SCENE #1

MICHAEL'S HOUSE -- NIGHT

House in wooded area, Santa Monica Mountain's. (Topanga Canyon)            

TITLES:   "35 Years Ago"

Though window, gathering of late teens, early twenties, sitting, smoking, laughing, passing pipe, and tossing an occasional beer. About 200 miscellaneous types of candles flickering on shelves, and various furniture etc. Stereo in the background.

SFX --MUSIC: Rises in volume on opening of scene. "BRING OUT THE ROSES"

MICHAEL
Michael, early 20's. beard, accompanying the music with a guitar.

                                    VOICE
         Hey Mike, toss me a beer……damn !..got my Zig-Zags wet, anybody got any papers?

WIDER VIEW

He reaches over, grabs a beer, tosses it across the room. He resumes playing.

SPFX --- Suddenly an ultra bright light blasts through the windows. Curtains blowing wildly. (As if a police helicopter has its spot lights on the house and flying low).

Michael flings off the guitar, bolts up, and begins shooing people out of the house.

                                    MICHAEL
       Quick!! Everybody out!! It's a bust!

Guest scatter. Light through window ceases as room clears. Complete silence. Michael runs to the door, looks both ways for safety, bolts out.

EXT. BACK OF MICHAEL'S HOUSE

He scrambles up and over a retaining wall. Keeping low to the ground, he runs up the hill, through the bushes.

MICHAEL IN WOODED AREA AND BRUSH

SFX --Distant sounds. Pursuing dogs and panting and barking, sirens shouted orders, crunching of twigs and footsteps through the brush.

Michael ducks under the brush, and rests behind a large rock. AD LIB.

SPFX -- Ultra bright shaft of light comes near him.

He evades the illumination. Light moves away.

SFX -- Background ambience of chaos increases….as if it getting nearer.


                                    MICHAEL
                           (Horrified and nervous)
       Hell has finally arrived! Shit!

SFX -- Gun Shots, machine gun fire, major police action.

                                  MICHAEL
       God! They're actually shooting at each other. We've gone too far!!

Michael rises to see what he can Expression reflects horror, shock and disbelief. He ducks for cover ..looks up …ducks again.

                                 
                                  MICHAEL
       Guess it's too late to go home!

He thinks, looks as if he is deciding, the rises up.

                                  MICHAEL
             (Shouting at the top of his lungs)
      THIS IS BULLSHIT! THOU SHALL NOT KILL…DOESN'T THAT MEAN ANYTHING TO ANYBODY ANYMORE!??

                                  MICHAEL
                     (Whispering to himself)
       Jeez, they've been trying to do away with that.

                                  VOICE (O.S. in distance)
       Tell 'em , brother!

SPFX -- Suddenly the shaft of bright light blasts down on him. Within the circling whirlwind shaft of light everything is illuminated .
SFX --Great whirling rushing sound, increasing in volume.

SERIES OF SHOTS -- Holographic miniatures, different locations.

#1: Kids stealing car parts and rummaging through car; man runs out of house, after them with a shotgun.
#2: Man entering house, …partially clad, holding his pants up, trying to exit window.
                              
                                 VOICE:
          I want your wife…..she doesn't love you anymore!!    (SFX --Gunshot)

#3: Burglars working on a window.
#4: Man standing guard on his porch with a rifle; wife in window, holding two children.

                               MAN
                           (Angered)
          Since the collapse, people just think they can take just about anything they want….and nobody is
          going to stop them!

#5: Policeman running into his house looks at his wife.

                                 POLICEMAN
          I had to see if you were alright
                                 WIFE
                (Shaky frightened)
          It's gone mad. .all mad.

                                 POLICEMAN
          I'm staying ….I'm guarding you and the house, quick, get my revolver!

Michael moves behind the rock, for cover …away from the scene. Slowly rises above the rock to look. Suddenly he rises up and declares.

                                 MICHAEL
          This is ridiculous, everybody's gone nuts! ..I'm tired of running! Either I need help ..or you do! In any
            event, I'm coming down!

SPFX -- Instantly the light extinguishes.

SFX -- Ambience returns to that of a normal wooded area at night. Michael walks down the hill in disbelief, looking around, as if to say, 'Where is everything? What happened?'

He approaches his house, the door is still open, and the candles still burning. Everyone is gone. Puzzled, curious, he walks down the driveway approx 20 yards, sees a stranger. (PAUL, late thirties, tall, friendly, calm standing alone under a tree. Michael's quickens pace, as he approaches.

DRIVEWAY
MICHAEL & PAUL

                                 MICHAEL
            Is it over?

                                 PAUL
             (Knowingly)
            For you it is.

Michael hugs him, the draws away, slight distrust and curious.

                                 MICHAEL
          Who are you??

                                 PAUL
          Your neighbor. That your house? ..with all the candles??

                                 MICHAEL
          That's funny…I've never seen you. How long have you lived here?

                                 PAUL
          Quite a while. Why don't you come down to my house? …Oh, by the way, my name is Paul.

                                 MICHAEL
                (cautiously)
          Yeah,….. Okay.

INTERIOR --- PAUL'S HOUSE

Michael entering into the front door and into the living room. There is no furniture. A woman, early 20's walks into room.

                                  WOMAN
         May I get you some water?

                                  MICHAEL
         No… No thank you…… How come I've never met you two before?
He turns, looks at them as he is inquiring. They are silent.

                                  MICHAEL
         Well???

Michael snaps around, rushes to window, looks astonished.

SPFX --From out of the window, he is looking at the North American continent, from approximately 200 miles southwest of Southern California, over Pacific Ocean. 150 miles above the earth's surface. In the darkness, he sees 'mosaics' of lights, clustered together in various locations, stretching for hundreds of miles. These are NOT city lights, but lights transposed over the earth's surface. Red's clustered together, yellows, blues, greens. They appear to be at war with each other. They are conscious and madly evil, driven by an aggressive nature. Then small 'bubbles', clear, as if visible radio waves, form and rise up from the land mass. First one, then another, then two more, then four more, then eight, doubling in binary fashion. When they reach an altitude of approx 100 to 130 miles, above the earth's surface, they burst, from them, concentric circles, (as ripples from a pebble tossed in a still pond) spreads out. The swells collide with other 'bubbles', then burst that bubble, which sends out more concentric circles, bursting yet more 'bubbles', till the sky above America looks like boiling water.

BACK TO SCENE

Michael, speechless, turns to Paul ..opens his mouth to speak…

                                  PAUL
       They're going through a cleansing process. The circles that open the other 'bubbles' is the word of the
         Law, which will govern the planet from hence forth.

Michael's jaw drops open in astonishment.

                                 MICHAEL
          Man! Like this is major earth history!
                              
                                  PAUL
                ( Smiles and says nonchalantly.)
          It happens periodically, when it needs to. They do that for a while, it settles down, they forget, then it
          happens again. This isn't the first time.

                                 MICHAEL
          Well, who gives the law??

                                 PAUL
          It comes from where Life comes from. When they ignore the Law, it causes and 'indignation' within
          them, because things get so far out of hand. Even though they know better, they choose not to follow
          it, that in turn creates the heat,…which makes the 'bubbles' Like desparate 'prayers'.

                               MICHAEL
          Are there many of 'you guys' around?
                                 PAUL
            Well, actually there's quite a few, where ever we can find them…. Perhaps tonight, we found one more.

Direct eye contact between the two of them. Paul smiles at Michael, as Michael turns to look out the window. Everything has returned to normal. Michael, dumbfounded, suspicious, and curious, steps to the door….. Opens it.

                               MICHAEL
            Maybe I should head home

                               PAUL
            Feel free.

                               MICHAEL
                                 (unsure)
            Yeah…yeah, I think I'll do that… Good night. Thank you. I gotta' get .

                              WOMAN
            Good-bye.

                              PAUL
            Yes, Good-bye, we'll see you later.

                              MICHAEL
            Yeah ….maybe. See ya'.

Michael shuffles out the door.

INT. MICHAEL'S HOUSE --EMPTY, QUIET

Michael, candles still burning, plops down on couch, and gazes.

NEXT MORNING

Michael waking, runs his hands through his hair, staggers to the door, takes deep breath of fresh air.

EXT. PAULS HOUSE

Michael knocks on the door, sees "For Rent" sign, cups hands and and rests his face on them, to look through glass. Nobody there. It is vacant, dusty. He walks to the edge of the porch, in thought, and stares across the canyon.

                         MICHAEL
                      (Exhaling exasperation)
            JEEZ!!!
****************************************

INTRO MUSIC.

End of scene one.

GfS