Short screenplay for the Sept 2019 Winter Is Coming contest.



ODD MAN OUT

FADE IN

EXT. BILL'S HOUSE - NIGHT

A suburban McMansion in a quiet, sleepy street.

Quiet until a dozen cars come roaring up and squeal to a 
stop. Horns blare the opening notes of DIXIE. If you don't 
know what that is, are you even a real American?

At least 30 HOODED MEN climb out, it's like an annual Klan 
meeting.  They carry baseball bats and pick ax handles.

The hooded men gather on the lawn, HOOD LEADER in front.  
They stare at the house, radiating vigilante menace.


INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

BILL sits up in bed, a panic moment, he's heard the cars.  
He shakes his wife DAPH awake.

                      BILL
          Honey, wake up.

                      DAPH
          Jesus what--

Bill's up and out of bed, dressing fast.

                      BILL
          Take the kids into the garage.  Do 
          it now.

Daph wakes up, cottons on to what's happening, she throws 
covers aside and leaps up, grabs clothes, dresses herself 
on the move.


INT. KIDS' BEDROOM - NIGHT

Daph throws the door open and switches on the light.  Two 
beds, occupied by young kids, fast asleep.

                      DAPH
          GET UP!


EXT. BILL'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The whole neighborhood's awake now, people are looking out 
their windows, watching what's going down.

Hood Leader looks up and sees Bill at an upstairs window.  
He raises his arm, points at Bill.

                      HOOD LEADER
          You were warned!

Hood Leader turns his head left and then right, looking at 
his men.  It's the signal they've been waiting for, they 
charge the house, whooping!


INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

Daph half-carries, half-drags their SON and DAUGHTER 
downstairs, wrapped in bedsheets, they're whining and 
groaning and confused.  Bill follows her downstairs.

At the bottom, Daph turns and looks up at Bill.  A look 
passes between them.  It might be I love you, it might be 
goodbye, it might be both.  No time for words.  Bill nods.  
Daph runs along the hallway to the back of the house, with 
their kids.

Bill looks at the heavy front door, which is barred and 
bolted.  He hears the whooping men getting closer.

SLAM! -- the door shudders like it's been hit by a rhino.

Bill just stands there, doesn't run.

SLAM! -- and the door frame woodwork begins to split, screws 
loosen.

Bill licks his lips, takes short panic breaths.

SLAM! -- and the door just can't take it, the bolts give 
way, the bars bend.

THE DOOR SLAMS OPEN and the hooded men pour inside, yelling!


INT. VARIOUS ROOMS - NIGHT

Bill is off his mark like an Olympic sprinter, he runs 
through the house, drawing the hooded men away from Daph 
and the kids.

The hooded men jam each other in doorways and trip over 
each other and bang into furniture, but they keep coming 
after Bill, who goes from room to room, slamming doors 
shut behind him, throwing down chairs, stools, anything, 
to trip them up.

The men crash their way through, determined to catch him.


INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Bill slams the door shut and with desperate strength topples 
the fridge onto its side so it blocks the door.  BANGING 
and CURSING from the other side.  The hooded men are 
stopped.

But the door and fridge move a fraction -- then another 
fraction -- enough for someone to stick their fingers 
through the gap.

Bill kicks the door!  Someone SCREAMS and the fingers are 
pulled back.  Bill puts his weight against the fridge.

Behind Bill, the outside door opens silently and Hood Leader 
enters.  Four hooded men stand outside, watching.

Bill spins round, sees Hood Leader.  He pulls a big knife 
from the knife block and raises it to defend himself.

Hood Leader pulls off his hood, revealing his big ruddy 
face and white hair, an untrustworthy politician type.  
(We will still call him Hood Leader to avoid confusion.)

Bill gapes in shock, recognizing him. 

                      HOOD LEADER
          Bill, Bill, give it up.  It's over, 
          can't you see that?

                      BILL
          One more fuckin' step, and I swear--

                      HOOD LEADER
          Any sensible man would've learned 
          to keep his trap shut.  If not for 
          himself then for his family.  But 
          no, not you.  You just had to keep 
          on yakkin'.

Hood Leader gestures to the men outside, they enter and 
fan out so they can come at Bill from all sides.

                      HOOD LEADER
          Now look what it's come to.

Behind Bill the blocked door is slowly opening, inch by 
inch, as the fridge is pushed aside.

Bill is fucked and he knows it, there's no way out.

                      HOOD LEADER
          Why don't you put the knife down 
          before you hurt yourself?

                      BILL
          Why don't you make me?  Come on, 
          big man, show your cocksucker 
          followers how brave you are.

Fast as a snake, Hood Leader picks up a stool and throws 
it at Bill, who has to duck, and that's when the hooded 
men rush in and grab his arms and twist the knife out of 
his hand.  Bill struggles to get free but it's no good.

Hood Leader shouts to the men trying to break in past the 
fridge:

                      HOOD LEADER
          We got him!

Activity there dies down.

                      BILL
          Coward son of a bitch.  You pay 
          other men to do your dirty work 
          for you.

                      HOOD LEADER
          Nobody's being paid.  Don't you 
          see?  It's the Lord's work they 
          do.  Take him out!

The hooded men wrangle Bill outside.


EXT. BILL'S HOUSE - NIGHT

They bring Bill around the side of the house, to the front.  
Hood Leader has put his hood back on.

Bill freezes and digs his heels in when he sees the giant 
cross that's lying on his lawn.

Some of the hooded men have shovels, they've dug a hole 
for the cross to slide into, so it can be pulled upright.

People have come out of their houses into the street and 
are watching.  A silent, fearful crowd.

                      HOOD LEADER
          Do it.

Bill is dragged to the cross, forced to lie down on it.  
Lengths of rope have been nailed to the cross arms and 
body, and these are tied around Bill's wrists, torso and 
ankles, securing him.

The hooded men loop longer ropes around the top and sides 
of the cross.  They're getting ready to pull it upright. 

Bill struggles frantically but he can't break free.

Hooded men pull on the ropes and lever the cross up until 
it's settled in the hole they dug, and Bill is hanging 
there like Jesus.

WHOOPS and YIPPEES from the hooded men, they fill in the 
hole and jam their shovels around the cross as wedges.

Bill groans, the ropes cut into his wrists, he's bleeding. 

Hood Leader looks up at him.

Bill hawks and spits at him but it falls short.

Bill realizes Daph is standing among the crowd, with the 
kids, watching.

Bill tries to puzzle this out.

Daph just watches, no reaction.

Hood Leader turns to address the townsfolk.

                      HOOD LEADER
          We did not want to do this!  None 
          of us wanted it!  None of us asked 
          for it!

He points up at Bill. 

                      HOOD LEADER
          This man was warned.  He was told 
          not to speak out against the plan.  
          We asked him politely.  We asked 
          him more than once.  We explained 
          how he was just causing panic, and 
          worrying folks who had plenty worry 
          already.
               (politician's pause)
          But no, he would not relent.  Him 
          and his friends, those so-called 
          "scientists" who claim to know 
          everything, they insisted, they 
          God-dang insisted on spreading 
          their lies.
               (another pause)
          We cannot trust them.  They have 
          been peddling their foolish views 
          for years, and where has it got 
          us?  Everything they ever said has 
          been proved false.

                      BILL
          Don't listen to him!  He's the 
          liar!

                      HOOD LEADER
          Everything they said has been proved 
          false, and offers no salvation for 
          any of us.

He sweeps his arm toward the sky.

                      HOOD LEADER
          We know what's happening.  We feel 
          the changes, year on year.  And we 
          know it's gonna get a lot worse.  
          God help us all when it does. 
               (another pause)
          That's why, that's why the big 
          boss, the big man, that's why he's 
          doing what he's doing.  It's the 
          only way to change things back to 
          the way they were.

                      BILL
          It will destroy the atmosphere.  
          It will create a nuclear winter 
          that will lay waste to crops and 
          doom the human race.

Hood Leader bows his head, taking deep breaths.

The hooded men pour gasoline around the base of the cross. 

The crowd shifts, uncertain, whispering.

                      HOOD LEADER
          You hear what he's saying.  You 
          understand the meaning of his words.  
          But you all know, deep in your 
          hearts, that this is another 
          falsehood.  The big boss has figured 
          it all out.  He's gonna launch 
          them nooclear rockets.  Tomorrow 
          night the sky is going to light 
          up.  Its glow will cleanse us and 
          it will cleanse our planet.  The 
          climate will return to what it 
          once was.  We shall flourish in a 
          new Eden.

The hooded men light pitch torches, these are distributed 
to the crowd.  Flames crackle and spit.

Bill watches in anguish as Daph takes a torch.

He turns his head away as his children are given torches.

                      HOOD LEADER
          And so we are come to this.  We 
          are come to this, because nothing 
          must stop the plan.  This man,

He gestures wildly at Bill without looking back at him,

                      HOOD LEADER
          cannot be allowed to sow his lies, 
          his deceit.  Not any more.  It 
          stops now.
               (another pause)
          We do not do this lightly.  But 
          punishment must be meted to those 
          who will not listen to reason.

                      BILL
          Detonating nuclear bombs is not 
          the answer!  For God's sake, listen 
          to me!  You have to voice your 
          objections before it's too late, 
          and stop this madness!

Hood Leader looks at Daph.

                      HOOD LEADER
          Daphne, will you be first?

Daph steps forward.  She looks up at Bill.

Bill pleads with his eyes.

Daph looks at the torch in her hand, and frowns.

Bill enjoys a moment of hope, she won't do it.

Daph chucks the torch down and the gasoline catches fire.

The flames leap up, touching Bill's shoes.

Daph steps back and beckons their kids forward.

The kids throw their torches into the flames.  They don't 
look up at their father.

And everyone else throws their torches into the bonfire.  
The flames creep up the cross and begin to eat at Bill's 
feet and legs.

Daph leads the kids away, they don't look back as Bill's 
AGONIZED SCREAMS fill the night.  Behind them the light 
from the blaze illuminates the street, the people.

Hood Leader falls into step beside Daph.  He takes off his 
hood, folds it and slips it inside his jacket.

Daph leans against him and puts her head on his shoulder.

                      DAPH
          Oh Daddy, I am so sorry.

                      HOOD LEADER
          None of this was your doing.  He 
          and only he is responsible for his 
          fate.  Remember this.

                      DAPH
          I will.

Another hooded man joins them and he takes off his hood, 
he's a big handsome fellow.  He looks down at the kids and 
smiles.

                      HANDSOME MAN
          Are you kids doing okay?

                      BILL'S DAUGHTER
          Yep.

                      BILL'S SON
          Are you our new daddy?

                      HANDSOME MAN
          Reckon I might be.  Depends on 
          your mommy.

He smiles at Daph and she smiles back.

Somewhere behind them, flames crackle and reach up to the 
starlit sky.

FADE OUT 

                                                        Sep 2019





Copied from the DDP contest results thread:

Here are the results of the Winter is Coming contest:

Title                              1st 2nd 3rd Total
It's A Dog's Life - dpaterso                1    1
Winter is Coming - Southern_Land        3        6
Winter is Coming for
 the English Patient - Mark Somers          2    2
Nuclear Winter - Centos             2   1        8
Them Bones - StoryWriter            1       1    4
Odd Man Out - dpaterso              1            3

Join me in offering Centos congrats for earning first place with
Nuclear Winter and to Southern_land for scoring second place with
Winter is Coming

The scoring: 1st place vote = 3 points, 2nd = 2 points, 3rd = 1 point.

Thanks to all who took part, yes it would have been nice if more
people had shown up, but sometimes real life gets in the way and
sometimes there just aren't enough folks checking in, what
can ya do.

If you made any notes while reading, feel free to post 'em here,
comments are always appreciated. Well mostly always.