PREY
"Escapes"
ACT ONE
A sunny, tranquil summer day with little PUFFY white clouds floating in the sky.
SLOAN
is out of her lab clothes and in shorts and tank top, sitting in Whitney's horticulture gardens which are teeming with all sorts of life. A FROG’S on a lily pad. Sloan gazes into a busy WATER FOUNTAIN, as BUTTERFLIES hover around various flowers and tall ornamental grasses that SWAY in the breeze. At the far end
TOM
makes his way into the garden. He sees Sloan, smiles, and says
CLOSE ON TOM
TOM
I thought maybe I'd find you here.
SLOAN’S FACE lights up in a wide smile as she looks up at Tom...
EXT. CENTENNIAL PARK – DAY
SLOAN
SUDDENLY comes back to her surroundings. She’s HUGGING her brown suede jacket around her, still dressed in her brown camisole and brown jeans, sitting on a PARK BENCH and staring blankly at ED who is standing in front of her.
ED
I thought maybe I’d find you here.
We see a struggle on SLOAN’s FACE as reality crashes back in. Oh, no. It all really did happen. In the end, seeing Ed, her friend, standing before her unharmed, brings a smile to her face.
SLOAN
Has Ray's family heard anything?
Ed shakes his head and sits down beside her.
ED
Any news from the police or FBI about Tom or Walter?
It’s Sloan’s turn to shake her head. They both stare expressionlessly at the children playing in the grass.
SLOAN
(wistfully)
I remember telling Tom a long time ago that I just wanted to run away ...
Again we can read her mood as all that's happened to her in the last four months closes in on her. How lost she is. She suddenly finds herself stripped of identity and of Tom, her love, who is so many things to her. What all is Tom to her? She doesn't even know. She can't get up in the mornings and go into the lab. She can't get to her research. She doesn't know where Walter is, or Ray, or what's happened to them. She's doesn't know where Tom is, or whether he's dead or alive. She hasn't been able to find out anything or do much more than report to the police, and the FBI. She doesn't know what to do next and she suddenly just wants to run away. Ed just listens to her as ...
SLOAN
I know you think I'm obsessive ... and that I just can't let go of something once I'm on to it ... but, I just had to get away from ... that apartment ... that campus ... somewhere ... anywhere ... so I could breathe ... clear my head...
ED
Yeah, things have been pretty intense.
He tries to get a rise out of her.
ED
And yeah, you are obsessive. I tried to get you out of your apartment yesterday and you wouldn't ...
Sloan doesn't take the bait. The silence is heavy with the unspoken thing that lies between them. Ed feels a twinge of regret.
ED
You miss him, don't you?
SLOAN
Don't you?
Whoa! That gets a rise. A long, searing beat between them, and then Ed admits quietly and matter-of-factly,
ED
Yes, I do.
CLOSE on SLOAN as she breaks the stare, looks down, and starts to DISSOLVE. She's a strong woman who's reached her limits for the moment. She never runs and she never cries. At the moment she's doing both.
ED
takes her in his arms.
ED
Sloan .... you know I wouldn't have chosen this for you, in more ways than one, but I'm so sorry ...
SLOAN
He trusted us, Ed. He TRUSTED me ... Oh, God ... sometimes I think he was taken away from me because (she swallows) I didn't deserve him. And now, I don't know where they've taken him ... or how he is ... or ...
ED
Shhhhh. It's okay, Sloan. We'll find him.
(as he strokes her hair)
Tom's one of the strongest persons I know - next to you - we'll find him.
CLOSER ON ED
A beat as we sense his struggle. He had never been able to get really close to Tom, the way she had. But he couldn't help starting to like the guy ... even against his better judgement. How could he trust any member of this new species? But when his gene therapy had converted James the monkey . . .
He FLASHES ON
INT. WHITNEY LAB – TWO DAYS AGO
Tom volunteers to test the serum.
CUT TO:
EXT. CENTENNIAL PARK – PRESENT
CLOSE on ED’s face. He swallows. That kind of - devotion - is hard to dismiss.
He FLASHES ON
INT. WHITNEY LAB – TWO DAYS AGO
JAMES the monkey lays DEAD.
TOM sits against the window of Sloan’s office. He’s starting a fever.
CUT TO:
Ext. Centennial Park - PRESENT
CLOSE on the FEAR in ED’s eyes as
he FLASHES ON
A SERIES OF IMAGES – TWO DAYS AGO
Tom waking up the next morning in Sloan’s apartment. Still alive. And human. Then later that night - the unexpected side effects and the serum’s diminishing effectiveness. Sloan leaving them to get a booster. Her door blasting open. Ed jumping up out of his chair. Men sinking a needle into his neck and dragging Tom away ...
EXT. CENTENNIAL PARK – PRESENT
CLOSE ON ED.
We see that he is worried sick about Tom. Who the hell were these guys and how did they k-
SLOAN
We shouldn't have tried that serum on him.
ED
He was willing. Besides, did we have a choice?
SLOAN
Anne doesn't think so.
ED
She’s still alive to you, isn’t she, Sloan?
SLOAN
Anne will never die. I won’t let her.
ED
I know you won’t.
He shifts gears in an effort to cheer her up.
ED
Say, we've been through worse and survived it. Remember when we did our oral defenses? I swear you didn't sleep for a week? And Anne sent that singing telegram and bottle of wine to the lab and you -
He manages to get a smile from her.
SLOAN
Got so tipsy, old Prof. Grimes walked me home that night with his arm around my waist because he thought I was going to fall over (giggles).
(stands up)
I should get back to the apartment – someone might be trying to find -
Ed stops her.
ED
Sloan, we've done everything we can humanly think of these past 48 hours - and we just keep hitting our heads against a wall. Why don't we just call a time-out for a few hours? Come over tonight. I miss you. We'll just eat together ... and do dishes - play poker ... and maybe our next move will just come to us.
She sags against him.
SLOAN
I guess we don't have a choice.
Off Ed and Sloan walking away we
ED AND SLOAN
take comfort in the simple human activities of COOKING, SHARING A MEAL, WASHING DISHES. The TV is on in the living room. Sloan is saying
SLOAN
I’m glad you finally decided to get –
ED
Wait! What’s he saying on the tube?
As she listens
REPORTER (Off Stage)
Dr. Attwood, can you tell us what happened two nights ago and where you’ve been?
Walter: (Off Stage)
This was a terrible and unfortunate misunderstanding –
WE STAY ON Ed and Sloan as they rush into
INT ED’S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
WALTER, RAY, and A MAN we don’t know are on the SCREEN.
SLOAN
Turn it up!
WALTER
the dominants were unarmed. Our people opened fire on them. If it hadn’t been for Ray Peterson pulling me out of there, I would have died.
ED
Who’s that with them? Isn’t that - ?
As if in answer to his question
REPORTER
Mr. Maxwell, as the President’s National Security Advisor, can you tell us how such a misunderstanding could have happened?
JOHN MAXWELL
Dr. Attwood went to the meeting carrying a United Nations peace agreement. Neither he nor I expected this turn of events. We’re making every effort to look into this situation-
Just then the PHONE RINGS.
ED
eagerly grabs it up. A beat goes by before he answers
ED
Walter?
CLOSE on ED as we
