Germ Warfare

Written By

Joseph Crouch

1

INT. DUGOUT - MORNING

It is dark. Somewhere, out in the distance, we hear the boom of artillery.

Inside, A LAMP is turned on, and the surroundings are illuminated. We are in a DUGOUT.

An incredibly drained looking PVT. COLLIS sits hunched, fervently scribbling on some paper.

PVT. COLLIS - (V.O.)I do not know how to start this letter. Only that it must be written. I am not to post this in the hopes that should something happen to me, it is perhaps found on my person. It strikes me now, that this will be my final correspondence. I write this only so that someone knows what happened here. I am alone now...and the Germs are coming.

FADE TO BLACK.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)We were supposed to stop them in their tracks, eradicate all disease. That's what we were told. An' at first we did. Culling them before they could even reach the cell wall, saving millions from annihilation, but then the tides changed...Our weapons began to have no effect, until finally, We were left here to hold the line whilst the others left to develop stronger ones. It were me, PEN, DOX, VANCO and PIPER. But, now they're dead an' I'm all that's left...

CUT TO:

[A SERIES OF STILL IMAGES, SHOWING THE DEATHS OF THE SOLDIERS]

- PVT. COLLIS, PVT. PEN, PVT. DOX, PVT. VANCO and SGT. PIPERare flattened along the trench wall. SGT. PIPER keepslookout.

- SGT. PIPER is snatched away, past the barbed wire, to the

2

precipice of NO MAN'S LAND.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)SGT. PIPER was taken. Out past our limits, where the rest of us dared not follow. We hadn't expected they would reach us. At first, they were small, manageable, even. We were strong. We slew them, and their bodies piled high.

- The other soldiers fire on the tiny assailants, killing many of them.

- PVT. PEN is on lookout.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)PEN was the first to notice our folly. They came for their dead. He was as pale as if Old Hob himself had come to visit. He said he could hear them, eating their own. Stripping them bare. Changing. Adapting.

- Then he isn't.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)The next morning, PEN was gone. We looked for signs, Only to have one of the creatures attack us. It was different, larger. Harder to put down. Our rifles barely pierced its hide...

- A savage creature is attacking the soldiers. It has PVT. DOX and PVT. VANCO in its grasp.

- PVT. COLLIS kills the creature.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)...I killed the one that got DOX and VANCO. But, that's it. I'm the last. The last at the cell wall. We've got to stop them multiplying, breaking through and turning my home into a breeding ground for more of em' with nothing holding them back.

3

- On the horizon he sees multiple, larger creatures.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)I only hope I can outlast them, hope that they build stronger weapons, fast enough, before it's too late.

CUT TO:

INT. DUGOUT - NOW

PVT. COLLIS finishes his letter, wra ps it in an envelope and puts it in his pocket.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)

If only we'd held back. If we hadn't been so damned concerned with winning the battles and more concerned with winning the war. We only made them stronger in our zeal to eradicate them. Blast. I think they're coming.

PVT. COLLIS turns the lamp off.

PVT. COLLIS (V.O.)This is PVT. COLLIS, last upon the Cell Wall, goodbye and godspeed.

Outside, the ground booms. The boards fortifying the dugout creak, dirt falls from the ceiling.

FADE TO BLACK.