A City of UndeadA Screenplay by ForgottenINT. JOHN
MATTHEW’S CAR The red Ford Galaxy drives quietly down through the empty
streets. On each side houses and flats are seen. JOHN drives the car focusing
thoroughly on the road. ANDREW is sat beside him fiddling with his glasses.
Behind him SARAH looks out the window, holding her camcorder, the red light
indicates it is recording. MARK is sat beside her, leaning his head against the
window looking up at the amber sunset. Finally SARAH is sat in the back next to
JOHN's camera equipment sleeping soundly. ANDREW finally puts his glasses back on and looks over to
JOHN. JOHN doesn't look back. JOHN What's up? ANDREW widens his eyes for a brief second and looks away
quickly. ANDREW Oh, it's nothing. Silence falls between them. ANDREW (CONT) (Speech is shaky) How did it all
come to this? SARAH looks down the centre of the car and points her
camera at them. JOHN I don't know, but
let’s just focus on one thing at a time...okay? JOHN gives a small comforting smile. ANDREW forces one
back in politeness. SHANNON stirs and sits up, rubbing her left eye. She
looks out the window and studies the neighborhood. SHANNON Hey...um...where
are we? JOHN looks back for a second. JOHN Oh, look who's
awake at last. SHANNON How long was I
out? JOHN umm? JOHN looks at his watch for a second. JOHN (CONT) About...5 maybe 6
hours I'm not really sure. ANDREW laughs. ANDREW Shows how much he
cares doesn't it. ANDREW beams a smile back at her. SHANNON Oh shut up. SHANNON crosses her arms and sits back. MARK (Mutters) Geez, quit being
so touchy all the time. SHANNON What was that?! MARK Nothing. SHANNON leans forwards and looks through the gap in the
chairs. SHANNON You got something
to say to me, say it. MARK Just sit back and
be quiet. SHANNON Oh that's real big
coming from a spineless freak like you. SARAH points the camera at both SHANNON and MARK,
capturing them both in the picture on her camcorder. JOHN (Shouts) Okay that's it
shut up both of you I'm trying to drive! SHANNON I wasn't talking
to you so keep out of this! JOHN I could throw you
out of this car SHANNON, now shut up! SHANNON, JOHN and MARK all squabble between their selves.
JOHN's driving becomes more unstable. SARAH rushes her camera between each of
them. ANDREW clenches his fists. ANDREW (Shouts) Okay all of you
shut the hell up right now! Both JOHN and MARK go quiet. SHANNON Who the hell do
you... ANDREW interrupts her. ANDREW (Shouts angrily) I said shut it! SHANNON sits back in a strop and huffs. ANDREW sits back
also and sighs. ANDREW (CONT) We won't get
anywhere with us all squabbling like this. All this noise is exactly what we
don't need. JOHN sighs and stables his driving. JOHN He's right, and
you all know he is. JOHN nods with a smile at ANDREW and ANDREW smiles back.
A few moments pass in silence. SARAH What do you all
remember....of the day it started? Everyone ponders the question. ANDREW Well...? Fades out: INT. OXFORD
UNIVERSITY LIVING QUARTERS �" MORNING ANDREW SCARLETT, a boy of 20, black wavy hair, slim figure,
wakes up as his alarm sounds. The alarm clock reads 8:30am. He sits up in bed,
rubs his eyes and puts on his glasses. ANDREW turns off his alarm. He opens his
wardrobe and picks out a suit and a black tie and dresses himself. He positions
his glasses. INT. OXFORD
UNIVERSTIY CORRIDOR - MORNING (30 MINUTES LATER) The corridor is alive with chatter of students stood at
their lockers. MARK PALIN, 19 years of ages, wearing scruffy clothing and blond
hair, dawdles down the corridor. He is holding a brown paper bag full of
ingredients. MARK focuses on the floor and bumps into SHANNON MOORE (a girl of
19, long brunette hair, short skirt, tights). The ingredients fall on the floor
and SHANNON stumbles backwards. SHANNON (Shouting) Watch where you’re
going you idiot! MARK descends to the floor and begins to pick up his
ingredients. SHANNON (CONT) Oi! I'm talking to
you! MARK looks up to her. MARK (Quietly) I'm sorry. SHANNON carries on down the corridor. SHANNON Just watch where
you’re going from now on. MARK nods and gathers all his ingredients and continues
on his way to his lecture. INT. OXFORD
UNIVERSITY DRAMA ROOM (AN HOUR LATER) SHANNON stands on the centre of the stage with LUCY and
ANNIE, they are acting out a piece from act 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet. SHANNON How now! Who
calls? LUCY Your mother. SHANNON Madam I am here.
What is your will? ANNIE This is the
matter, Nurse leave awhile, we must talk in... MRS SPENCER Stop stop stop. ALL THREE look down from their scripts at MRS SPENCER. SHANNON What is it? I
thought that was perfect. MRS SPENCER That is your
problem Shannon, you believe this adequate drivel is...as you say perfect. SHANNON (Angrily) Adequate drivel! MRS SPENCER raises her hand. SHANNON steps back and looks
at the floor. MRS SPENCER And there we go,
emotion, I don't feel the emotion in any of you, Annie add emphasis on the ‘this’
in the line 'this is the matter'. ANNIE nods. ANNIE Yes Miss. MRS SPENCER And Shannon, raise
your voice a little when you say 'how now' then lower it when you say the next
bit...got it? SHANNON sighs. SHANNON Yes miss. MRS SPENCER Good, now let’s
try this again. SARAH ROBERTS a girl of 20, (short brunette hair, jeans
and jacket) stands behind the red curtain studying an old film camera. SHANNON (O.S) How now! Who
calls? A teacher by the name of MRS CORBETT enters through the
curtain. MRS CORBETT I trust that this
has been helpful for your studies. SARAH gasps and nods politely. SARAH (Shyly) Oh umm..I...um yes
miss. MRS CORBETT I'm glad to hear
that, please if you ever need any help from us just contact me and I'll see
what I can do. SARAH Th-thank you. SARAH looks at her watch and gasps. SARAH (CONT) Oh damn, I'm sorry
I'm late for umm...something. SARAH rushes past MRS CORBETT, MRS CORBETT smiles. MRS CORBETT Such a nice girl. INT. GEOGRAPHY
ROOM �" MOMENTS LATER MR TRENDOL stands up front and points at the board,
talking about the economics of third world countries. JOHN MATTHEWS a boy of
19, black hair, beige jacket and blue shirt, jeans, looks out the window at the
clouds. MR TRENDOL Therefore...third
world countries rely on their base outgoing shipments rather on their incoming. MR TRENDOL looks over to JOHN and sighs, he smacks a
ruler on his desk. JOHN jumps and looks to the front of the class. MR TRENDOL Something
more...interesting outside Mr Matthews? JOHN No Sir I was
listening though. MR TRENDOL Interesting...so
tell me then, if the economy of France crashes, how would it effect its
neighboring country Spain. JOHN Oh umm... it would
get less... produce? MR TRENDOL sighs and places his index finger and thumb on
the bridge of his nose. His classmates giggle slightly around the room. MR TRENDOL Ok silence all of
you. JOHN looks down at his feet. MR TRENDOL (CONT) Excuse me Mr
Matthews, if I could have your attention. JOHN looks up at him. MR TRENDOL (CONT) Now a lot of your
classmates here actually want to learn this, I can't be repeating every piece
of information for you wasting the others valuable time...do you understand me? JOHN Yes Sir. MR TRENDOL Hmm, good... now
all of you turn to page 63 in your text books please. INT. CAFETERIA
- DAY The cafeteria is bustling with conversations from each
corner of the room. JOHN sits playing with his mash potato and sausages. MARK
leaves the queue holding a red tray containing salad sandwiches and rice
pudding. SHANNON sits with her LUCY and ANNIE laughing at a joke. SHANNON spots MARK who is looking gloomily at his tray of
food. She pokes her foot out and trips MARK over. SHANNON Oh my god you
really are a clumsy idiot aren't you. MARK ignores her and picks up his sandwiches which are
still in their plastic case. SHANNON (CONT) Oi, don't ignore
me when I'm talking to you. MARK looks at her and begins to walk away. SHANNON (CONT) How dare you
ignore me? SHANNON stands and approaches MARK. SHANNON (CONT) (Shouting) Oi, answer me! SHE places her hand on MARKS shoulder and pulls him
backwards. MARK turns and elbows her in the nose causing it to bleed. LUCY
rushes up to her. LUCY Oh god Shannon
your nose is bleeding, come on let's get you to the nurse. SHANNON cries and is taken away by LUCY. JOHN after
watching the incident approaches MARK. JOHN Hey, um are you
okay? MARK Yeah, I guess. JOHN gently places his hand on MARKS shoulder. MARK
flinches. JOHN Sorry. MARK It's...um...fine. JOHN smiles reassuringly at him. JOHN Come on, you can
sit with me. MARK smiles. MARK Thanks. Both JOHN and MARK approach the table JOHN was previously
sat at and sits down. MARK sits opposite to JOHN. JOHN You are a rather
jumpy guy aren't you? MARK shrugs and takes a bite out of his sandwich. JOHN (CONT) (Laughing) Hey, good shot
man. That prissy girl needs to be knocked down a peg or two. MARK looks up from his meal. MARK You know her? JOHN God who doesn't?
Her 'daddy' works in the government. And have you ever seen her act? MARK No? Is she good? JOHN Good? Good?! JOHN laughs loudly. JOHN (CONT) God that girl is
terrible. Let me tell you I swear she could have only got into this place with
her father’s cash. MARK Seems like that
kinda girl I guess. JOHN nods. JOHN Damn right. JOHN takes a large swig of his water and places it down
on the table. JOHN Hey if you’re not
doing anything tonight me and a couple of friends are going down to the bar.
You game? MARK Umm...game? JOHN laughs gently. JOHN Are you up for it? MARK Oh umm...maybe
some other time, yeah? JOHN Sure thing, just
give me a buzz. INT. LECTURE
ROOM (CODE AND LAW CLASS) AFTERNOON The clock reads 3:15pm. MR SUNDER stands at the front of
the class reading from a book titled, 'CODE AND LAW'. ANDREW is sat back with
his classmates writing notes vigorously. MR SUNDER Okay have you all
got that? CLASS Yes Sir. MR SUNDER Good, now I want
to talk to all of you about your assignments. MR SUNDER pulls out a brown folder and pulls out a sheet
of paper listing the assignment. MR SUNDER (CONT) Okay...Now I want
to go through your second task as a few of you have come to me for help. MR SUNDER clears his throat. MR SUNDER (CONT) Firstly... A knock comes from the door. MR SUNDER (CONT) Please enter. MISS SWANTON enters the room. MISS SWANTON Excuse me MR
SUNDER can I borrow you for a second? MR SUNDER Umm sure...ok
class while I'm gone I want you all to review your notes. CLASS Yes Sir. MR SUNDER AND MISS SWANTON leaves the room. ANDREW begins
to study his notes. INT. CULINARY
CLASS �" SAME MRS NETHERS walks amongst all the students studying their
cooking. She stops at PAULs cooking station. MRS NETHERS Excuse me Paul,
can you explain what you’re doing here? PAUL I'm measuring the
honey to honey glaze the vegetables. MRS NETHERS Well okay, but
it's burning. PAUL What?! PAUL rushes to his food. PAUL (CONT) Oh damn. MRS NETHERS Start again. PAUL nods. MARK stands at his station and flips the pan
upwards flipping over the omelette. MRS NETHERS (CONT) Very good Mr
Palin. MARK Thank you miss. A thumping sound comes from the hallway. MRS NETHERS
looks out to the hallway. MRS NETHERS What in God’s
name? A teacher by the name of MR STETON walks through the open
doorway slowly and stops. MRS NETHERS (CONT) Oh Mr Steton it's
you, what's up? MR STETON groans and stays motionless. MRS NETHERS (CONT) Mr Steton? A long silence draws on the classroom. All the students
stare confused by MR STETON's behavior. ALICA (Shouts) Oh god Mrs Nethers
he's bleeding. INT. NURSES
ROOM �" SAME The nurse brings in a student with another teacher and
lays him on a bed. A bite mark is found on her neck bleeding badly. SHANNON
sits up in her bed and looks across the room at him. NURSE So do you know
what happened? TEACHER No, she just came
running in too the room crying and passed out. We don't know what caused it
yet. NURSE Okay well she's in
good hands now; I'll bandage her up and call the hospital to come get her. The NURSE looks at SHANNON. NURSE (CONT) And Shannon I'll
say it again, it was a slight bleeding you don't need to stay here. SHANNON (Overdramatic) Do you see this
bruise, I'm injured I can't leave this room. The NURSE sighs and shakes her head. She walks over to a
cabinet and pulls out a couple of bandages. She approaches the student and
begins to bandage her. SHANNON's phone vibrates. She looks at it to see a text
message. The text message read 'Are you coming to class soon? xxx' SHANNON sighed and pressed her phone to call LUCY. LUCY (O.s) Hello? SHANNON Hey, sorry I won't
be coming to class today, I'm still in the nurses office. LUCY (O.S) Why is it busy
there or something? SHANNON I'm injured Lucy,
I can't come in. LUCY (O.S) It was a tiny
bleed you big baby. SHANNON gasped. SHANNON (Shouting) Screw you then. She hangs up on LUCY. SHANNON (CONT) (Mumbles) Stupid cow. SHANNON lays back on her bed. The NURSE suddenly screams
and SHANNON bolts upright. She looks over but the curtain had been pulled
round. A gentle growl came from behind the curtain. SHANNON sits on the side of
her bed. SHANNON Mrs Loper? Are you
okay in there? A growl returned from behind the curtain. SHANNON (CONT) Okay this isn't
funny Mrs Loper... Still no response. SHANNON gets out of bed and approaches the curtain. SHANNON Mrs Loper? SHANNON reaches out for the curtain, her hand is an inch
away. Suddenly someone comes rushing through tearing the curtain down and
falling onto her. SHANNON screams out fighting the person on the other side of
the curtain. A fierce growling comes from the other person. SHANNON (Screaming) Help me! Help! INT. GEOGRAPHY
ROOM �" SAME MR TRENDOL is sat in his chair marking work. JOHN sits
back looking out the window at the clouds. The class is working on an
assignment. A bone chilling scream comes from the hallway. MR TRENDOL looks up
at the door. MR TRENDOL What the hell? He approaches the door and opens it. A female student
runs past him knocking him slightly. MR TRENDOL (CONT) Excuse me miss no
running in the hallway! She ignores him and carries on running. He looks to his
left and sopts a group of student pinning another. MR TRENDOL (CONT) Oi you lot! Get
off him! MR TRENDOL runs over to the student. The class runs
outside to see what is happening. JOHN looks out of the room. INT. CORRIDOR �"
SAME MR TREDOL reaches the students and grabs hold of one
pulling him off. He steps back when he notices that the student has chunks of
skin missing. MR TRENDOL Oh dear god! The group of students rise up and pin MR TRENDOL biting
him and tearing chunks off skin out. MR TRENDOL screams in agony writhing in
pain. The class screams and runs away down the corridor. JOHN gasps and runs
with the group. INT. CULINARY
CLASS - MOMENTS BEFORE MRS NETHERS runs up to MR STETON and tries to turn him
around to see the wound, however HE bites her on the neck and drags her to the
floor. MRS NETHERS screams in pain trying to push him away. She finally goes
silent. The class stand motionless in fear. MR STETON stands snarling quietly.
He focuses on MARK. MARK feels behind him grasping the handle of a knife. MR
STETON snarls viciously and runs at MARK, HE pulls the knife out if the stand
and plants it into his heart. HIS breathing becomes rapid. MR STETON is stunned
for a second but charges back at him. MARKS eyes widen in horror and dodges
him. MR STETON falls forward but climbs to his feet quickly.
MARK grabs hold of a frying pan and wields it ready. MR STETON rushes at him,
MARK swings the frying pan hitting HIM in the head. He falls to the ground and
becomes motionless. The CLASS rushed out of the room and down the corridor. MARK (To himself) No way...but there
not real...are they? MARK wields the frying pan and rushes out of the room. INT. LECTURE
ROOM (CODE AND LAW CLASS) A FEW MOMENTS LATER The class lay silent all concentrating on revising the
notes. A gentle knocking comes at the door. ANDREW Oh you can come in
there's no teacher in here. It goes silent for a moment, another knock follows.
ANDREW raises his voice. ANDREW (CONT) I said you can
come in. Another knock comes from the door. STUDENT I'll get it. The STUDENT gets up and pulls down the handle, but before
he can open it MR SUNDER rushes in a knocks him to the ground. He pins him and
bites his neck tearing a chunk out. The class screams in horror. More teachers
come rushing in and ran at the class pinning a few. All around ANDREW screaming
was heard. A teacher runs at ANDREW but ANDREW returns the attack
and throws his notebook at the teacher. The instability of the teacher caused
her to fall to the floor but was up again in a second. MARK begins to run
struggling to maintain speed between the small gap between the two rows. ANDREW spots a meter ruler at the front of the class and
darts towards it. He grabs hold of it and turns to defend himself. The teacher
rushes at him snarling loudly. ANDREW swings the ruler landing a heavy blow to
the head knocking he teacher dead. HIS breathing becomes heavy and shallow. ANDREW darts for
the door. He reaches it and runs out. INT. CORRIDOR �"
SAME ANDREW looked down the corridor. All the way down
students we're being attacked by rogue teachers and even students we're
attacking teachers. All finally devouring their prey when caught. Rapid
footsteps echoed behind him. HIS breath became heavy again and fear grasped his
body. Suddenly SARAH comes bursting around the corner. SHE
looks down the corridor and stops. SARAH Oh crap this way
is blocked too! ANDREW Hey what the hell
is happening here?! SARAH looked at him confused. SARAH Have you not
heard?! ANDREW Heard what?! SARAH pulls out her phone and puts on the news. NEWS WOMAN The city is in
peril all around people are killing and devouring other people, the city has
run into chaos! People are calling them the infected, a message to everyone
stay indoors, don't leave unless you really have to! A loud noise sounded in the studio. Screaming echoed in
the background. NEWS WOMAN Oh god no! Noooo! The camera cuts out a static replaces it. SARAH That was broadcast
about 20 minutes ago! ANDREW So...the whole
city is like this? SARAH Apparently. ANDREW Okay let’s cut
this chit chat we need to get out of here, like now! An infected comes
bursting around the corner. ANDREW (CONT) (Shouts) Duck! SARAH ducks and ANDREW swings the meter ruler, hitting
the infected in the head. The ruler shatters on impact leaving them defenceless.
ANDREW (CONT) Okay, let’s go. ANDREW grabs hold of SARAH's hand and drags her round the
corner and heads down the corridor.
-TO BE CONTINUED- © 2012 ForgottenAuthor's Note
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Added on September 10, 2012Last Updated on September 10, 2012 Author
ForgottenGloucestershire, Stroud, United KingdomAboutMy real name is John-Paul Crawford, I do voluntary work at Stroud FM and hopefully after my training will be allowed my own slot on air. Writing takes up most of my time, I'm always trying to better m.. more..Writing
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