Episode 13.0 - The ‘Braska Curse
Episode Credits:
Amanda Hufford as Hannah
Abigail Turner as Cali
Jordan Rudolph as Mel
Will Handford as Jameson, Bogart & Ol' Blind Pete
Tom Schalk as Rictor
Ryan Hoyle as Reggie
Writing and Sound Design by Damian Szydlo
Sensitivity and Script Reading by Mak Shepard
Music: ‘Hush You’ by Velvet Moon
TRANSCRIPT
[FADE IN]
[scene opens with Cali pulling up and stopping in front of an old farm, a storm rumbling in the distance, truck door opens and slams shut]
CALI
[complaining as she gets out of the truck, starting to walk around to the bed of the truck]
“Should have known. Should have fucking known better.
Nebraska. Everytime I come through here I get… ‘Nebraska’ed’, big time. I used to think to myself: Self, why don’t more people live here? It’s sustainable. Cozy. Lots of good land. Windmills aplenty just waiting to be refurbished. I mean, I’m pretty sure it was one of the only states they didn’t drop robots on so theoretically it should be a bastion of old Americana, right? Wrong. So wrong. It sucks. I’m actually sure it’s cursed. Or… or maybe I’m the one that’s cursed, I don’t know.”
[now standing in front of Hannah, talking to the zombie]
“What I do know is that when I’m ‘here’ some manner of… just… fucking calamity strikes. I mean, more than my usual bad luck. Last time, for example? Oh, you’re going to love this Zombie-Girl. I was just cruising in my spinner. Gliding over this godforsaken stretch of land as fast as possible when an actual herd of deer comes bounding over an old highway barricade and *smack* - Smoked him. One of the little ones, too. [dismayed] I know, right? Poor little guy. He got his revenge on me, though. Yeah he did. Busted the casing on one of my hovercoils. That damage, I should mention, led to over a year's worth of janky mechanical problems. Finally got it fixed up at the McMaster settlement… Which was sweet and all except I only got to enjoy said repaired spinner, now known as my dear departed spinner, for a couple days before it got completely totaled! That was the day I met you, I might add. Like, how dare I undo the work ‘the ‘braska curse’ spat down upon me!”
[Zombie complaining sounds in apparent support]
“So, here we are. In Nebraska again over a year later and… Well, do you know what that is up there, Zombie-Girl? It’s a storm. A big, mega-sized storm. A tornado or hurricane, probably. I don’t know. I come from a land of earthquakes… which is most definitely not… THIS. My spinner? Oh yeah, it could have made it through, but this rig? With a zombie riding along in an open-air bed? Yeah. Not a chance. You’re not going to catch me tempting the curse that much. No way.
HANNAH
“I don’t know… a torrential downpour doesn’t sound like the end of the world to me right now. A shower sounds pretty nice, actually. Bring it on! We can take it! I mean Zombie-Me is basically invincible so maybe you could just leave us outside for a little while? No? Too much to ask? I thought so.
Here I sit before you, just a girl covered in… well covered in days old ‘Rictor’, wishing to be clean… Oh, the melodrama. Imagine being this bored, Cali. Imagine it. It’s not like you can actually hear me! [sarcasm] Having these conversations with myself is basically my favourite thing these days.
[Opens the tailgate]
CALI
“Alright. Come on out and… ouch! Watch out for the weird spikes and barbed wire, okay? What a joke. Tell me you’re compensating without telling me you’re compensating, Rictor.”
[Hannah crawls out of the truck bed]
HANNAH
“Right? Like, how many more skulls do you actually need on this thing? Ooooh, scary! I’d be way more impressed if I didn’t still have pieces of that dude stuck between my teeth. Oh, wow. Listener, that was maybe the most metal thing I’ve ever said. Cali, I think you’re rubbing off on me!
OL’ BLIND PETE
[From off in the distance]
“Hello!? Is someone out there?
HANNAH
Uh-oh.
CALI
[a loud, frantic whisper]
“Oh. Oh no.
[fumbling with her pistol]
Of all the farms I could have stopped at… this… THIS one had to have people living in it? Come on! The ‘Braska curse!”
OL’ BLIND PETE
“Hey! Hello out there! I’m warnin’ you, playin’ with Ol’ Blind Pete is all fun and games until you’re pickin’ buckshot outta your ass with a pair ‘a tweezers! I don’t need my damned eyes to fill half this county full of shrapnel! I’ll tag you piggies eventually. So speak on up or get ready to squeal!”
CALI
“Blind Pete? He said Blind Pete, right?”
[Hannah makes zombie sounds in return as Cali rips some cloth]
“I’ve got an idea and Zombie-Girl. I’m afraid we’re going to have to do something you’re really not going to like, again, but I’ve got to find a way to shut you up. Now here, hold still… Okay, hey, no biting… And there we go!
[Hannah trying to make sounds past cloth gag]
Oh, don’t look at me like that. Just let me take advantage of this poor blind man like an absolute asshole would, and you’ll be right back to our regularly scheduled session of croaking and snarling. Or whatever. Why are we having this discussion? It’s my way or the… or the highway… Ma’am. I don’t know what I'm even saying.”
HANNAH
Um, rude much?
OL’ BLIND PETE
“Last chance you little bastards!”
CALI
“And here we go… Come on, Zombie-Girl…
[Calls out to Ol’ Blind Pete]
Hey! Woah, woah. White flag. You really got us, mister! Fair and square. We’re coming out now. Just me and… and my sister! Don’t shoot, alright?”
OL’ BLIND PETE
“What you doin’ out there, girl? Almost thought you were a raider! Could hear the sound of that God-awful truck you’re drivin’ from miles away… wait… Who says you ladies ain’t raiders? I s’pose it is 2182 and all… and they are driving a raiders truck…
Say, you two ain’t actually raiders, are you?”
CALI
“NO! I mean, no. Thanks for being progressive, I guess? [mutters] 2182 my ass.
[returns to calling over to Pete]
Cause you’re right! You’re absolutely right is what I meant to say! Can’t be too cautious! We could totally have been raiders, you don’t know. Out here scouring the earth. Like… land-vikings. Just me and Zom- Zo-ey, here.”
HANNAH
“Zoey? Please, please don’t start calling me Zoey.”
OL’ BLIND PETE
“I goddamned knew it! Didn’t I say? Caught you in a web of lies. But you can’t fool me! Imagine that!? Land-vikings! Let’s see those arms up in the air, then! And no more funny business. Bein’ blind don’t mean I can’t see nothin’ at all. Got you two blurry, blob lookin’ sons… or daughters of bitches in my sight.”
CALI
“No, no. [sighs] You’re not listening but fine. Here, pistol on the ground, hands in the air. But for the record, what I meant was that we could be raiders cause taking peoples stuff isn’t exactly gender exclusive, right? That’s what you meant when you said it was 2182?
‘OL BLIND PETE
[scratches his beard]
“I mean, maybe I did say that. Maybe I didn’t. I don’t need no smarmy, know-it-all lady from Golden Gate tellin’ me what is and isn’t, you hear me? I wanna see your sister's arms in the air, too. That clear enough for you, Miss Fancy-Pants?”
CALI
“Umm, sorry big guy, but that’s a no-can-do. Long story short she wouldn’t understand either of us well enough to comply with your, honestly, unnecessary order. We’re not dangerous. Hey… wait. How did you know we’re from Golden Gate?”
‘OL BLIND PETE
“It’s in your voice. You folks look down on us out here. From up there. Ya’ll look down on everybody. Shows in that better-than-thou Californian accent of yours.”
CALI
“I’m not like other Golden Gaters, Pete.”
‘OL BLIND PETE
“Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we? I suppose there’s probably some truth to you. I’ve never met a raider from Golden Gate. What would you need to take from the likes of me? Corn? Po-tate-oes? Ain’t no fancy ‘lattes’ here for you to steal.”
[starts a wheezy laugh]
“Ahhh, shit. Go ahead and put your arms down. I’m just foolin’. If you don’t mind me askin’, though… Well, what’s wrong with her? Your sister, I mean.”
CALI
“To tell you the truth, I’m not altogether sure I know anymore. I guess she’s just up in her head, you know?”
HANNAH
“Wow. If I could only tell you how right you actually are. You should probably listen to her, Petey. She gets me.”
‘OL BLIND PETE
“I think I know what you mean. Bless you for takin’ care of her. That ain’t easy, not with how the world is. Survival of the fittest ain’t kind to those of us with problems out here. Used to have to watch after my own momma when she took ill herself. Sometime ‘fore I up and settled out here.”
CALI
“We… well we kind of take care of each other, but thanks. Look. Coming clean with you now. We stole this truck from some asshole raiders back in Illinois, and we’re desperately trying to get back home. I promise we’re not bringing any problems with us. Those guys are long gone. We just… we need a roof over our heads before that storm blows in. If we don’t have a place here, that’s fine, but I’m going to have to move on and be pretty quick about it. I don’t know, maybe that’s for the best.”
‘OL BLIND PETE
“Naw, that’s a fair enough request and Ol’ Pete’s been called a bunch of things in his lifetime. Smart. Handsome. Hairy. [wheezing laugh to himself] You know how it goes. Haven’t been called a monster yet and I’ve no aspirations to be named so today. So, why don’t the two of you go shack up in that barn over there. It’s survived bigger twisters than the like of what’s comin’. Reckon you should be able to pull your truck in there, too. Don’t get it all twisted though. You ain’t guests of mine… but you’re welcome to weather out this storm as long as you’re gone by morning. Hear me?”
CALI
“Loud and clear, Pete. Like I said, you won’t have any problems from us. Scouts honour.”
‘OL BLIND PETE
“Let’s keep it that way then, ladies. In the meanwhile, here’s prayin this thing passes us by quickly.”
[SCENE FADES AS STORM GROWS, Instrumental version of ‘Hush You’ starts playing]
[Scene resumes in the stormy night. Cali can be heard behind Hannah’s talking, moving around, possibly looking for something]
HANNAH
[emotional monologue, building the moment]
“I don’t know how I ended up here. I mean… obviously I know the events and what transpired to bring me to this place. Sitting on a chair, pale eyes surely unblinking. It’s ‘our’ body but there’s no trace of me here. Or, rather who I am and these… trains of just rambling, never-ending thoughts and awareness that only you seem to be able to hear. Yes, you. Amazing, incorporeal YOU tuning in on your dusty radio tuner. Ever since you came into my life things have changed. For the better. For now.
Being honest, now. ‘Dead’ honest for whatever sentiment that’s worth given… ‘me’. I’ve been thinking a lot over the last few days; in the back of the truck, watching all that countryside slide by. I don’t think this is a curse. I think that 150 years of chasing crows and reaching for a red balloon everyday was some kind of purgatory that I haven’t fully come to terms with but… it ended. It finally ended and was swapped out for a mad dash across what’s left of the United States and I’m… I’m scared, Listener. Frightened about what happens when it’s all over because this… none of this is a curse. It’s a blessing. It really is. But there’s hills on this trip, right? Ones you can’t see over, and I can’t stop wondering: Where does this go? In what world, in what actual real life… ‘reality’ I guess, does this have a happy ending?
I don’t mean to be a bummer. I don’t. To tell you the truth, if given the option to stay behind in that empty little Michigan town, or do THIS and face the terrifying unknown? I’d make the trade. Do it all over again. Even just for this moment right now. Whatever it is.
I want you to know that I love you for giving me this.
CALI
“Pete said there was a change of clothes in here for us. They’re really old like, well, just about everything here but surprisingly still usable? A black hoodie and some slacks. Nothing as pretty as that dress probably used to be, but it’ll do. Now for the hard part, I guess. Let’s see if the water still works.
HANNAH
“Wait. Wait, is this actually happening?”
[Creaky pipes as water sprays out into a bucket]
CALI
“Oh shit! Success! Alright, Zoey. Can I call you Zoey?”
HANNAH
“No! No, absolutely not!”
CALI
“Sure I can! Alright, Zoey. Let’s see if there’s a zombie under all that Rictor. Just no biting, okay? If you bite at me even once we’re calling this whole thing off, I swear.”
HANNAH
[excited but a little scared]
“I’ll… I’ll try. Okay, Zombie-Me. No biting. No biting… NO BITING.”
CALI
[Talking as she concentrates on wiping the blood from Hannah’s face]
“My mom used to have to go through this with me. I had a real feral child phase after they found ‘Peter Pan’ in the archives and green flagged it for kids to watch. Mostly because of the mouse symbol. That was one way they used to rate movies back in the before-times. If it had the ol’ mouse ears it was a ‘Disney’ so… yeah. All the kids got a good helping of Peter Pan to say the least. So I was a Lost Boy for a couple years. Or Lost Kid, I guess. I always liked being a girl except for all the expectations that came along with it. No surprise there. Life in Golden Gate was pretty confusing for anyone that didn’t fit into a mould.
[Takes a bit of time to finish wiping Hannah’s face clean]
Aaaand there… there you are! I mean, despite the green skin and milky eyes… you don’t look so scary at all. That’s not like an invitation or nothin’ cause you know… Don’t think I’m letting my guard down! Ha! What? I’m not stalling, you’re stalling. Oh boy. [laughs a bit nervously/awkwardly at what’s coming]. Okay! We’re just going to do this. It’s time to get that old dress off and get you cleaned up. Never had to bathe anyone before so let’s not make this weird. Also, as a warning, if you run away now it’s you that’s going to have to be a naked zombie running around the Nebraskan countryside, not me.
Alright I guess… we’re going in.”
HANNAH
[nervous]
“I… I promise? No running. I hope. I mean really, that’d be just my luck, right? Those proverbial hills I was talking about earlier better not have ‘that’ particular destiny on the other side of them. Okay. So, nervous-time. I mean I’m totally for this. I’ve been wearing the same dress for several lifetimes, and it’s only held together thanks to some very conscious effort on my part. You might think it’s funny that I’d care at all about a body that’s not technically mine anymore… especially when there are obviously much bigger, obvious problems but… One thing I’ve managed to hold on to in this unlife was some sense of modesty and… Oh! There it goes! I’m… umm… naked… Maybe you should turn away. There’s no way this is appropriate and… Wait. Wait a gosh darn second, Listener. I can… feel. Her hand on my back. I can feel it! Something’s different…”
CALI
“You’re… holy shit you’re really warm. I didn’t notice before when I was, I don’t know, pushing you into trunks and stuff, but you guys… zombies… I wonder if you’re all like this? It’s like you're running a fever that doesn’t really seem to bother you… and you’re so damn SOFT! [laughs a bit, tension releasing] Like, I NEED to know your skincare routine soft!
[laughing to herself, letting the absurdity of the moment sweep through as Hannah joins in though isn’t obviously heard, finally she lifts up the tattered pink sundress]
CALI
“This really WAS a nice dress, wasn’t it?”
HANNAH
“Yeah. Yeah it was. It was my favourite.”
CALI
“And it had pockets? I mean come on! It’s 2182 and we still don’t have those in Golden Gate for some reason? Tell me that’s not a conspiracy as old as time.
Wait… there’s something in here. [rummages for a moment]
Holy shit. Some dice I think? Weird and random. Also, a plastic card? It’s some sort of… Oh! I think I saw this in a movie. They called them ID’s! The police used to LOVE asking for these. It is! It’s an ID card! I think I can make out what it says…”
HANNAH
“Oh… Is this actually happening right now? I…”
CALI
“I think it says… Hannah. Hannah Boden.”
HANNAH
[crying at the humanising feeling of hearing her name spoken]
“Yes. Yes, that’s me. That’s me, Cali.”
CALI
“Well, I guess I’m going to have to stop calling you Zoey now. Damn, you really seemed like a Zoey.”
HANNAH
[Overjoyed, laughing through internal tears of happiness and relief]
“Oh yes! Yes, please!”
CALI
“Alright, Hannah Boden. Let’s get you dressed.”
[SCENE FADES OUT TO FADE BACK IN TO CALI RECORDING HER LOG]
CALI
“Scouting Log 18/7/2182. I… just spent my evening bathing a zombie with some old rags and a bucket of water. Not glamorous, but she was a mess and… the smell of blood was really getting to me, so I figured it was worth a chance at becoming an evening snack. That’s… at least that’s what I’m telling myself… or that’s why I… I don’t know how to speak right now, so maybe I shouldn’t be doing this?
[breathes to calm herself] Her name was Hannah Boden. She was born May 27th, 1997. She lived in Austin, Texas according to her identification card. We… call that place the Warzone now… the robots fell on Texas really hard, and the people there fought for every inch. Still do. She liked games, I guess? She had a pocket full of dice. I wish I knew more or that there was something more I could tell you about her, but that’s all I could find.
This is going to come out of left field, I know. My emotions are swinging back and forth and I… shouldn’t have messed with it, you know? Should have just left it alone. Left the blood on her. We’re only a few days from Golden Gate. I should especially have known better as it’s more than crystal clear that I’m going through some shit right now. But, here we are and there’s… just no going back now.
[breathes in hard] It was better, for me, when she was just a zombie. A zombie with some weird, human quirks, maybe. A zombie that stopped trying to bite me and wasn’t trying to run away anymore. One that saved my life. Twice. Still a FUCKING zombie. Not a friend or a former human. Certainly not a ‘Hannah Boden’. Not warm like a person when I thought she’d be so damn cold and dead or…
I’m so fucking lonely.
Nobody in the world gives a damn if I live or die, and back home they’re all rooting against me. They always have been. I’m the one who dared to go against the grain. [remembering what they said] She’ll be the last scout home with nothing in hand… they were laughing at me like I’m the biggest joke in the world. Like they were prophets. Not a single one of them ever cared if I even made it back… but I’ve got it now! My big discovery, and they’ll have to eat every goddamned word they ever threw at me as long as… Well, as long as I give her over to them.
I’ve got to get some air. I can’t breathe in this fucking barn…
HANNAH
“Cali…”
[runs through the door into the stormy night, before falling down into the mud ugly crying her eyes out as she wrestles with her feelings after fully humanising Hannah]
[FADE OUT]