits in the corner. CALEB I'm just going to tell you what I told the assholes up front. That girl needs to die. We have laws established within our organization like your laws. We consider desertion an unforgivable crime, punishable by death. We call these people Trangressors. She rejected the destiny handed to her on a platter out of cowardice. What guys like you can't handle is the fact that the people I answer to have the real power to play with people's lives. To judge. And I am their appointed punisher. And right now you're just wasting my time. You do so at your own peril. Do your job and let me do mine. SNYDER'S notebook begins to bleed; he returns CALEB'S smile. MARY'S HALLUCINATION SEQUENCE EXT. STREET - DAY MARY sits down on bench and starts crying. A LADY with an empty stroller sidles up next to her. MARY Uh, okay... listen, lately I'm a little more inclined to ask total strangers stuff like this. I, uh, I just quit my job a few days ago. Only I didn't realize what my job was. And last night this woman told me, she told me I was an angel. And she was so kind, and so sweet, I kind of had to believe it, the way things have been going lately. Only she died. And, and I almost died. And I just couldn't go home again, I couldn't... nothing really made sense. And I wake up this morning and I can't even trust my eyes. I really feel like part of something way too big to understand and I can't say that I like that. LADY It's going to be that way for the rest of your life. MARY Why does is it have to be this way? I did the right thing! LADY Good is at a disadvantage here. The lady leaves. MARY Wait! Hey! Oh, God... A gun suddenly appears in her hand. A pay phone rings, she picks up. LADY sees STAG across the street staring at MARY. The LADY crosses the street and walks by STAG, exchanging icy stares. EXT. GRAVEYARD - DUSK ROB lies on the ground, hands trapped beneath a large tombstone. CALEB lazily waves a pistol at him. FLUNKIE Any day now, baby. STAG Stay focused. Car pulls up cemetery road. MARY exits - she slams car door; without a second's hesitation, CALEB blows ROB'S head off. MARY keeps walking, gun drawn. CALEB Wow, you really are hardcore. MARY Kiss my ass. CALEB This is your destiny, bitch. You screwed Gareth, you screwed all of us, you screwed yourself. MARY I'm not like Gareth and I'm not like you. CALEB Oh, that's right, you've been talking to angels now. You're no angel. You BROKE the LAW, Mary! MARY YOUR law. CALEB The law of the ORDER. She empties her clip into him, he recoils & comes back unharmed - he laughs, she drops her gun. CALEB Better get started. You know the rules - unhallowed ground. Honest to God, I don't know how you could be so goddamn stupid. EXT. Forest - DUSK (Revisit opening scene With conclusion) CALEB and MARY KORDERAS walk through the Woods; CALEB with a gun drawn to MARY'S head. MARY carries a shovel. CALEB watches her dig a large hole, gun still drawn. She finishes and kneels down inside. Caleb lowers the gun to the back of her head and she closes her eyes. CALEB Thanks for waxing Simon. FADE TO BLACK as several gunshots are heard.