Recollections

[cs3ink]

Recollections

By Chip Skelton


PAGE 1 (6 panels)


PANEL 1: A long, horizontal establishing shot of an upper-scale neighborhood. It is a well-kept row of ranch-style houses. Beautifully trimmed foliage line the deep driveways. Full, majestic shade trees canvas the yards and lend a lazy air to the scene. The shot includes a row of about 3 to 5 houses. Reading from left to right, the second house from the far right is in severe disarray. A set of tire marks arch from the street, through the yard (the mailbox lies shattered some distance away), and lead up to a car smashed into the front of the house. A small amount of smoke wafts from the under the hood of the wrecked vehicle. The wreck has obviously occurred some time ago. One body lays sprawled out to the right of the car in the driveway. Another body lays draped out of a shattered window to the left of the car.


PANEL 2: Move in to just behind the car. It has opened a huge hole in the front of the house. We can see beyond the lite trail of smoke drifting out of the crashed hood into the house's interior. To the left of the car we can better make out the man draped grotesquely out of the shattered window. An automatic rifle lies on the ground, just beyond the reach of his lifeless hands. Beyond the gaping hole in the front of the house lies the living room. Bullet holes riddle the interior of the house. The furniture is shattered and strewn about. Three more bodies, also peppered with bullets, lay in various positions within the living room. A hallway leads past the living room toward the dining room. Between the living room and the dining room, the hallway opens on the right. Because of the angle, we cannot see into the room. Bullet holes are everywhere. An arrangement of three photographs are on the right hand wall of the hallway, just before the opening to the room we cannot see. The frames are hanging all askance.


PANEL 3: Pan into the hallway. Make sure the pictures on the wall are arranged exactly as they were in the previous panel. Bullets have shredded the glass and the images within. A pair of legs lay at an awkward angle on the dining room floor. The rest of the body is obscured because it lays beyond the wall. The opening on the right, half way down the hallway, is the family room. We can only see a little bit of the room's interior, the corner nearest the hallway. The bullet hole theme continues. Bags of cocaine litter the floor. Some of them have spilled their contents. The lower half of a recliner is visible just inside the room. It is laying on it's side atop yet another body.

PANEL 4: The interior of the family room. To the left we see the fallen recliner and the body beneath it. The entire room is visible. Five more bodies litter the room. Bags of coke are all over, while a fine layer of coke from the numerous ripped bags coats areas throughout the room. A sofa is against the wall opposite the hallway opening. To the right of the opening are two tables, one overturned, the other while still upright is at an unlikely angle with the wall. There are still a few bags of coke on top of the upright table, as is one of the bodies. Another body wearing a bullet-proof vest with the large letters "TBPD" printed across the front of it lays hunched over in front of the overturned table. The cop's face has been blown off. Another body sits on the right side of the sofa opposite the hallway opening. A forth body, a woman wearing an open TBPD bullet-proof vest, is stretched out on the floor, awkwardly propped up against the sofa shared by the sitting corpse. She resembles China, the old WWF wrestler. A hand gun lays just out of the reach of her left hand. The last body is sprawled face down across her knees. Blood is everywhere.


PANEL 5: Closer still to the woman. Blood runs from her mouth. A copious amount of blood pours from beneath the open vest. A knife is buried in her left thigh.

CAPTION: ...

WOMEN: ...uuuhhhhhh...


PANEL 6: Her face is full panel. Her eyes snap open wide. Sputtering, blood gurgles from her mouth.

CAPTION: oh damn. oh shit. oh fuuuuu...

WOMEN: ...k-- k-- k...

WOMEN: urk GURGLE...


PAGE 2 (5 panels)


PANEL 1: A view from the ceiling looking down on the wounded woman. Her eyes, still wide in pain and terror, are darting to her left. A pool of blood is forming beneath her. A stream of blood runs from her left nostril, and mingles with the incredible amount of blood that coats her lower lip, chin, and throat, staining the white t-shirt beneath the vest.

CAPTION: WHAT... WHAT IS... OH, GOD, I'M DYING.

WOMAN: urg... blek...


PANEL 2: A shot of the room over the lady's shoulder.

CAPTION: WHAT HAPPENED? WHY CAN'T I...

CAPTION: I CAN'T MOVE.

CAPTION: UHHHG... WHAT HAPPENED HERE?


PANEL 3: The woman eyes dart down to her body.

CAPTION: ALL THIS BLOOD... OH GOD, I'M BLEEDING TO DEATH.

CAPTION: I'm... I'm dying...

WOMAN: gurgle. huk. huk.


PANEL 4: A shot from behind the upright table, looking at the mortally wounded woman. She is still looking down at herself.

CAPTION: GOTTA FIGURE THIS...

CAPTION: GOTTA FIGURE THIS OUT.


PANEL 5: A roughly waist high shot from the woman's right. We are three or so feet from her. Tears are streaming down her face. Her face is contorted in anguish.

CAPTION: I HAVE... HAVE...

CAPTION: HAVE TO KNOW...

CAPTION: I DON'T WANT TO DIE. I DON'T WANT TO DIE.

WOMAN: huh HUH HUH... HUH SPIT urg...


PAGE 3 (6 panels)


PANEL 1: She sets her jaw as blood keeps seeping out of her mouth. Her expression is one of determination. Her eyes are still very moist. The woman is looking to her left again.

CAPTION: PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, YOU SHIT!

CAPTION: I REFUSE TO DIE...

WOMAN: UGH.. GURGLE...

CAPTION: I REFUSE TO DIE WITHOUT KNOWING WHY.


PANEL 2: Another shot of the woman from behind the stacked bags of coke on the upright table.

CAPTION: COKE...

CAPTION: THERE'S COKE EVERYWHERE.


PANEL 3: A shot from next to the cop with his face blown off. The woman is looking over at him.

WOMAN: BLUGGG... k... huggg...

CAPTION: HE'S A COP... WAS A COP.

CAPTION: NO ONE ELSE IS WEARING A VEST...


PANEL 4: An all black panel.


PANEL 5: Close up of the woman. Her eyes look half closed.

CAPTION: ..VEST...


PANEL 6: An all black panel.


PAGE 4 (6 panels)


PANEL 1: A ceiling shot looking down at the scene.


PANEL 2: A shot from her lap, looking up at her face. Her eyes have snapped open again. More blood sputters from her mouth.

CAPTION: ...no...

WOMAN: UGH. SPIT. GURGLE.

CAPTION: NO. NOT YET.

CAPTION: NOT ****ING YET!


PANEL 3: Another shot from over her shoulder. Focus on the dead cop.

CAPTION: OH... OKAY... THAT GUY IS A COP...


PANEL 4: An all black panel.


PANEL 5: A shot from the hallway entrance looking in at the carnage. The puddle of blood beneath her is noticeable larger.

CAPTION: ..okay...

CAPTION: OKAY.

CAPTION: HE'S A COP... AND THESE GUYS ARE PROCESSING DRUGS...

CAPTION: WAIT A MINUTE...


PANEL 6: The woman is looking down at her vest.

CAPTION: WAIT A ****ING MINUTE...


PAGE 5 (6 panels)


PANEL 1: A close up of her face as she looks down to her right.

WOMAN: mmm. HUK HUK...

CAPTION: ...


PANEL 2: A shot of her hand. It is slightly open. In it is a badge. The puddle of blood has spread far beyond her hand.

CAPTION: I'M A DAMNED...

SFX (faint, barely readable): whee-oo... whee-oo.


PANEL 3: An all black panel.


PANEL 4: A worm's eye shot looking up at her weak, but surprised face. The flow of blood from her nose and mouth have increased demonstrably.

WOMAN: OHHHHH... grik... SPUTTER...

CAPTION: ...A DAMNED COP.

CAPTION: TWO AGAINST FIVE. DAMN, WE WERE GOOD.

CAPTION: BAD GUYS: TWO. GOOD GUYS: FIVE.

SFX: WHEE-OO. WHEE-OO.


PANEL 5: A waist high shot from her left. The woman is smiling weakly. Her eyes are closed.

CAPTION: LOTS OF SHIT HERE. MAJOR BUST.

CAPTION: GOOD... GOOD JOB, PARTNER. BET WE GET A MEDAL.

CAPTION: WE'RE GOD DAMN HEROES..

SFX: WHEE-OO. WHEE-OO. WHEE-OO


PANEL 6: An all black panel.

CAPTION (very faint): ...heroes...

SFX (very faint): whee-oo.


PAGE 6 (5 panels)


PANEL 1: An aerial shot of the house in question, as well as the two or three around it. The wrecked car still juts out from the front of the house. Ten to fifteen cop cars surround the house, with five or so ambulances just
outside the parameter the cars have created. Policemen are all over the area. Several ambulance attendants are carting gurneys with body bags on them out of the house.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS (no tail): SO, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE? SHIT, WHAT A ****IN' MESS!

OFFICER SAMUELS (NT): AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL , LIEUTENANT, HITCH AND KUROJIMA FELT COMPELLED TO BREAK WITH PROCEDURE, AND BRING DOWN RENEE'S OPERATION.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS (NT): DAMN COWBOYS! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?


PANEL 2: The living room. The bodies are gone. Cops are everywhere. A gurney with a body bag on it is being wheeled out of the hallway toward the living room.

OFFICER SAMUELS (NT): APPARENTLY, THEY RECEIVED RELIABLE INTEL THAT RENEE WAS ON SITE, AND DECIDED NOT TO WAIT FOR BACK-UP.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS (NT): WAS RENEE HERE?


PANEL 3: Inside the family room. Cops are cataloging the bags of coke. Lieutenant Collins, a stocky, Italian-looking man in his early forties, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with large TBPD letters on its front and back, is standing next to Officer Samuels, a youngish, blond, male officer in uniform. They are standing next to a lone gurney in the center of the room. A full body bag rests atop it. The body bag is zipped shut. Samuels
is gesturing toward the body bag.

OFFICER SAMUELS: RIGHT HERE, SIR.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS: NO SHIT...

LIEUTENANT COLLINS: THEY WERE GOOD MEN, SAMUELS. THEY DIED HEROES.


PANEL 4: Collins takes hold of the zipper on the body bag, while Samuels looks on.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS: WE FINALLY GOT YOU...


PANEL 5: A shot straight down on the top of the now unzipped body bag. Inside is the woman, her face peaceful in death.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS: ...YOU DAMNED BITCH.

OFFICER SAMUELS: IT APPEARS THAT THEY TOOK OUT KUROJIMA FIRST. HE WAS OVER BY THE TABLE. RENEE WAS GONNA DO HITCH, BUT KUROJIMA WAS NOT ALL GONE, YET.

OFFICER SAMUELS: KUROJIMA PUT TWO IN RENEE, JUST BEFORE HE DIED. AT THIS TIME, WE THINK HITCH STABBED HER IN THE THIGH. RENEE EMPTIED HER GUN INTO HITCH AS SHE FELL.


PANEL 6: Pull back as Collins zips the bag closed.

LIEUTENANT COLLINS: THAT'LL BE THE LAST BADGE THIS PSYCHO BITCH ADDS TO HER ****IN' COLLECTION.


THE END.