What We Carry

Int. 2nd floor bedroom of Abandoned House - Dusk

Open on:

An empty room apart from a crumbling stone FIREPLACE, and a dusty floral CHAIR. Sitting is LOU, a woman in her mid-sixties, more weathered than the room around her. Unkempt hair and ragged jacket. She stares out at the lawn through a grimy window, but not without intention, she is scanning. At the perimeter of the lawn, at edge of the woods, she spots a DARK FIGURE pushing through the dead brush.

Lou swiftly raises a hunting RIFLE, a HANDCUFF on her left wrist clings and we see she’s connected to the RADIATOR. She grimaces as she flexes her fingers, gently inserting her pointer on the trigger. Through the scope, she sees another woman the same age, JO, holding up a RABBIT, and grinning while giving a small wave.

Lou lowers the rifle, unimpressed. Moments later, we can hear the door downstairs open, close, and footsteps echo up the stairwell. Then rabbit’s head to poke around the corner.

JO: Don’t shoot! I’m just a fuzzy rabbit!

Jo walks into the room. Cleaner than Lou and with than authentic smile optimistic people seem born with on their face.

LOU: Did you lock the door?

Jo walks over to the fireplace, putting down her pack and the rabbit on the stone hearth. Next to her is a pile of twigs.

JO: Yes, yes.

Obviously, probably, maybe not actually and Lou can tell.

JO: We need to start a fire (gestures at Lou). I know, I know, we need to hide the light, but we cannot eat this thing raw.

LOU: Yeah, getting rabbit fever would be the worst (sarcastically but not at Jo).

The two women stand up, Jo closing the CURTAINS on one side of the room, Lou next to her chair. Jo tosses Lou a BLANKET and both drape blankets over the curtains. This is not an unusual thing for them.

JO: I saw you putting your gun at me. Mad you are not having steak?

LOU: Way you stumbled through the prickers, I thought you were one of them.

Jo goes over to the fireplace and starts assembling a small pile of sticks and starter, lighting the smallest twist with a lighter.

JO: You know, one of the first ones I saw outside of the hospital was Harry's 10th grade math teacher. Charged right at us, straight into a fence. (slightly amused/sad pause) Always acted smarter because we knew how to find the volume of a sphere but never figured out how to climb over that fence.

Fire catches a little but still requires some care, with Jo strategically putting in more twigs.

JO: Could you skin the rabbit? I need to find a pot to boil potatoes.

LOU: Toss over here.

The rabbit is lying on the fireplace, less than five feet from Lou. The request seems not out of laziness but caution. Jo stares at Lou firmly.

JO: I never saw anyone turn in less than a week... You are okay.

Jo gently pulls the rabbit closer to herself.

LOU: Jo.

JO: Lou.

After a beat, Lou realizes Jo is not going to give in and stands up slowly, wincing slightly as her joints creak. After a beat, she walks over to Jo, the long chain clinking as approaches her friend, who seemingly ignores Lou as she attends the fire. Does not share the same concerns of being so close as Lou, who snatches the rabbit and returns to the safety of her chair, wincing a just little too much as she sits back down.

JO: We were riding horses for three days, and then running around those woods for two, and hand-cuffed yourself to that radiator.

Jo stands up, slightly more graceful than Lou, who gives an annoyed glare. The fire has caught, and Jo throws a thicker piece of wood on.

JO: If your joints are hurting now, that’s not a symptom of anything else other than being 66. We ain’t young anymore.

LOU: No, 64.

JO: 66. Last year I got you that picture of the Eiffel Tower for your birthday. Remember?

Lou squints at her - what?

JO: Remember? We made that silly promise at 15 to marry rich, and at 65 divorce the losers, and spend our retirement flying everywhere together. And, well, not too many flights these days.

LOU: Sorry, right. just tired.

JO: No matter, I got to find a bucket you haven’t pissed in for the potatoes. I’ll be right back.

LOU: Check the door!

Jo gives a lazy wave of her hand to acknowledge she heard. Lou stations the presumed piss BUCKET between her feet and grabs a KNIFE at her waist, wincing. With expert prevision she cuts the rabbit at the back and rips the fur off one half. We can hear Jo downstairs, clanking cookware, which Lou privately scuffs at her. After a few seconds, Jo returns with a dirty POT.

JO: Well, Monica would not approve but this should work.

LOU: Did you check the door?

Jo gives a heavy sigh and strong side-eye as she puts another log into the fire. Afterwards she pours water into the pot and balances on the wood. There is a comfortable pause only two old friends can share as both look at the growing FIRE, then they catch each other’s eye, reigniting some tension as neither breaks away. Keep the airy silence or?

JO: Lou, we still have time to get back.

LOU: No, there are rules and -

JO: Yes, but we also have protocols for these situations. You were bit only yesterday morning. So, we still have over two days before the amnesia and swelling… Afterwards traveling will be too hard.

LOU: We are too far away from base.

She rips off the rabbit’s fur as if her strength to skin an animal is as strong as her logic.

JO: Not if we both ride on my horse. Day and half at most.

Lou raises her handcuffed wrist.

LOU: Not taking chances being so close.

Jo stares, no, glares at Lou. Lou is putting up walls, so Jo seems pushed to start throwing stones over.

JO: You are being selfish. And a coward.

LOU: A coward? How? (moderately affronted)

Lou inserts the knife into the rabbit, cutting the belly, organs pouring in the bucket at her feet.

JO: You are wasting time! Time for you to, to, to say good-bye to Monica, and Harry would want to see you, and, and…

The two stare at each other as Jo wipes, not a tear, but her eyes. Seemingly cursing herself for showing emotions. Lou lets the rabbit on her lap.

JO: Give people a chance to say how much they love you before... That is the brave thing to do. Not wall yourself help in this house.

Lou breaks the stare. Maybe from the hurtful truth of Jo’s words or because she does not want to look at her friend when she says:

LOU: If you want a good-bye then here. Thank you for making dinner now you can you leave.

After a beat, Jo stands up, fire building up. She walks straight up to Lou and slaps her, the sting matching the hurtful comment.

JO: You think I can just leave?

Lou refuses for a beat to look at Jo. Finally looks up at her, still defiant.

LOU: There is nothing stopping -

Slap again.

JO: A whole lifetime! We survived this entire god-damn lifetime together. All that high school drama, my divorce, your cancer, and raising our teenagers during this… this shitstorm of a world! And you want to end things like that? You deserve a Stupid Slap.

She goes in again and Lou catches her, wincing as she holds back Jo’s force.

LOU: Okay, you made your point. No more Stupid Slaps.

Jo seems to want to put in another, just for good measure but relents, instead grabbing the skinned rabbit and returning the fireplace. Taking a stick, she starts spearing the animal, desensitized to the seemingly grotesque noises.

JO: The other night when camp got attacked and you were separated from us, I promised Erik I would spend only one day looking for you. But I lied, I was not going back until I found you.

Jo crams stick containing the speared animal into the fireplace shoot to cook. No fire-star meal but will do.

JO: Never getting to see you again is one of my worst nightmares. Almost as big as losing Harry. So, when I found you after two days, I felt…

She wipes a tear, no point in hiding her pain.

JO: I felt like I got a second chance to say what you mean to me and to thank you for always everything. And then that thing jumped out at us and you got… you got…

Lou stares at Jo, directly. Painful for her to hear this, to know she is the source.

JO: And now I am back in that nightmare, but it is reality. This time I am going to lose you in just a few days. I’ve been worried about this moment. For decades, really... and I do not know what to say.

Jo puts her head down between her knees, just needing a moment. Lou raises her left hand, chains clink, as if to comfort Jo from afar but lowers them. She looks down too, making fist, she can see how much pain Jo is in right now and she’s about to make the situation worse.

LOU: We didn’t get separated.

Jo looks up.

JO: What? (confused)

LOU: The night camp was attacked…

Looks down out of guilt.

LOU: There was just so much going on. Erik had that one jumping at him and there this other one just snuck up from behind us and I tried to shoot but…

Jo is alert now; aware this new puzzle piece is essential but not sure it fits in the story.

LOU: So, I ran away once the fighting stopped. Figured that made things easier for everyone.

Jo - blank face. Mental math. And click...

JO: But I found you two days later and we were attacked again. And you got bit then...

LOU: Didn’t matter.

JO: So that means this is day four. Lou, that means… after night.

LOU: Yes. This was my last day.

Point-blank. Candid. No sugar-coating.

JO: No, no, no. Why didn’t you tell me before?

Lou pauses and looks down at her rifle.

LOU: I don’t know… Maybe deep down I am a coward.

JO: Lou, you were not even going to let me say good-bye? You think things would be easier for me? Oh, my god. I thought we had a few more days together... Lou, I need you!

Lou sets the rifle against the wall, stands up, despite joint pain, chains clinking, walks over to the sitting Jo. Slap.

LOU: You need me? No, you do not need me. Okay?

JO: (Standing up) What the hell? Yes, I do!! I cannot imagine -

Lou slaps Jo again. A little harder this time.

LOU: Well, you are going to have to imagine. You want me to be here! And I want to tell Monica her cooking is terrible. And I want to say good-bye to Harry. And I want to go to Paris. But you do not get what you want in this world!

Behind Lou, the rifle falls with a loud BANG. Both women realize of their noise. Jo unclips the HANDGUN on her belt. No longer is conflict between them but whatever could be listening outside. After a few seconds, there seems to be no immediate reaction from the outside world, the pair relax… slightly.

Lou walks back to the chair and sits down, still wincing. After a beat, she collects her thoughts.

LOU: The fact is you and everyone I love will always be in danger when I am gone… and I can’t help.

Lou breaks.

LOU: What I need from you, Jo, is to know you will be okay. I know you are strong enough. But I need to you tell me you will keep going on. Because otherwise I will go crazier than those things outside.

Jo stares at her, trying to process this.

JO: Louise… I did not mean to -

LOU: Jo-Ann.

JO: Life will be harder... but will go on.

LOU: Thank you.

They found some small comfort with each other. Then, from downstairs a loud creak of a door opening and shutting. Comfort – gone.

Lou readies with the rifle, Jo pulls her handgun out. With military-like training, she opens the bedroom door, and she scans the dark landing, signaling to Lou she is going downstairs. The quietest squeak of the staircase. Lou flinches. After a few seconds, a loud metallic bang. Then dead quiet.

Lou wants to call out but knows she better not. No noise. The sounds of the door opening and closing again. Lou looks terrified - chains clink as she grips her rifle.

LOU: Jo! (loudly whispers)

Then, out from the hallway, we hear quiet footsteps.

LOU: Jo?

Around the corner pops the face of an old TEDDY BEAR.

JO: Don’t shoot - I am just a fuzzy teddy bear!

Lou lets out an audible sigh of annoyance and relief, and Jo walks in, dropping the teddy bear by the fireplace.

JO: Again, pointing the gun at me?

LOU: Everything okay?

JO: Oh, yeah. So, I, uh, did forget to lock the door earlier and was just the wind.

Lou stands up as Jo approaches. She playful slaps Jo.

JO: And then I knocked over a pan on the counter. (giggles)

Lou uses her other hand to slap the other side of the Jo’s face, both letting out small laughs.

JO: I checked the rest of the house. No one else. Just us.

Jo tries to pull Lou into a hug who quietly hesitates. Not out of emotional distance but scared to be so close to someone she cares about.

LOU: No, no.

JO: I promise nothing bad will happen. I promise.

They slip into that hug so strong no evil from the outside world can enter. Safe.

LOU: I am scared.

JO: Me too. Me too.

LOU: Will you? When...

Question does not need a full sentence. Jo pulls back to look directly at Lou, holding her face.

JO: I will not allow anything happen.

They break apart, chains clinking.

JO: Let’s just lie down in front of the fire. Takes the cuff off.

Lou fishes in her pocket and pulls out the keys but can barely pinch them, her joints visibly swollen and inflamed. Jo inserts the key, freeing the cuffs fall back on the chair. A visible bruised bite mark on Lou’s forearm just peeking out. Jo helps Lou lay down on her side and rests the poor woman’s head on her lab, laying her handgun beside herself. The two just stare at the fire, which now seems cozier than hostile.

LOU: When I things did not look good after the cancer diagnosis, I told Michael to cremate me and spread my ashes in all the countries I never got to visit… Any chance you are going to Egypt next week?

Jo starts gently stroking Lou’s hair.

JO: No, but I am going to England.

Lou gently but painfully rolls to her back, looking up at Lou.

JO: (as if serious) I promised Harry when he graduated high school we’d fly out to see a rugby game. Still holds the promise over my head all these decades later... I figured time to go. But afterwards I can bring you to Egypt.

LOU: Ah, thank you.

Lou closes her eyes, not going to sleep but at ease.

JO: We'd have to make a pitstop in Paris though. Finally visit the Eiffel Tower. Drink enough red wine to pickle our livers. We’d have to lie to Monica and say her French Bread is better.

Lou lets out a small snort.

JO: Afterwards we can go to India to see the Taj Mahal, see if the place as pretty as the pictures. I’d like to visit China as well. Walk the entire wall, we can gossip about all those other girls in high school.

Lou smiles, still eyes close.

JO: Try real Chinese food. Bet it is not the stuff Golden Dragon served.

Lou lets out a small laugh again.

LOU: Ha, but that place did help us lose those five pounds than one week.

JO: Only way we could fit into those prom dresses!

Mutual giggle and comfortable pause. The kind you can only have with someone you truly know.

JO: And afterwards we will travel to Fiji. Sit on the beach all day, eating real coconut and shrimp, and swim in evening when the dolphins come… The truth is though; I am just happy you are there with me. And always will be.

Lou smiles sleepily.

EXT. Abandoned House at Night

Looking up the corner bedroom. A muffled POP and FLASH from the curtain edges. We know what happened.

After a few seconds, light pour out as the BLANKETS and then the CURTAINS are ripped down. A strong beacon of life to anyone walking in the night. Then the light gets brighter…

We slowly pan down to see JO leaving the house, bag on her back, Lou’s RIFLE tucked away on the side. She is ready to go. She opens the small shed adjacent to the house and pulls out her HORSE. Saddles up and rides across the lawn, looking up towards the room. The entire room seems on fire; the whole place will get burned down.

Jo looks out, towards the surrounding woods. Not completely visible, just shadows, are moving figures slowly walking towards the house. She unclips her HANDGUN and spurs her horse forward, into the night as the fire begins to spread.

FADE TO BLACK