The Rewilders Page 9
INTERVIEWER (VOICE-OVER)
Minister!
PROCTOR (VOICE-OVER)
We are nations of laws and they must be followed, my good fellow! Otherwise, well, chaos would reign! We wouldn't wish that, would you? The law states, and I remind -
K) As static interrupts Proctor and takes him off the air, newspapers are scattered about an empty office somewhere:
"God must love the beasts more than us"
"Nature 1, Mankind 0. Game, Set, Match"
"London falls. But remember:
Conservation is still important!"
All of this is amongst posters fluttering on the wall from a light breeze coming in through broken windows:
"Save the Frogs! Save the Weasel!"
"Ban the mouse trap! Here's a kind way to trap mice!"
"Animals: Property of Humankind, or Citizens of the Planet?"
Evey and Harry at Wits End
EXTERIOR - MACGILLVRAY HOUSE - DAY
We finally see the quaint outside of the MacGillvray house. Remnants of a fallen wind turbine fill an alleyway nearby.
EVEY (VOICE-OVER)
When is the government going to come and help us, Harry?
HARRY (VOICE-OVER)
I dunno, Evey.
EVEY (VOICE-OVER)
Where are you going now?
HARRY (VOICE-OVER)
Just taking out the garbage, Evey.
The door opens and Harry emerges with a refuse bag. He wears a full bulky cricket uniform, with mask, shin and arm pads, and wields a cricket bat, as howls and snarls come from OFF-SCREEN.
Storyteller Prepares for the Finale
INTERIOR - UNDEFINED FUTURE RESIDENCE - NIGHT (TWILIGHT)
The candles are lower still, and the kids have cuddled up closer together under the blankets. Mom does a big stretch.
GIRL
Mother?
BOY
What about Great Great Gramma Rachel?
MOM
I'm coming to that, children.
GIRL
I hope she was all right!
MOM
Oh yes, Great Great Grandmother was safe with Professor Gruberstein and their friends.
Great sighs of relief come from the kids.
MOM
But they were all very sad at the way things had turned out.
Final conversation with Proctor
INTERIOR - GOVERNMENT OFFICE/C.R.A.P. - DAY
All alone, everyone stands at the counter, as if waiting for enviro-curious citizens who will never visit them again.
BOY (VOICE-OVER)
What did they do, mother?
MOM (VOICE-OVER)
Well, here's what happened next...
There are all sorts of wild animal sounds OFF-SCREEN: Hisses, brays, coos, bleats, snorts, chirps, snarls and barks.
Then one really long, spooky bellowing.
ROGER
Yabby, will you shut up!
YABBY
Huh?
RACHEL
That wasn't Yabby!
Their eyes grow wide, wondering what on earth it was!
INTERIOR - OFFICE/MINISTER PROCTOR (SAME TIME)
As Proctor leisurely packs his desk, through his doorway movers can be seen dragging away furniture on dollies, unplugging computers, taking down and rolling up posters.
His co-workers run around crazily, getting in the way. One stops outside Proctor's door and shouts to the sky.
STAFF MEMBER
We're doomed! We're doomed!
Proctor sniffs sarcastically and shakes his head.
PROCTOR
Worrywart.
An ASSISTANT pokes his head in the door.
ASSISTANT
Minister, we have to lift the prohibitions against shooting dangerous predators!
PROCTOR
No. We must only trap them.
INTERIOR - OFFICE/ALLY GRUBERSTEIN
Ally dials a number on the phone, as the others join her.
ALLY
So now they're securing whatever animals they capture in big temporary zoos, behind moats -
WALLY
Not even fenced?!
RACHEL
The moats dry up, and then the animals escape again!
All five of them groan in unison.
INTERIOR - OFFICE/MINISTER PROCTOR
PROCTOR
Absolutely no animals must be harmed, do you understand?
ASSISTANT
(wearily)
Yes, Minister.
The Assistant departs, defeated.
PROCTOR
(to himself)
It's all the fault of that terrorist, Cadwraeth, and his like-minded comrades.
Standing, he carries on, now, seeming to go a little nuts, muttering at first and then getting increasingly agitated.
PROCTOR
You see, ten thousand fresh water shrimps support a thousand bleak fish, which in turn sustain a hundred perch, followed by ten pikes, and finally one osprey!
A few heads pop around the corner of his door, curious.
There's a buzz at his desk phone.
PROCTOR
It's still working? Who could be calling?
(into phone, takes seat)
Yeeesss? Ally, my dearest! Ally!
INTERIOR - OFFICE/ALLY GRUBERSTEIN
Everyone crowds around. Ally activates the speakerphone.
ALLY
I didn't expect to you to still be there, Minister. You should -
INTERCUT between ALLY and PROCTOR
PROCTOR
Oh, Ally, I thought of how to fix things! Wait till you hear this. We just have to find a natural predator for those damned beavers. They started it all. What about foxes?
ALLY
Well, we have lots of foxes around now, too. But when they run out of food, they'll turn on domestic animals. Then on us.
PROCTOR
Ha, ha, well, we'll release their predators, then! Coyotes and wolves, then lions and tigers.
ALLY
Minister! Not here - in Scotland!
PROCTOR
(insane chuckle)
Do it!
ALLY
And what predator will we release when the lions and tigers overpopulate, Minister?
PROCTOR
We're the apex of apex predators!
ALLY
We were.
PROCTOR
Well, we'll worry about that when the time comes. We can just ship in more food for them - zebras and wildebeests or something.
ALLY
(slowly rises from chair)
But they don't belong here, Minister! They're in Africa, and tropical! And when they come here, they'll eat vegetation that'll destroy other ecosystems! Then we'll have to fix that! Then we'll have to fix the fix, Minister.
PROCTOR
Oh, I don't care, just do something, Ally! I'm just the bureaucrat! You're the experts!
ALLY
But Minister!
PROCTOR
(has an epiphany)
Ally! Wait! I've got it! I've finally got it!
Everyone in both rooms freeze - those surrounding Ally, and the faces sticking around the corner of Proctor's door.
PROCTOR
What we need, to fix all of this... is an un-re-de-introduction program!
END INTERCUT.
The line goes dead. The speakerphone buzzes and buzzes.
Rachel and the whole team stands there, frozen.
Proctor Goes Crazy
INTERIOR - OFFICE/MINISTER PROCTOR (SAME TIME)
Proctor hasn't realized the connection has terminated.
PROCTOR
Ally? Ally! I want you to be in charge Ally! Because... I know you can do it, and... because...
Everyone careening in his doorway holds their breath...
PROCTOR
Ally, I love you! I love you!
He starts wailing and thrashing, crying and laughing. Those at the door glare at him with bug-
eyes realizing he's crazy.
INTERIOR - OFFICE/ALLY GRUBERSTEIN
Ally disconnects the speaker on her phone. Silence.
Then the crashing and neighing and growling increases OFF-SCREEN.
RACHEL
It's time to go. Let's see who we can help, out there.
She looks over to a table, leading the others' eyes over.
On it are a crossbow tranquillizer, several pistol and rifle tranquillizer guns, and lots of boxes of darts.
Team Rescues some Families
EXTERIOR - STREET/GLASGOW - DAY
Rachel and the Team dodge through the people-less streets.
At a dumpster, a bear rummages. Wolves fight over a leg of lamb at a butcher shop. A hawk swoops down and lands on a telephone wire to join several other birds of prey there.
Our VOICE-OVER narrators, the Mom and her kids, pick up again:
GIRL (VOICE-OVER)
So they ran away somewhere protected?
BOY (VOICE-OVER)
Did they get to safety, Mother!?
MOM (VOICE-OVER)
Well, a short distance away, they came across some parents and their children - children just like you!
Oddly, amidst all this predatorial danger, a fearless kiwi waddles down the middle of the street in front of the Team.
RACHEL
Listen...
First Rachel, and then everyone else, reacts to the sound of human shouts OFF-SCREEN, mixed in with the caws, growls and barks.
ALLY
It's coming from Argyle Street!
WALLY
Let's go!
YABBY
Woo woo wooo!
EXTERIOR - ALLEY/EXIT TO ARGYLE
Tranquillizer weapons in-hand, Rachel and her Team emerge from an alley into a much more active city street.
A sharp snarl OFF-SCREEN initiates a stampede of wildebeests and elephants. A panther is perched, watching from atop a department store across the street.
Pinned against a wall as the stampede passes, Rachel nods in the other direction, leading the others' eyes along.
From their POINT OF VIEW, a block away, a caravan of refugees, five adults and about 30 kids, on foot, bicycles, wheelchairs and rickshaws, are trapped in an enclosed courtyard.
EXTERIOR - COURTYARD/STREET
The Team creeps over to the group. The refugees' faces light up at the sight of their rescuers.
Rachel corrals the kids as Ally motions the rest to follow. Wally, Roger and Yabby run ahead of everyone, poking at the remnants of the stampede to steer them away.
At an intersection blocked by a herd of zebras, Yabby roars his best lion growl to scare them into taking off.
As the people skulk through the intersection, they react to a snarl OFF-SCREEN. A real lion, annoyed at losing his potential meal, peers down at them from atop a supermarket.
EXTERIOR - ANOTHER STREET/PARK
Emerging from another alley into the open, they race across a park, dodging crocodiles snapping at them from a fountain. A little boy falls behind. Rachel and Yabby return to help.
Refugees flee to the Zoo
EXTERIOR - ABANDONED PROPERTY/ENTRANCE
Those in front reach a gated property, one that is not just empty but run-down and overgrown. At the entrance is an ancient, tipped sign: "Glasgow Zoo - Closed 2003"
http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/GlasgowZoo
ADULT #1
What's this?!
ROGER
It's what's left of the zoo!
From their POINT OF VIEW, inside there are only a few animals loitering about, grazing: Swans, gazelles, a badger family.
WALLY
It was shut down by zoo-protesters years ago.
ALLY
All the poor animals were shipped away or euthanized.
ADULT #2
Can we hide here for a while?
They skitter around the big gate, inside. Unfortunately, this attracts the attention of animals outside, who follow them in: A family of elk, a giraffe, bobcats and others.
EXTERIOR - ZOO/OLD CAGED AREA
Wally directs everyone into a cage and slams the rusty bars shut to close themselves in. The animals now surround the cage and gaze in at the humans as if they're the captives.
Team Rescued by Cadwraeth and Friends
EXTERIOR - STREET
Rachel, Yabby and the little boy are pinned down as dozens of galloping African buffalos flee a pair of tigers.
Almost encircled, Yabby speaks his first English phrase!
YABBY
Aw, crikey. I sorry, Rachel.
RACHEL
Yabby! Don't worry -
One of the buffalos twists and bumps a light standard. It creaks, tips and falls across Rachel's and Yabby's path, forcing them up against a wall as more buffalo cut closer.
The sound of groaning buffalos, snarling tigers and stomping hoofs is deafening. Yabby crouches down over the boy, hands over his ears. Rachel surrounds them both with her arms.
Suddenly, amidst the cacophony, Charlie, aka Cadwraeth, in his mask and billowing overcoat, swoops in on his noisy motorcycle, leading several others on motorbikes, too.
With his comrades moving in front of the tigers to deflect their attention, Charlie hoots and hollers to divert the buffalos, just like a real cowboy.
He wheels over to Rachel and sweeps her onto his bike behind him. Yabby jumps on another, with the little boy.
Then off they roar, at a great clip!
EXTERIOR - ABANDONED PROPERTY/ENTRANCE
The motorcyclists rev their engines as they round the corner into the old zoo, scaring away the animals before it.
EXTERIOR - ZOO/OLD CAGED AREA
The beasts surrounding the cage full of refugees now number in the dozens. The bobcats paw at the unlocked gate, as the kids inside cower down under the adults' protective hugs.
Charlie roars up and blasts a flare pistol into the air to send all of the creatures scattering.
Inside, Ally, Wally and Roger rise with the children they hold - but some of the other adults hold back.
ADULT #1
It's Cadwraeth! The Terrorist!
ADULT #2
Run for your lives!
ADULT #3
(to Wally)
Use your crossbow! Shoot them!
Charlie stops his bike at the gate and swings it open. With Rachel perched on the seat behind him, hanging on tightly, he sheds his mask.
ALLY
No, it's that fellow, Charles Rath!
Rachel, momentarily confused, loosens her arms around Charlie's waist and peeks over his shoulder.
WALLY/ROGER
Charlie Rath! Remember, Rache?
Charlie, confused, glances back to Rachel, quizzically, to meet her beaming face, her eyes now full of awe - and love - as she moves close and retightens her grip around his chest.
EXTERIOR - ZOO/EXIT (LATER)
Charlie, with a child in a leg cast behind him on the bike, leads the other motorcyclists and the band of refugees on foot, bikes, rickshaws and wheelchairs, to freedom.