Workshop Wednesday

And here we go, into the last section of the script. This is one of the longest, but it's all one big scene, really, so there was no way to easily break it up. Plus, honestly, I liked the idea of ending this script in ten parts. Nice round number. So go to it and read the thrilling conclusion of the movie.

Remember to catch up on Van Helsing Syndrome in the Works of Mike FinkelsteinWhat's that, you want to read various creative works from Asteroid G Lead Editor Mike Finkelstein? Well, if that's what you want... archive before reading this part.

Van Helsing Syndrome: Part 10

INT: MARK'S HOUSE, FRONT HALL, NIGHT.

Fade in from black. MARK still om the floor.

SFX: Disconnected phone noise

MARK wakes, and as he sits up, his hand goes to his forehead.

AUTOMATED OPERATOR (V.O.)

We're sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.

MARK:

I'm not trying that again...

MARK stands and hangs up the phone. Then he looks around. He runs to the front door, picking up his gun from the kitchen table as he runs past. Throwing the door open, he sees that JULIET and the ZOMBIES are long gone. We hear his phone ring, and he runs back to the kitchen.

MARK:

Hello?

THOMPSON (V.O.):

MARK?

MARK:

Yeah, THOMPSON.

THOMPSON (V.O.):

(pause) Have you heard about the show on Broadway?

MARK:

(sigh) The remake of The Birds?

THOMPSON (V.O.):

(cough) Sorry, you sounded distressed. Wasn't sure if you were in a secure area.

MARK looks around at the carnage

MARK:

That last part might be debatable.

MARK starts to organize his gear for all out war while THOMPSON talks on speaker phone.

THOMPSON (V.O.)

I don't know what's going on with you, but we need you to check out something.

MARK:

Yeah, sorry chief. I don't have the time right now to-

THOMSPON (V.O.):

It's vampires, MARK. One of our ghost hunters was checking out a disturbance detected over at the junior high when he saw some odd people wandering into the high school.

MARK:

Thought it was vampires huh?

THOMPSON (V.O.):

On confirmed, maybe more. And possible zombies, too. He confirmed the psychic energy coming off them was undead.

MARK:

Shit! Yeah, Thompson, I'll take it. We will need a cleanup crew. I'm positive it was zombies.

THOMPSON (V.O.):

Why so sure?

MARK straps on every weapon he can find.

MARK:

Because I was just attacked by zombies. Too much of a coincidence for it not to be related. Send me backup, too. The Dead Heads.

THOMSPON (V.O.):

No can do. The Zombie Task Force is covering a PHA symposium in Phoenix. They won't be back until next week.

MARK:

A symposium?!

THOMPSON (V.O.):

They're the best zombie cleanup team in the country and the rest of our branches need to learn their techniques. I could send in a Ghost Squad, or maybe I could contact the regional coven, but both teams will take time to arrive.

MARK heads towards his door, going outside.

EXT: MARK'S HOUSE, NIGHT.

MARK:

Fine. Just make sure a clean up crew is on standby. I'll call once the war is over.

THOMPSON (V.O.):

MARK, this doesn't sound like a situation you should handle on your own. Wait for backup.

MARK pauses for a second, as if thinking, and then makes up his mind.

MARK:

No problem. I'll take backup in with me.

THOMPSON (V.O.):

Good, just don't do anything stu-

MARK hangs up. He then dials up JENNIFER.

JENNIFER (V.O.):

I'm not available right now. Leave a message.

MARK:

JENNFIER, I need back up over at the high school. STAT.

He dials up CATHERINE.

CATHERINE (V.O.):

Hello?

MARK:

CAT, I need backup.

CATHERINE (V.O.):

What's going on?

MARK:

JULIET was just taken by zombies and I don't have any other backup. Do you have anyone that can help me?

CATHERINE (V.O.):

Well, not sure who I can get on-

We hear another voice over the phone. RANDALL speaks next.

RANDALL (V.O.):

MARK? This is RANDALL, head of the rats. DOUG and I are here. We can assist.

MARK:

Good. I'm heading off to the local high school. I'll text ya the address. Thanks, RANDALL.

EXT: HIGH SCHOOL, NIGHT.

MARK's truck pulling up to to the high school. As he gets out, we see another car pull up, a black sports car that just screams "overcompensating for something." DOUG gets out, dressed in black leather and studs, like a guy from a bondage film. Mark just nods over at DOUG as he walks around to the rear of his vehicle. He takes off his jacket and puts on his gear. The same rigs as before, but now even more loaded with weapons. Two guns in front, two at his hips, two on the interior of his legs. Two daggers on the outside of his legs, four more lower down, plus one into his left boot. His pulls out a mini-Uzi, double checks the clip, and then throws its strap over his shoulder. Then his sword on his right hip. His coat over top , and then his rifle over the coat on its strap. Finally, he throws a tarp away from a lump in his truck, and we see a gleaming chainsaw. He pulls that out, checks the fuel, and then starts to walk over to the high school.

DOUG:

Armed enough?

MARK:

The boy scouts aren't entirely wrong; it's good to be prepared.

DOUG:

The scouts don't carry chainsaws.

MARK just shrugs and heads off to the school.

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, MAIN HALL, NIGHT.

We watch as MARK and DOUG enter the school as silently as they can (which, considering MARK and all his gear, and DOUG and all his leather and chains, isn't very quiet). MARK takes point, looks around, then heads off into the school. The building is silent, without a janitor in sight. The two move through the hall, checking rooms as they go. As they're most of the way down, the big doors they used into the school slam shut.

SFX: Doors slamming

MARK and DOUG spin around and find a single teen, ANDREW, guarding the entrance.

ANDREW:

If you want to see your lover alive, then drop your weapons.

DOUG gives MARK a bit of side eye.

DOUG:

Lover?

Before MARK can do anything, we hear screaming.

JULIET:

(distant screams)

At this point, JENNIFER walks into the hall from a side room and wanders over to the TEEN, rolling her hand along his shoulders.

JENNIFER:

Don't worry, MARK, she's quite comfortable right now.

MARK looks confused, and shocked, and angry.

MARK:

JENNIFER?

JENNIFER:

Do as I command and drop your weapons. The zombies watching her haven't been fed, and my magic over them is only so strong.

DOUG looks at JENNIFER, who is smiling evilly, and MARK, who keeps fingering his guns.

DOUG:

(shouts at MARK) DO SOMETHING!

MARK doesn't even look at him.

DOUG:

Well come on, asshole! You better do something or I'll make you.

MARK:

Make me what, Rover?

JENNIFER:

Oh please, stop this bickering.

MARK:

Why? What does it matter to you if we kill each other? In fact, what the fuck is going on here? Since when did you start working for vampires? Why kidnap JULIET?

JENNIFER:

The vampires work for me.

MARK:

I... so... but why capture JULIET? Why not just kill her, or us both?

JENNIFER:

You're more useful to me once you're turned into a vampire. My little plaything, obedient, powerful, and deadly. Such a joy to break you and remake you into one of my creatures.

MARK:

You've been practicing this.

JENNIFER:

(confused) Practicing what?

MARK:

This little chat. It sounds rehearsed.

DOUG:

Yeah, it does.

JENNIFER gets a very grumpy look on her face. Magic flares around her.

JENNIFER:

Both of you, shut up.

JENNIFER turns to ANDREW.

JENNIFER:

ANDREW! Disarm them both.

ANDREW:

Yes, mistress.

ANDREW walks towards the two men. DOUG lunges at the teen and the two roll around on the floor. While this goes on, MARK sets his chainsaw down and grabs his rifle. ANDREW gains the upper hand in the fight and throws DOUG off. Then he leaps on DOUG and we get a shot of his biting onto DOUG's neck. DOUG forces him back and we see that DOUG is beginning to shift, his face becoming more wolf like.

DOUG:

(growling) Never bite me.

ANDREW also begins to shift.

DOUG:

(growling) You're... wolf?

ANDREW:

(growling) Both. Lycan and vampire.

DOUG suddenly has an epiphany

DOUG:

(growling) Know you... Cat pack... Disappeared years ago.

JENNIFER laughs as she watches the two half-shifted lycanthropes circle each other.

JENNIFER:

Oh, yes. Andrew here was the first of your kind to join with me. He's my proudest achievement, a blending of the undead magics with your inner beasts.

At just this moment RANDALL and CATHERINE barge into the high school, distracting everyone.

RANDALL:

Sorry we're late, I had to-holy shit what is going on?!

DOUG takes this opportunity to attack ANDREW. ANDREW throws him off then quickly shifts to be even more cat-like. The two attack each other again, but after a few blows it's quickly obvious that DOUG is not as powerful as ANDREW; the blows Andrew throws are more powerful and blood flows from Doug as he takes wound after wound.

Meanwhile, JENNIFER sidles out of the room. CATHERINE and RANDLL notice this and give chase, all three disappearing out of shot.

DOUG catches ANDREW once across the face with his claws, and then punches ANDREW in the gut. He falls back and there is an open area around the teen.

SFX: Gun shot

ANDREW looks down at his chest to see a large wound, very chunky. The teen stumbles, then goes down to one knee.

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, SIDE HALLWAY, NIGHT.

JENNIFER is running down the hall when we hear the gun shot ring out.

SFX: Gun shot, distant.

JENNIFER:

(scream)

The witch goes down on one knee, and we see a shift of magical energy, like pale fire. RANDALL and CATHERINE run into frame, and then take a step back and the magic discharges, throwing everyone on their backs.

SFX: Foom

JENNIFER begins to float, then turns to the two fallen heroes.

JENNIFER:

You all will pay for this.

She quickly charges off, her toes just barely grazing the floor, as she retreats again.

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, MAIN HALL, NIGHT.

MARK lets the gun rest back on his strap, and picks up his chainsaw again. As he begins to walk over to ANDREW the hunter is joined by the bleeding DOUG. Slowly the lycan shifts back into human form and, as he does so, his wounds slowly heal as well. As MARK walks up to the body of ANDREW, the teen's body twitches. MARK steps back and pulls the cord on his chainsaw.

SFX: Continuous chainsaw noise

The teen's body rises, looking thinner and almost glowing with an inner blue light (a magical light similar to what came off of JENNIFER a second ago).

MARK:

Be ready, DOUG. He may explode or something.

DOUG:

Explode?

MARK:

Yeah. It's... it's a thing that happens now.

ANDREW raises his head and looks at MARK, but we can see there's no one home in his eyes. The body starts shambling over to Mark.

DOUG:

Do they also usually shamble?

MARK:

Yeah, no. This is new.

As ANDREW gets close, MARK brings his chainsaw down, slashing into the meat of the vampire.

ANDREW:

(inhuman scream)

MARK:

(very human scream of rage)

We see a lot of blood fly.

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, CAFETERIA, NIGHT.

JENNIFER floats into the room. We see a couple of zombies, and an unconscious JULIET, in the room as well. Suddenly JENNFIER goes down again, her face twisted with rage.

JENNIFER:

(screams) ANDREW! No!

She looks over at JULIET.

JENNIFER:

He kills one of mine, I kill one of his.

At this moment, RANDALL and CATHERINE come into the room.

CATHERINE:

You get away from her, you bitch.

We see CATHERINE begin to shift, taking on more cat-like features. JENNIFER turns to her, blue fire coursing down her arms.

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, MAIN HALL, NIGHT.

We watch MARK pull the chainsaw out of the teen's torso. He's coated in blood, as is a good portion of the hallway. Doug, wisely, stood clear and is mostly clean. The chainsaw slows to a halt and just rumbles in his hand. Then a burst of blue energy hits MARK and he goes flying across the hall, his chainsaw skidding off somewhere. He remains conscious, but we watch as the twisted, mangled body of ANDREW burns with fiery light, still standing somehow.

MARK:

GET DOWN!

MARK and DOUG dive into a side room as ANDREW slowly stumbles after them. One, two, three steps, then the vampire falls to his knees. There's a sudden, blue explosion and a splash of gore everywhere.

SFX: BOOM

MARK and DOUG come back into the hall, shocked at all the gore. MARK slips in a pool of blood and almost goes down before righting himself.

MARK:

The janitor is going to be pissed after this.

JENNIFER:

(scream of rage, distant)

MARK turns to DOUG.

MARK:

Let's move!

INT: HIGH SCHOOL, CAFETERIA, NIGHT.

JENNIFER and CATHERINE circle each other, with the witch throwing bursts of blue magic at the lycanthrope. CATHERINE, though, is easily able to dodge the attacks, and each time she manages to move in a little closer. Meanwhile, RANDALL has edged his way over to JULIET, the two ZOMBIES paying absolutely no attention to him. He checks the fallen woman, making sure she's okay.

JENNIFER:

My power is greater than yours. Join with me, become my new servant, and you'll gain untold abilities.

CATHERINE:

Rather... keep my... soul.

JENNIFER:

Then I'll make you one of my undead!

SFX: Two gunshots.

We see MARK and DOUG now in the room. MARK has his guns out and we see that he's already shot JENNIFER in the back twice. JENNFIER turns to MARK and smiles, with blue fire slowly pouring out of the holes in her back.

JENNIFER:

I've already collected enough power that your petty bullets won't stop me.

MARK fires shot after shot at her as she slowly moves towards him.

SFX: Gun shots until the gun clicks empty.

JENNIFER takes each hit, but doesn't fall down.

MARK:

Why, JENNIFER? Why do this? We were doing good work, so why work with vampires, kidnapping lycans and making zombies?!

JENNIFER:

Good work? We work for vampires! Doesn't that bother you?!

MARK:

So your solution was to be worse than them?

JENNIFER:

I use the vampires. They don't use me! I'm the one in control, and now I'm immortal!

JENNIFER builds up a big blast of power. She shoves her hands forward, unleashing a gout of flame, but she misses MARK as he dives down at just this moment, his hand coming up and pulling out his swords in a smooth motion. As he stand up behind her, she starts to spin around. And then his sword is up, and through her abdomen, impaling her fully. She looks down, a shocked look on her face, and then her magic slowly fades. She slumps against MARK, seemingly dead.

MARK stands, rolling JENNIFER off him and pulling his sword out in one easy motion. As he cleans his blade, DOUG walks over to the ZOMBIES.

DOUG:

These are two of our teens. She... mutilated them.

Suddenly, the ZOMBIES turn towards DOUG and start shambling towards him.

DOUG:

Uhm, I think the control over these guys has broken.

MARK runs up and decapitates one. CATHERINE, who has been standing to the side, still in half-beast form, walks up tot he other and easily bats its head off.

With the fight seemingly over, MARK walks over to RANDALL.

MARK:

How's she doing?

JULIET opens her eyes and looks at him.

JULIET:

I'm fine.

RANDALL:

She needs to rest. I'm getting magical energy off her, as if that witch had something planned for her. No clue what.

JENNIFER:

She's mine. Her blood will sustain my armies!

Everyone turns to the witch, who is standing but looking much worse for the wear, a terrible color to her skin and an aura of blue flame surrounding her. JENNIFER has a knife in her hand, and instantly it flies out, heading right for JULIET. At the last second, right before it can hit the woman, DOUG reaches out and grabs the blade. He turns and throws it back at JENNIFER. This hits her in the gut, and then MARK quick lops off her head after with his sword.

SFX: Wet thud as head and body hit the floor.

MARK stares down at the body. He shrugs, then pulls out his mini-Uzi and unloads the entire clip into her body and head.

JULIET walks over.

JULIET:

You think that was necessary?

MARK:

Eh, made me feel better. And you never know.

JENNIFER's body twitches. MARK is about to raise his guns again when suddenly a giant rat jumps on the body and starts to tear it apart.

MARK:

Mmmmm, pleasant. (pause) Anyone else suddenly hungry?

EXT: HIGH SCHOOL, DAWN.

MARK and JULIET are walking over to his car as the agents swarm about. THOMPSON walks up to them.

THOMPSON:

I don't how we are going to spin this one.

MARK:

(shrug) You'll think of something.

DOUG walks up. He puts out his hand and MARK shakes it.

DOUG:

Thanks for the help. We were right to put our trust in you.

MARK nods and DOUG walks away. We also see CATHERINE and RANDALL walk out of the school. She waves at MARK and he smiles back.

THOMPSON:

I can't say I agree with your choice of backup-

MARK:

They got the job done.

THOMPSON:

(grumpy grunt)

THOMPSON walks off and we pan out, watching the agents try to clean things up. MARK and JULIET get into the car and drive off.

INT: MARK'S HOUSE, KITCHEN, DAY.

MARK and JULIET are in the kitchen. MARK is on the phone while JULIET is sipping coffee.

SENATOR'S SECRETARY (V.O.):

Senator DAVIS's office.

MARK:

This is MARK JACOBS. Give me the Senator.

SENATOR'S SECRETARY (V.O.):

One moment.

SFX: Phone clicking

DAVIS:

Mr. JACOBS. I wasn't expecting a call from you.

MARK:

I want out.

DAVIS:

What?

MARK:

Out. I don't want to work for vampires. So I'm offering you a deal.

DAVIS:

I'm listening.

MARK:

You guys let me out, and I will never tell what I know. I'll leave you alone and you can stay safe knowing the best hunter you know isn't coming for you.

DAVIS:

You would ever mention any preternatural activity to the outside world?

MARK:

That's the deal.

DAVIS:

Done.

The phone goes dead. MARK hangs up and smiles. He walks over to JULIET and they hug.

JULIET:

Can I ask you something?

MARK:

What?

JULIET:

What's this mental thing you have?

MARK:

Van Helsing's Syndrome?

JULIET nods.

MARK:

I don't know if you've heard, but vampires aren't real.

JULIET looks fake shocked.

JULIET:

No, but really.

MARK:

I think it's more PTSD than anything. I find my own ways to control it. Therapy of a kind.

JULIET:

And you're good?

MARK:

Yeah. I'm good.

JULIET:

So, you're no longer hunting vampires?

MARK:

The vampires that don't exist?

JULIET smiles.

MARK:

I didn't say that. I'm just not doing it for them. No more letting the monsters pick my targets. Maybe I'll become a private eye, someone that specializes in the strange and unusual.

JULIET:

I think I've seen that show.

MARK:

That was a show?

JULIET:

(laughing)

MARK and JULIET kiss.

Scene fades to black.

INT: SMALL MUSEUM, DAY.

We see MARK walking through a museum hall, looking at his paintings on the various walls.

MARK (V.O.):

DAVIS kept his word: I was out and the undead never came looking for me. In return I kept my word and didn't tell anyone, not that it mattered. Within days, news leaked about what had happened at the high school. And the mall. And the movie theater. People started coming forward, saying that they knew about the monsters. Within weeks, the whole world suddenly realized that the monsters in their closets existed, they just lived next door. The conspiracy ended, and the PHA got absorbed into the FBI. As for myself, well, my life is pretty good. Got my girl, my art, and plenty of time to relax...

MARK turns as he sees a guy in a long coat and wide-brimmed hat. The dude looks pale, and gross, and not at all human. MARK pulls aside his coat, and we see he has a set of knives in there.

MARK (V.O.):

However will I fill my time?

Credit roll.

End Part 10:

And that's it, we're all wrapped up. This section went through some of the most extensive edits of any section of the script. The original version was very campy since I wrote it at 3:00 AM the day before it was due in college and I was more than a little slap-happy at the time. This version tones down some of the campy humor (such as both a Highlander and a Scooby Doo reference in the same fight) and ups the action some. In the end I like this version better, although I have a feeling if we were to film it for real we'd probably add in a little more action. Really up the climax even further.

Still, I'm proud of this script (both versions, in fact), and I was really glad I had a place to finally post it.