[Jack rises quickly hearing Kate's walkie and charges her. Kate is forced to shoot at Jack repeatedly. Will enters where Kate is and parks the van between Kate and Jack. Jack falters but recovers quickly. Will gets out of van and shoots Jack with a stun gun; causing Jack to collapses to the ground unconscious. Will and Kate cautiously approach Jack and Kate nudges him with her foot. He doesn't react.]
WILL
Four tranqs and a concussion stun to take him down.
Yeah, Big Guy's got her now. They're on their way to you. Doc, she was so pale.
MAGNUS
I'll do everything I can.
HENRY
Oh, my God, Gerald! She was supposed to meet him at the airport. I got to tell him....
MAGNUS
Henry. We'll call him. I you need to stay there. Scan and clean the room.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
[Henry pulls the top off a case to reveal a fancy gadget. He presses some buttons then turns it on and goes to stand outside. The gadget spins and a blue light emanates from it in all directions.]
[Magnus and Bigfoot begin working on Rachel. Rachel is enclosed in plastic which has zipped segments. They are opened so Magnus is able to reach her patient.]
MAGNUS
Do a c-spine, chest and abdomen.
BIGFOOT
Ready.
MAGNUS
Give her one gram ceph. Increasing oxygen to 40%, heart rate 98 and regular; pupils are equal and reactive to light.
BIGFOOT
Abdomen soft; localizes to pain.
MAGNUS
Kidneys?
[Bigfoot turns to look at a monitor.]
BIGFOOT
Clear.
MAGNUS
Good. CBC, chem panel, and gasses are all within normal range; now to the wound.
[Magnus picks up some forceps and pulls away Rachel's clothing from her wound.]
MAGNUS
Oh, good. This one looks clean. Let's hope they all are.
[Bigfoot grasps the end of Rachel's shirt and reveals the other wound.]
BIGFOOT
She's infected.
MAGNUS
Damn it, the spores are active.
[Magnus and Bigfoot quickly close the plastic covering.]
MAGNUS
We need to get her into quarantine before I can operate. Hopefully I can get them out before they multiply.
[Bigfoot stops, looks directly at Magnus and growls.]
MAGNUS
I have to try.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
[Henry is waiting outside the lab door. A blue light can be seen through window in the lab door. The light goes out and Henry goes back into the lab.]
HENRY
(on walkie)
All right, I'm finished with the holographic scan, and I'm moving to the eradicator.
[Henry turns off the holographic scanner and moves to another gadget and turns it on.]
HENRY
All right buddy; time to go to work.
[Henry once again leaves the lab.]
EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
[Will pulls up next to the warehouse entrance to see a door wide open. Henry is standing outside the lab door.]
WILL
Dude, you left the door open.
HENRY
Yeah, I'm a little busy right now; just finishing the DNA flame-out.
[Will starts to get out of van but stops when a police car speeds by.]
WILL
You hear that?
[A red light can be seen through the window this time. As it goes out; Henry moves to the door.]
HENRY
All right, french fries are done; just bagging the goods now.
WILL
Okay, head for the back alley. We'll pick you up on the fly-by.
HENRY
Just need a little more time.
WILL
The cops are coming in the front door.
HENRY
I'm almost there.
WILL
Get out!
HENRY
Never enough time.
WILL
Get out now!
[The policemen enter the lab but Henry is no longer there.]
[Henry types in some commands into his computer and then turns on the holographic scanner. A blue light emanates out and a holographic image of the lab is recreated in the blue light. Henry grabs some tape and begins outlining the image with the tape. Kate enters and waves her arm in front of the scanner.]
KATE
Oh is this the thing that scanned the room?
HENRY
Don't do that.
KATE
Need a hand?
HENRY
No, I'm good. I got a system.
KATE
I get it. You can't go to the crime scene so you bring the crime scene to you?
HENRY
Yeah, best we can.
KATE
Do the cops have one of these gizmos?
HENRY
They wish they did.
KATE
So then how'd you come up with it?
HENRY
Will and me. His specs, my program, my design; still a work in progress but it's the best we've got right now.
KATE
She a friend of yours? I mean, Magnus is on the job, so....
HENRY
Rachel and I worked together for about four years. She's been helping me to understand who I am, what I am. She wasn't afraid of it.
Give her a 500 bolus of saline. Last one in this wound.
[Bigfoot adds the solution to Rachel's IV and then moves to initiate another scan. Many red dots appear on the image. Bigfoot's growl draws Magnus's attention to the monitor. She moves closer to get a better look.]
MAGNUS
Oh, dear God. The infestation's spreading.
BIGFOOT
We are too late. We can't save her.
[Gerald and Henry are looking in behind the glass.]
[Will and Kate look over the boxes which Henry has placed to represent the furniture in the warehouse lab.]
WILL
Henry's detailed scan of everything in the lab corresponds to bar codes on the cardboard. Now that we've recreated the scene we can hopefully figure out what happened.
KATE
That's amazing...in like a total geeky kind of way.
[Henry is looking in on Jack who is in the corner of his cell kneeling down with his back to the window. He senses Henry's presence and turns around.]
HENRY
She was so good to you.
[Jack moves to other side of glass from Henry gesturing to his mouth. Henry signs back to Jack.]
HENRY
I don't care if you're hungry. Don't you realize what you did? You hurt Rachel, Jack. Yes, Rachel. You hurt her; very bad, bad Jack. Very bad, bad Jack!
[Jack signs back to Henry.]
HENRY
Yeah. You got that right.
[Henry leaves and Jack continues to sign frantically.]
[Jack is sleeping on the gurney in his cell as Bigfoot enters. Bigfoot sets a container on a nearby table and moves toward Jack to get the spore samples. Bigfoot is able to get the sample without Jack waking but as he places the syringe in the container; Jack wakes and starts to get up. Bigfoot restrains Jack until he calms. Jack relaxes and Bigfoot pats his arm and then collects the container and leaves the cell.]
[Gerald is standing outside the glass watching Jack pace his cell. Jack turns to see Gerald and walks up to glass in front of Gerald. Gerald raises a machine gun. Jack backs away slowly as Gerald opens fire. Jack collapses.]
Act III[]
[Henry rushes in and wrestles the gun away from Gerald.]
The guy works for you, I mean, there was no reason to think he was going to go that far.
MAGNUS
Still, it should never have happened.
WILL
Assassination attempts aside, how goes it?
MAGNUS
Well ironically, Gerald's research is proving to be quite helpful. Take a look at this.
WILL
Is this going to put me off my lunch?
[Will moves to the microscope which Magnus had indicated. She adds a solution to a Petri dish; smiling at Will's comment.]
MAGNUS
Now, watch.
WILL
Huh, well, that works.
MAGNUS
We just have to administer the right amount, enough to kill the spores without harming Rachel.
WILL
Right, like chemo.
MAGNUS
But far more tricky to regulate. Have you figured out what happened in the attack?
WILL
No. Kate's got something she wants me to see. I'm heading to the mock-up lab now.
[Will lingers looking at Magnus.]
MAGNUS
I know that look.
WILL
Rachel taught Jack a form of sign language and I'm thinking of trying to communicate with him. Now, I know it's not a conventional way of gathering evidence and I know what you're going to say. That if you could teach a lion to speak you still wouldn't understand him...your dad's favorite expression.
MAGNUS
Because...we often make the egocentric mistake of believing that abnormals think the same way we do; that their worldview and logic patterns are similar. In most cases even with the most intelligent species they simply aren't.
WILL
I know. Their whole cognitive process is different.
MAGNUS
Yes.
[Will grins.]
MAGNUS
I'm...I'm just saying bear that in mind when you have your...chat.
How could you just sit there? If that was your wife on that table...if the only person who really mattered to you was.... I don't know where to put all this, Henry. It lives and she dies? You tell me what you'd do.
[Will walks in and observes Jack huddled in the corner hugging a blanket. Jack turns and sees Will. He approaches the glass slowly. Will waves and signs to Jack.]
Huh.... Turns out he doesn't have much to say, except I think he feels bad about what happened which, isn't very monster-like.
HENRY
I tried looking through the vial to the label on the other side. It didn't work. Look, if you look at that piece of glass right there, it kind of acts like a mirror, right?
WILL
Yeah.
HENRY
Well, if you focus on that sector, kick up the res, flip it around...Betamethasone.
Exactly, now Rachel's research was based on the premise that the cordyceps fungus was the sole reason that the pleskidara are deadly; and that without its influence they're a gentle, intelligent species. It was a controversial theory even in the abnormal research community.
WILL
Okay so, wait. So if Jack was somehow exposed to the fungus, then....
MAGNUS
It would explain how he escaped from his enclosure.
WILL
And why it took so many tranquilizers to bring him down. But why would he be exposed in the first place?
MAGNUS
Could it have been a shipping container that was somehow contaminated? Knowing Gerald and Rachel, that doesn't make any sense. They'd be so careful to screen for that.
WILL
Well, I'll do a blood test, check the ACTH levels.
Are you crazy? Of course we don't keep corticeps in our lab or anything similar.
MAGNUS
There's a possibility that Rachel suspected that Jack had been exposed.
GERALD
Can I cut into your Matlock speech here for a second? And pardon me, okay but the pleski attacked Rachel because of its nature not because it was on drugs! She wanted to believe it was tame but you can't take an instinctive predator and teach it to love people.
MAGNUS
You and Rachel must have had some very interesting discussions about this.
GERALD
What do you mean?
MAGNUS
Her work was spent trying to prove that the pleskidara could be socialized and yet you, quite obviously, believe the opposite.
GERALD
I support her in her work. I just...don't let her know that I think it's completely useless.
MAGNUS
And yet you allowed her to continue working with a dangerous species?
GERALD
Come on, Magnus, you know Rachel all right, she's made up her mind about something that's, you know....
MAGNUS
She's a very able researcher.
GERALD
Yeah, I admire her passion, I do.
MAGNUS
But she spent more time with the creature than she did with you.
GERALD
Yeah, she did. I thought this...getaway would…uh....would help change things. Maybe if we spent a little more time together, I.... But now.... What if she dies? What happens? Another able researcher gets hired and we all continue on playing with Jack? Is that what happens?
MAGNUS
We're testing his blood for ACTH levels. If the results are negative.... I'll lock him away for good.
The reagent's taking its toll on her system. We'll keep her monitored but I can't guarantee that the treatment won't kill her before it runs its course.
GERALD
I'd like to be with her.
[Gerald turns to look at Henry and then back to Magnus.]
Jack's blood results; the ACTH levels are higher than normal dropping from a previous spike. I'm checking his food remains for traces of this Siberian fungus.
MAGNUS
Well, why his food? Rachel would be the most careful about that I should think.
He kept making the sign for "eat". Look, I tried to think outside of my egocentric way of communicating but I'm wondering if Jack maybe somehow knew that his food was being poisoned.
[Gerald is sitting next to Rachel holding her hand and massaging her head.]
GERALD
It's stupid. I was going to surprise you. This trip wasn't to Blackpool for a convention, it was uh...to Paris. A real honeymoon finally. This shouldn't have happened. It shouldn't have been....
[Gerald looks up to see Henry watching outside the door. Henry enters.]
I can't spend two minutes with her, without you showing up. I can't take her to a movie because you two have already seen it. First it's coffee with Henry and then it's a dinner here and there. Pretty soon it's all about whether or not you're available. You know that she actually blushes when you walk into a room and you know it and you insult me every time, pretending that it wasn't happening.
HENRY
She's with you, Ger, not me. I never did anything.
GERALD
You don't have to, Henry, you are...you're everything that she wants me to be.
Look at her. I don't want to live when she's gone. Oh, but you'd take care of that though wouldn't you, buddy boy? Huh? If I just mess you up just a little bit you'd take care of business. You'd take care of me, wouldn't you?
HENRY
Stop....
GERALD
Then you'd have to live with it!
MAGNUS
Gerald! Think logically. You do NOT want to take this action.
[Gerald slashes at Henry when suddenly the alarms sound again drawing everyone's attention to Rachel. Magnus moves to care for Rachel and Bigfoot goes for Gerald.]
MAGNUS
She's crashing again!
[Bigfoot easily restrains Gerald as Magnus administers a drug into Rachel's IV.]
[Will is sitting on a bench near Rachel who is in a wheelchair.]
RACHEL
So...how does someone recover from something like this?
WILL
By not blaming yourself for what happened.
RACHEL
Our marriage wasn't working. I should have said something. I should have stopped myself.
WILL
From what, feeling things? I'm sure you tried at some point or another but that doesn't work.
[Henry walks up.]
RACHEL
Hi.
HENRY
I can come back.
WILL
No, no. Uh we'll...we'll talk later.
[Will leaves and Henry moves to sit on bench.]
RACHEL
Hey, you.
HENRY
Hey.
[Henry slowly sits down grimacing.]
RACHEL
Ow.
HENRY
Wow, you look terrible. Where the hell's your make-up bag?
RACHEL
Stop it.
HENRY
Yeah...you see that's the problem; I can't. You and I got too close Rachel and I went there willingly.
RACHEL
Because I gave you permission; I don't know why I...I think I was afraid to admit that I'd made a mistake with Gerald. I chose the wrong person.
HENRY
No, you're not in love with me, Rachel. I'm just the third wheel to keep you guys upright while you figured things out. I bought in too much.
RACHEL
You really don't think that's all you were to me? Henry.... I am in love with you.
[Rachel holds Henry's hand.]
HENRY
Then why did you marry him?
RACHEL
Because he was the one who asked. Because you were always too scared to open up to me. Is it because of what you are? Did you think I wouldn't accept that?
