Infected – Episode Five:

Out of Reach

By

Sean Elwood

© 2006

seanel12@yahoo.com

INT. NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY

Valerie slowly walks down the empty street, a cold wind blowing through the neighborhood and creating a chilling sound that makes her shiver.

She walks to the end of the street at a dead end. In front of her is a large, two-story house, the plants all dead, a few windows smashed open, but the front door still intact. There is a small porch at the front of the house, and almost every window shutter has fallen off.

Valerie takes in a deep breath, closes her eyes, and begins giving herself a silent prayer. She opens her eyes back up and begins moving forward, watching all around her.

She walks towards an open manhole, but ignores it, giving no thought about it. She walks past it easily, but is stopped when the sound of clanking metal comes from the dark hole.

She stops and turns around, staring at the manhole, her eyes wide. She continues to stare at it, waiting for something to pop out or to make another noise.

VALERIE
(To herself)
Okay...Just ignore it, Valerie...Just keep walking...

She backs away, still watching the manhole for anything that decides to come out and attack her. She comes to a complete stop; her mouth dropping open, and her whole body begins to shake.

She slowly turns around, and in front of her, a small child at about four years old. The little boy stares at her, and she stares back. Valerie detects a bit of sadness in the boys eyes, but she begins backing away as the little boy stumbles towards her.

Valerie begins sobbing, trying to not look at the boy. She spins around and is greeted with an older woman, a mom. The mother tries tackling Valerie to the ground, but Valerie pushes her back, dropping the gun.

The gun falls to the ground, firing off by itself, the gunshot echoing through the neighborhood.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

Max turns his head to the front door, listening.

MAX
Shit.

He runs to the front door. In the kitchen, the door that leads to the garage door begins shaking, and the sound of growling and moaning come from it.

EXT. HOUSE – DAY

Max runs out of the house and onto the front lawn, looking around. Moaning begins spreading across the neighborhood.

INT. NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY

Zombies begin crawling out from behind houses, out of gardens, and from rain gutters, clawing their way towards the sound of the gunshot.

More zombies begin pouring out of the deserted houses, stumbling down the streets, searching for the fresh meat. Max sees the zombies stumbling aimlessly, but soon they all begin following each other.

One zombie sees him, and lets out a loud screech, and begins stomping towards him. Other creatures hear the zombie’s sound and begin walking towards Max.

EXT. HOUSE – DAY

Max turns around and runs back to the house, but is stopped when the family of four from the picture he saw comes out of the house and towards him. Max is now surrounded by dozens of corpses and he spins around, figuring out what he needs to do.

INT. NEIGHBORHOOD – DAY

Valerie picks the gun up and shoots at the woman, hitting her in the chest and missing most of the time. She runs out of bullets, but continues to pull the trigger, letting out only loud ‘clicks’.

She looks around her and more zombies begin surrounding her. She begins whining, and out of nowhere, a zombie from the manhole jumps out and grabs her legs, pulling her to the ground.

She screams and the zombie begins pulling her into the manhole. She flips over onto her back and the zombies begin thrashing at her, ripping her clothes.

She kicks the zombie who has her in a death grip and he lets go. She crawls out of the zombie crowd, but a few still hang on to her, pushing her back to the ground. She tries pulling herself out, her nails digging into the pavement.

VALERIE
Somebody help me!

She gets on her back and begins punching and kicking away, knocking a few zombies to the ground. She begins standing up, pushing the creatures out of the way and running to her house as the corpses follow her.

She runs up to the front door, but is tackled by another zombie, a body builder zombie. She falls back to the ground, her walkie-talkie falling to the ground.

She kicks at the zombie, but is unable to get it off of her. She holds onto its neck right on its bite wound. Cold blood begins pouring down her arm, and her fingers cut deep into the bite. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out an extra bullet for her gun.

She kicks the zombie back and quickly loads the gun, loading it and pointing it at the body builder’s head. The zombie crawls on her again, and she grabs his neck, pointing the gun under his chin. She pulls the trigger and brain fly out the top of the zombie’s head.

Quickly throwing the zombie off of her, she grabs the walkie-talkie.

VALERIE
(Into walkie-talkie)
Max! Help me!

EXT. HOUSE – DAY

He barrels through the zombie family, knocking them down like bowling pins. He trips over the staircase that leads up to the front door, but quickly crawls inside, slamming the door shut and locking it.

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Screaming/Filtered)
God! Get me out of here! Please!

INT. TRUCK – DAY

Dawn holds onto the walkie-talkie and they listen in.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Valerie! Where are you?

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
I’m at my house down the street! I need your help!

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Where’s your house!

Valerie screams and there is no response. But she answers moments later, saying:

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
I’m inside! It’s at the dead end the house in the middle!

DAWN
(Into walkie-talkie)
Don’t worry guys! We’re coming to get you! Just hang tight!

Tucker slams his foot down on the gas pedal and the truck speeds off down the street.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

The zombies begin surrounding the house, banging on the door and rubbing their faces against the window. Max searches through the kitchen, looking through drawers and cabinets.

He runs to the entryway and looks through the closet next to the front door. He finds a metal baseball bat and pulls it out. He backs away, watching the door. He begins ascending the stairs, watching carefully.

EXT. FIELD – DAY

Hannah watches the shelter from a safe distance, waiting. Darren, Carl, Sherry, and Ben watch her from a few yards back, waiting for her.

DARREN
Hannah, come on! We’ve been waiting here for ten minutes! He would have found your mom by now!

Hannah continues to stare at the shelter. Darren throws his head down by his side and turns his back to Hannah and puts his hands in his pockets.

HANNAH
(To herself)
Mom...Dad...Please...Come out...

CARL
Hannah we have to keep moving. Those things are everywhere.

HANNAH
I’m waiting for them...

CARL
Hannah...I’m sorry...the whole place is overrun by them. Everyone’s gone.

HANNAH
(Turning around)
Don’t say that! They’re not gone!

She breaks down crying.

HANNAH (CONT’D)
I’m not ready to lose them! I’m only 18 for Christ’s sake!

CARL
We’re going to lose a whole lot more if we don’t begin moving.

Darren walks up to Hannah. She falls to her knees and he kneels down next to her.

DARREN
(To Sherry and Carl)
You all go ahead. We’ll catch up...

SHERRY
We’re not going a step forward without you two.

DARREN
We’ll catch up. Just go...

They begin walking away, and Darren faces Hannah.

DARREN
Hannah...Hannah look at me. Look, everything’s going to be okay. We’re all going to be fine.

HANNAH
I wish I could believe that, Darren.

DARREN
I’ve lost people I loved too, Hannah. And there comes a point where we need to get over it because we know that they aren’t going to come back, no matter how much we wish or pray or whatever.

HANNAH
I just...Thought that it wouldn’t happen to...Me.

DARREN
I know what you mean, Hannah. I seriously do.

HANNAH
I know you do.

Darren’s eyes begin welling up with tears.

HANNAH
Darren, please, don’t cry. If I know anything happened to my parents, I really need someone to keep me company, because I know I won’t be able to get through this without you, or Carl, or your mother.

They embrace, Hannah squeezing onto him.

EXT. SHELTER – DAY

The side door where the piece of wood is begins being banged on, and the sound of growling comes from the other side. The board is too soggy to stay in one piece, and breaks in two, the door flying open, and dozens of corpses pour out, piling up on each other.

EXT. FIELD – DAY

Darren and Hannah continue to hug, and Darren looks up at the shelter and sees the hundreds of zombies coming out from the front of the shelter.

He pulls Hannah away from him and stands up, and the zombies begin coming towards the field, spreading out from each other.

DARREN
Son of a bitch...

Hannah looks behind her and see the corpses stumbling into the field, coming their way.

DARREN
(To Carl)
They got out! They’re coming!

Darren begins running the opposite direction, but looks back and sees Hannah staring at the oncoming creatures. He grabs her arm and begins pulling her.

HANNAH
Wait! No!

DARREN
Hannah, it’s too late!

He grabs around her waist and begins pulling her back and makes her run towards the rest of the group.

INT. TRUCK – DAY

TUCKER
Where’s Crystal Mountain?

DAWN
Take a left up here and take another left on Black Woods Street.

TUCKER
God I hope we make it in time...

DAWN
God’s long gone now...The only thing we have left is time and luck.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

The creatures still pound on the front of the house as Max reaches the top of the stairs. He runs to the master bedroom.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM – DAY

He slams the door shut, locking the door. He crawls across the bed and gets on the other side, pushing the bed against the door.

He backs away, holding the bat up, staring at the door. Behind him is a window. He opens up the blinds and looks out, his mouth agape.

MAX’S POV

There are zombies all over the street, either walking to the house he is in or towards Valerie’s house. He looks down at the side of the house and sees the zombies trying to crawl up the sides of the house, but fail.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM – DAY

Max is startled when a crackling sound comes in from his walkie-talkie. He takes it off his belt and listens. It’s heavy breathing: Valerie.

MAX
(Into walkie-talkie)
Valerie...Valerie it’s Max. Are you okay?

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
I’m scared, Max. I don’t think I can go any further.

MAX
Just keep the front door locked and blocked and make sure the windows——

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
I can’t move, Max! I’m going to die! I don’t want to die!

MAX
Valerie, you’re going to have to calm down. For me, okay? Just begin taking in deep breaths and try to calm yourself down...Now, tell me, why did you come here?

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
What do you mean?

MAX
Why did you come here into Crystal Mountain?

INT. TRUCK – DAY

Again, Tucker and Dawn listen in.

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered/Crying)
I came to get my husband and son.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
How old is your son? What’s his name?

DAWN
(To Tucker quietly)
Take a right up here and go straight down and you’ll be there.

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered/Crying)
He’s eight...His name is Riley.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Yeah? And what does he like to do?

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
He likes going to the park and feeding the ducks...The was the same day Carter...My husband...taught him how to ride a bike for the first time...

DAWN
Can’t we get there any faster?

TUCKER
I’m going as fast as I can!

INT. MASTER BEDROOM – DAY

Max sits against the bed, the bat lying across his lap with the walkie-talkie in front of his mouth.

MAX
Keep going, Valerie...

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered)
I’m so scared, Max. I’ve never been so scared in my life.

MAX
I know you are, but you have to be brave. When it comes to times like this, everybody is scared, but when they have a child, kids really need to look up to their parents when their scared.

Valerie is silent on the other end.

MAX (CONT’D)
Riley is probably thinking of you right now, and he knows that you are trying to find him because he is counting you. You need to be strong, Valerie, you have to stay with me here.

There’s more silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie. Only static buzzes through the speakers, but soon, slight sobbing comes through.

MAX
Valerie, are you still there?

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Filtered/Sniffing)
Yeah, I’m still here.

MAX
I’m just saying that...it’s going to be fine.

VALERIE (O.S.)
(Chuckling)
I’ve heard that from you too many times and I’m starting to get tired of it.

MAX
(Tears welling up)
I’m only saying it because it’s true.

Valerie begins saying something, but it’s blocked out by static. Max stares at the walkie-talkie without any hope. He shakes it a little, and slaps it a few times with his hand, but nothing but static comes through.

MAX
(Silently)
Valerie...?

INT. VALERIE’S HOUSE – DAY

Valerie stares at her walkie-talkie, holding it with both hands. She shakes it and tries calling for Max again, but can’t reach him.

The “Low Battery” light is glowing a blood red and soon, the light shuts off.

Infuriated, she throws the walkie-talkie on the ground. She screams out loud, covering her face, blocking out her scream.

Her outraged scream soon fades into a muffled, hopeless cry.

INT. TRUCK – DAY

The “Crystal Mountain” sign comes into view through the windshield.

TUCKER
(Into walkie-talkie)
Max, we’re nearing Crystal Mountain. What house are you in?

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
The second one on the left. But they’re everywhere. You have to be careful.

TUCKER
(To himself)
Oh I’ll be careful, alright.

INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY

A phone sits on a small desk with a lamp on it. Valerie picks the phone up and takes out the batteries, throwing the phone into the chair next to her.

She picks up the walkie-talkie and sticks the batteries in it. Just as she turns the walkie-talkie on, one of the windows in the entryway breaks.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM – NIGHT

The sun begins to fade and Max gets up from the bed, walking towards the window. He pulls the blinds up and looks out, the crowd of zombies growing by the second.

The sound of glass breaking is heard from downstairs and Max gets his bat ready. He looks back out the window and sees a large, camouflaged army truck speeding around the turn into the entrance of the neighborhood, leaving skid marks.

Max quickly pulls the bed out of the way and opens the door, but as he does, a man jumps out at him, mouth stretched open and yellow teeth bearing.

The man’s clothes are pretty much falling off of him, one of his feet missing and only a stub takes its place. The man’s eyes are missing and part of his nose has worn away, along with his lips and ears.

The zombie being weaker than Max, he throws him off of Max, flying into the hallway. Max gets up and grabs his baseball bat, bringing it down on the zombie’s head with so much force, the skull shatters and brain matter pours out of the wound.

He runs to the balcony next to the staircase but is blinded by two bright headlights shining through the broken windows where dozens of corpses begin crawling through.

The army truck barrels through the entryway of the house, immediately killing the creatures in front of it. Shards of glass and other debris fly at Max, but he is unhurt by it.

INT. VALERIE’S HOUSE – NIGHT

Valerie takes the walkie-talkie with her and runs past the entryway where zombies begin making their way through the windows, tearing down the door from its hinges.

INT. DINING ROOM – NIGHT

She slams the door shut and pushes a large cabinet full of chinaware in front of it, ignoring the broken plates that fall and shatter on the wooden floor. She finishes placing it before the zombies begin pounding on the door.

Suddenly, she hears voices. Voices of what sounds like a young child.

YOUNG CHILD (O.S.)
Mommy?

Valerie gasps, looking around, trying to determine where the voice is coming from.

VALERIE
Riley?

RILEY (O.S.)
Mommy where are you?

VALERIE
(Eyes watery)
I’m right here, baby! I’m in the dining room.

The windows in the dining room bust and hundreds of arms begin coming through, thrashing about, ready to grab anything that gets in their reach.

Valerie screams and runs out into the...

INT. HALLWAY

...where she stops, listening again, hyperventilating.

VALERIE
Riley? Carter? Where are you?

CARTER (O.S.)
Come here. Look at this.

VALERIE
Where are you?

RILEY (O.S.)
Mommy, come here! I’m scared!

Valerie, disoriented, begins stumbling back and forth, tears pouring out of her eyes, unable to figure out where they are.

RILEY (O.S.)
MOMMY!!!

INT. FAMILY ROOM – NIGHT

She runs in, catching herself at the doorway.

VALERIE
I’m right here, baby!

Nobody else is in the room except for her. She falls to the ground in front of a TV, knocking over a stack of VHS videos, all labeled with a title and a year: home videos.

Valerie looks up at a shining TV screen where it shows a small boy, RILEY (6), his hair short and his mouth open, showing small, white baby teeth. Next to the sleeping Riley is CARTER (26), well built with a muscle shirt and in his boxers, with bed hair and a five o’ clock shadow.

VALERIE
(On TV)
Wake him up and let him know I’m still here.

Valerie watches Carter wake Riley up on the TV screen, and Carter shushes Riley when he wakes up, rubbing his forehead. Riley stares at the camera for a moment, but falls right back to sleep.

Valerie slowly turns her head to the back of the room. She gasps, covering her mouth and closing her eyes, letting all her tears cascade down her cheek at once.

At the back of the room, lying on a couch, is Riley and Carter, both dead. Riley’s eyes are closed, as if he were asleep, and at his forehead is a small hole with a little bit of blood trickling down it.

Carter holds on to Riley with a gentle grip, while in his other hand is a small pistol, hanging from his limp index finger. He has blood blotted on his temple and it runs down his cheek and ear.

Valerie stares at the two, looking as if they are asleep and dreaming of paradise instead of the hellhole they were living in days ago.

She gets up and leans against the wall where she holds her legs to her chest. She looks down next to one of the stacks of VHS videos. It’s a picture of the three of them, the same picture Valerie had as a keychain.

She lets out her anger in loud crying, asking herself “why?” over and over again. She grabs the picture and holds it tightly against her chest, her whole body shaking.

INT. TRUCK – NIGHT

Max sits in the back of the truck.

TUCKER
Where’s the house?

MAX
Just follow the crowd.

EXT. TRUCK – NIGHT

They drive down the street in the direction all the zombies are walking in. The zombies they come close to hitting reach out and try clinging onto the truck, but Tucker is too fast for them.

INT. GAME ROOM – NIGHT

Valerie continues to cry. She looks back at the picture and one of her tears lands on the picture, and it slowly slides down.

She gets up and grabs a sheet from a closet next to her. She walks over to the couch, her eyes closed. She drags the blanket over the couch, covering up the two bodies.

She quickly backs away from the couch, staring at the enormous bumps that protrude from the white sheets. Her chin quivers and she sniffs, wiping away the tears from her face. She takes in a deep breath, but keeps it held in when she hears the sound of crashing wood and breaking chinaware.

She runs over to the game room door and shuts the door, leaning against it. The door begins jumping back and forth as the corpses begin pushing on it. She screams as the door begins to open further and further the more they push on it.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Valerie! Valerie answer me please! Can you hear me, over?

The walkie-talkie is just out of reach from her. She tries getting it with her foot, but kicks it back even further. She looks up and sees the shadows of arms and hands coming up from the bottom of the windows.

Soon, full silhouettes of human bodies are in front of the window, and the windows begin to crack simultaneously. Valerie begins hyperventilating again, and she begins sliding down the door and sits down, trying to keep the door shut.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Valerie are you there?

She uses her foot to pull the walkie-talkie towards her, but misses each time. Finally she gets it to where she can pull it to her.

A hand shoots through the door, getting cut up by the splintered wood. Other pieces of wood fall on Valerie and she screams. Hands begin squeezing through the hole in the wooden door, grabbing at her hair.

Valerie grabs the walkie-talkie and quickly presses the “talk” button while the zombies begin pulling her back up by her hair.

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
Val——!

VALERIE
I’m so sorry Max!

MAX (O.S.)
(Filtered)
God you’re okay! What are you sorry for?

VALERIE
I’m so sorry...

Before both of them can respond any further, the door pushes open and Valerie slides across the floor, her walkie-talkie hitting the wall and smashing into pieces.

The zombies surround her as the windows shatter and the zombies from the outside begin crawling in, pulling themselves towards Valerie.

VALERIE’S POV

She screams as the zombies surround her, their hands coming down towards her and covering her face.

FADE TO BLACK

EXT. CITY LINE – NIGHT

A car’s headlights shine on a sign that says, “You are now entering Austin, Texas. Population: 690,252”.

Coming down the long stretch of highway are thousands of corpses walking away from the large city where smoke still billows into the sky from destroyed buildings.

The creatures spread apart and go in every direction, moaning and growling at each other.

More corpses climb over the roadblocks the police and army had set up, moving objects out of their way and making their way out of the city towards the rest of the world where they don’t even know about what happened in Austin.

EXT. PARK – NIGHT

They group slowly make their way along the large park next to a large lake where the city over looks the rest of Austin.

Ben begins coughing.

BEN
Mom I can’t go any further.

CARL
Here get on my shoulders buddy.

DARREN
No, we should bunk somewhere tonight. We have to rest and think of where we are going to go tomorrow.

HANNAH
Where are we going to go? Who’s going to protect us? Everybody’s dead!

SHERRY
Everybody isn’t dead. We just need to get out of this city and get help from other towns.

DARREN
How do you know those things haven’t made it out of the city before we have?

CARL
(With Ben on shoulders)
I’m not taking any chances.

He begins walking towards a small shed near the back of the park.

SHERRY
Where are you going?

CARL
We’re going to stay in this shed until tomorrow. That’s when we begin moving.

SHERRY
What? Wait, Ben!

Sherry runs off towards Carl who is already standing next to the shed. He takes Ben off his shoulders and Sherry holds onto him. Hannah and Darren slowly make their way to the shed.

DARREN
How are you feeling?

HANNAH
Crappy.

DARREN
Yeah...heh...I know what you mean.

Hannah shrugs.

DARREN
Hey whatever happened to Hannah to where she would always tell me that everything is going to be fine?

HANNAH
It’s just going to take me a while to figure out that everybody dies and that I should get over it.

DARREN
It takes everyone a while. I understand that you’re down, and I respect that. But if you need anybody to be at your side, I’ll always be there for you.

Hannah exposes a tiny smile, but Darren doesn’t notice. As they walk towards the shed, Hannah gently takes Darren’s hand and holds it.

CARL
This shed is big enough for all of us. For two hours each, we will have someone watch it except for Sherry and Ben.

BEN
Who’s going first?

CARL
I will. Then Hannah, then Darren. Alright with everyone?

They all nod their heads and they all step inside except for Carl.

INT. SHED – NIGHT

Sherry trips over something and almost falls to the ground, but catches herself.

SHERRY
Where’s a damn light when you need one?

BEN
Mom, you swore!

SHERRY
I know, honey, but sometimes it just slips out during times like this.

Darren feels around the walls and finds a lantern. He takes it off the wall and sets it down on the ground.

DARREN
Hey, Carl, you got a lighter?

Carl opens the door to the shed and throws a lighter in. Darren catches it and lights the lantern. The flame gross bigger and the light absorbs the darkness.

The light reveals many tools, including a small push lawn mower, a chainsaw, a hedge trimmer, a shovel, a plow, and other gardening tools.

SHERRY
Carl?

CARL (O.S.)
Yeah?

SHERRY
You have something to protect yourself with?

Carl doesn’t say anything. He opens the door and walks in, staring at all the tools. He immediately grabs the chainsaw and holds it up, testing out its weight.

CARL
Effective and it’ll wake you up immediately.

BEN
Thanks for protecting us, Mr. Carl.

CARL
(Smiling)
No problem, kid.

He sinks back outside, shutting the door quietly. Hannah and Darren look around.

HANNAH
Are there any blankets we can lay down on?

Everyone looks around. Coincidently, a stack of covers for large objects sits on a shelf above Darren. He takes them down and hands some to each person. Everyone gets situated for sleeping and Darren dims the light.

Sherry holds on to Ben as they fall asleep, and Hannah and Darren sleep next to each other, but Hannah lies there wide awake.

HANNAH
Have you ever thought, when you were little, you were afraid that once you go to bed, you wouldn’t wake up the next morning?

DARREN
Childhood fears I guess.

HANNAH
Were you able to get over it easily?

DARREN
I’m able to get over most things quickly...sometimes. I guess it’s all part of survival.

HANNAH
That’s what I need. Survival.

DARREN
To survive, it’s often necessary to fight. Fight with your friends, fight the things around you, fight your fears...

HANNAH
Well, how can you fight your fears when they’re all around you?

The shed becomes dead silent, with only the crickets chirping and the sound of Carl humming a lullaby to himself as he sits outside the shed.

EXT. METROPOLITAN - NIGHT

The lights from the large skyscrapers fill the sky up with light pollution, keeping the stars hidden in their own, empty world, unable to be viewed by the people down below on the ground.

Trudging towards the city: a large mob of zombies, their moan growing louder as more of them appear in front of the city.

EXT. METROPOLITAN – LATER

Soon, lights begin going out in buildings, police sirens fade in and echo through the city, along with fire truck sirens.

Then, there’s a gunshot.

CUT TO BLACK

HANNAH (V.O.)
How can you fight your fears when they’re all around you?