















                                  unbreakable




























INT. CLOTHING STORE - AFTERNOON

Women's casual wear department. J.C. Penny.

Legend "1961"

An African-American man carrying two J.C. Penny shopping bags is ushered past the
department store managers and security guards on walkies that have gathered at
the entrance to the woman's dressing rooms.

								  CUT TO:

INT. DRESSING ROOM - AFTERNOON

A bed has been formed by a chair and three benches.

A STRIKING AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN in her twenties lays across it. Her face and
clothes are covered in sweat. Her skirt is stained.

She holds something wrapped in a soft sweatshirt on her chest. We can't see it,
but WE HEAR THE BABY CRYING.

She's just given birth.

There are three frazzled saleswomen in the dressing room with her. They watch her
with quiet smiles.

A fourth SALESWOMAN arrives ushering in the man with the shopping bags.

				 SALESWOMAN
		This is Mr. Mathison. He's
		a doctor.

DR. MATHISON looks over the scene and then directly at the striking woman.

				 DR. MATHISON
		You okay?

The woman nods, "Yes." Sweat trickles down her face. THE BABY'S PIERCING CRIES
ECHO IN THE SMALL ROOM.

				 SALESWOMAN
		An ambulance is on the way.

Dr. Mathison puts down his shopping bags and moves to her. He kneels down and
gestures for the bundle of sweatshirts in her arms.

				 DR. MATHISON
		Is there a name yet?

Beat. The woman smiles for the first time.

				 WOMAN
		Elijah.

She hands him the wrapped child. We can't see the baby, but THE PIERCING CRIES
SEEM TO GET LOUDER.

				 WOMAN
		Is he supposed to be crying
		like that?

The doctor lowers the baby to his lap and unwraps him.

The woman can't see her baby anymore. She watches Dr. Mathison as he looks down
and examines her child. Beat. Dr. Mathison doesn't look up for the longest time.

				 WOMAN
		Can I have him back?

THE BABY'S CRYING IS RELENTLESS. UNNERVING. Beat.

The doctor finally glances up. He looks shaken. He makes eye contact with the
woman for only a second. It's enough. A chill goes through her body.

He looks to the three saleswomen who were in the room.

				 DR. MATHISON
		What happened during the
		delivery?

His hard stare unsettles the women. The OLDER SALESWOMAN speaks up.

				 OLDER SALESWOMAN
		Nothing. It was very quick.
		The baby just wanted to come
		right out. There was no
		problems.

				 DR. MATHISON
		Did you drop him?

Everyone becomes very still. The mother looks like she stopped breathing. THE
BABY'S SCREAMING ENGULFS THE ROOM.

				 DR. MATHISON
		Did you drop this baby?

Beat.

				 OLDER SALESWOMAN
		Jesus Christ, no.

The BABY SCREAMS.

The doctor whispers something to himself, we can't hear. He looks up to the
saleswoman who brought him in.

				 DR. MATHISON
		Please inform the ambulance
		we have a situation...

Dr. Mathison turns back to the mother. Beat.

				 DR. MATHISON
		I've never seen this... It
		appears your infant
		sustained some fractures
		while in your uterus.
			(beat)
		His arms and legs are
		broken.

								FADE TO BLACK:

EXT. TRAIN STATION NEW JERSEY - DAY

LEGEND "PRESENT DAY"

A fountain of humanity bubbles up from the escalators to the train platform.

Businessmen take their last desperate drags of their cigarettes... Women
traveling with children herd their luggage and offspring into tight shapes as
they move... College students with backpacks look around dazed at the various
track numbers.

				 ANNOUNCER(o.s.)
		Last call track three,
		Amtrak Clocker making it's
		final stop at Philadelphia's
		thirtieth street station.
		First two passenger cars
		only. First two cars only.

A face inside the train watches the stream of passengers emerging from the
escalators. DAVID DUNNE, a man in his early forties, rest his temple against the
glass and quietly observes the movement outside.

The train starts to pull out.

								  CUT TO:

INT. PASSENGER CAR - DAY

David sits with his coat on his lap. He's wearing a tie. He doesn't look very
comfortable in it.

He feels a stare. He looks up to find a girl, six or seven years old, peering at
him from over the seat in front of him. She just gazes at him blankly.

He gives her a small forced smile. She doesn't react. David returns his head to
the window.

His eyes begin to shut with the lulling movement of the train.

				 WOMAN(o.s.)
		You alone?

David looks in the direction of THE VOICE. A WOMAN with dark hair and light blue
eyes stands in the aisle with two bags over her shoulder. She's wearing a tight
white t-shirt and jeans. She's beautiful.

David nods "yes."

The woman starts putting her bags on the shelf above the seats. She stretches to
get them up. Her toned stomach is exposed. She has a silver ring pierced through
her navel.

David has a gold ring on his hand. He fiddles with it. Beat. He gently slips off
his wedding band. It goes into his coat pocket.

The woman takes the seat next to him.

Beat. A LOUD VIOLENT BURST OF SOUND. The passenger car shakes as a passing
train barrels by two feet from David's window. It passes in a few seconds. The
car returns to a QUIET HUM.

David pulls a magazine out from the seat pocket in front of him.

He holds the woman's fashion magazine out.

				 DAVID
		Someone left these. You want
		one?

The woman looks over the one being offered and then points to the Sports
Illustrated peeking out of the seat pocket.

David pulls the magazine out and gives it to her.

				 DAVID
		You like sports?

				 WOMAN
		It's my field. I represent
		athletes. I'm an agent.

				 DAVID
		What a coincidence? I'm a
		male synchronized swimmer
		and I'm looking for
		representation.

				 WOMAN(smiling)
		Is that right?

				 DAVID
		But I'm afraid of water, so
		that's been holding my
		career back a little bit.

The woman laughs.

				 DAVID
		You represent someone in
		Philadelphia?

				 WOMAN
		I'm meeting a player from
		Temple University. He's a
		cornerback. You like
		football?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Not really.

				 WOMAN
		This kid is six foot two,
		two hundred and forty
		pounds. He runs the fifty in
		under six seconds. He's
		going to be a God.

Beat. David studies the excitement in her eyes.

ANOTHER LOUD VIOLENT BURST OF SOUND. David waits till the opposing train passes.
The woman goes back to her magazine. Beat.

				 DAVID
		I'm David Dunne.

The woman looks up.

				 WOMAN
		Kelly.

She goes back to the magazine.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		How long are you staying in
		Philly?

KELLY looks up from her Sports Illustrated. Her striking blue eyes gaze at David.
Beat.

She holds up her hand. Taps the diamond ring on her finger.

				 KELLY(soft)
		I'm married.

				 DAVID(fake excitement)
		Great.

Beat.

				 KELLY
		Sorry.

				 DAVID(fake confusion)
		What are you talking about?

An awkward silence.

				 DAVID
		I think you got the wrong
		idea.

The woman stares at David. She looks down. Beat. Closes the magazine.

				 KELLY
		I'm going to find another
		seat.

Kelly gets up. She balances herself against a headrest as the train rumbles. She
starts to the back of the car.

David sits alone. He looks like he's drowning, but there's no water.

He feels a stare. He glances up. The little girl spies on him from between the
seats.

David leans towards the window to avoid eye contact. His hand reaches into his
coat and slides out his wedding band. He puts it back on.

His temple touches the glass. The vibration of the train begins to lull his eyes
closed... Beat.

David's head bounces lightly against the window.

The shaking of the glass never allows David's eyes to completely close.

He sits up when he realizes the shaking is getting stronger.

He looks out the window. The scenery blurs as it flies by. Beat.

David turns. Some of the other passengers start to react as they realize the
train is picking up speed.

The normal bumps of the tracks become amplified.

The WORRIED VOICES OF THE TRAVELERS START FILL THE CABIN.

The train goes faster.

AND THEN THE HIGH PITCHED METAL ON METAL SCREECHING STARTS AS THE TRAIN BEGINS TO
TAKE A CURVE.

David's eyes move to the seat in front of him. The little girl is no longer
watching him.

DAVID LOOKS TO THE PASSENGERS ACROSS FROM HIM. He sees the ground slowly drop
away in the windows behind them as THEIR SIDE OF THE TRAIN STARTS TO RISE...

THE PASSENGERS SCREAM AS THE AMTRAK PASSENGER TRAIN BEGINS TO TILT OFF THE
TRACK...

								  CUT TO:

INT. FAMILY ROOM - AFTERNOON

A boy, age ten, sits on his head on the family couch and watches television
upside down. His floppy brown hair spreads out in a circle in front of his red
face. He changes channels with a remote control.

He moves past the upside down cartoons and the upside down talk shows. He stops
on an upside down picture of a crashed train. Beat.

His knees come forward as he flips over. He tumbles slowly off the couch and onto
the carpet. JEREMY DUNNE gazes at the television screen... A LIVE AERIAL VIEW OF
A TRAIN WRECK SMOULDERING BELOW IS SEEN. Two trains are tangled like snakes.

Jeremy gets up and moves to a small table with a phone. Next to the phone is a
notepad. On it is written...

"Dad - Amtrak 177 - 3:40pm."

Jeremy looks at the television. At the bottom of the screen in red block letters
that move from right to left are words and numbers..."The 3:40 Amtrak 177 has
derailed... Amtrak Emergency number is 1-800-777-4322... The 3:40 Amtrak 177 has
derailed...Amtrak"

Jeremy doesn't take his eyes off the screen. He makes a small desperate noise
that no one hears.

								  CUT TO:

INT. PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER - LATE AFTERNOON

An elderly woman can't hold back any longer and SCREAMS. An embarrassed, tortured
helpless scream.

MEGAN DUNNE continues applying pressure to her arm which is being pushed back as
far as it will go.

She counts to three and eases off. She lays her arm back in her lap.

WE ARE IN A PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER. About a dozen people are on specialized
weight machines.

The elderly woman is seated on an exercise table and breathes slowly.

				 MEGAN
		You okay, Virginia?

Beat. VIRGINIA shakes her head, "No."

				 MEGAN
		I'll put something on the
		t.v. Maybe we'll find some
		almost naked guys to inspire
		you.

Megan reaches up to the t.v. monitor mounted on the wall. She turns it on and
starts flipping channels. She stops on ESPN where a swimming meet is underway.
Men in bikini swimsuits line the edges of the pool.

Virginia starts watching with great interest.

Megan's eyes move to the tiny print moving across the bottom of the screen. Her
face goes still as she reads the train number... 177.

								  CUT TO:

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - AFTERNOON

DAVID DUNNE'S EYES SLOWLY OPEN. THE DULL WHITE OF THE OVERHEAD TUBE LIGHTING
BLINDS HIM AT FIRST.

He blinks his vision back. He realizes he's in a bed.

WE HEAR AGITATED VOICES, MOVEMENT.

David looks around. He's in an emergency room. There are a half dozen prep areas
and beds next to him. They're all empty.

DAVID FOLLOWS THE URGENT SOUNDS OF ACTIVITY TO A PREP AREA DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM
HIM.

He can only see glimpses of activity through the drawn curtain. A group of
emergency room personnel are treating a man whose body is twitching violently on
a gurney.

One of the group is a man who glances through the opening in the curtain. He
notices David sitting up from across the room.

THE MAN IN SCRUBS leaves the group and walks over.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		How are you feeling?

				 DAVID
		Okay.

He FLASHES A LIGHT in David's eyes.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		You are in the emergency
		room of the University of
		Pennsylvania Hospital. You
		were in a serious accident.
			(beat)
		How's your vision?

				 DAVID
		Fine.

David stares across as the scene with the other patients becomes more frantic and
disturbing.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		Where were you sitting on
		the train?

				 DAVID
		Against a window.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		In the passenger car?

				 DAVID
		Yes. Where are the rest of
		the passengers?

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		Was your family traveling
		with you?

				 DAVID
		No.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		Did you get up from your
		seat?

				 DAVID
		No.

David watches the other patient.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		You're certain you were in
		the passenger car?

David turns to the man.

				 DAVID
		Yes... Why are you looking
		at me like that?

Beat.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		Your train derailed... Some
		kind of malfunction... It
		took a curve way to fast. A
		second train collided with
		yours after it derailed. The
		debris is spread over one
		mile. It's unbelievable they
		said.
			(beat)
		They only found two people
		alive so far... You and him.

David looks to the other passenger now laying unnaturally still in the desperate
whirlwind of activity around him.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		The man's skull was cracked
		open and most of his left
		side was crushed.

Beat.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		And to answer your question,
		there are two reasons why
		I'm looking at you like
		this.

David turns and stares at the man.

				 MAN IN SCRUBS
		One, because it seems, in a
		few minutes, you will
		officially be the only
		survivor of this train
		wreck.
			(beat)
		And two, because you don't
		have a scratch on you. You
		didn't break one bone.

								  CUT TO:

INT. EMERGENCY RECEPTION AREA - EVENING

David moves through the depressing milky corridors of the hospital. He opens a
set of double doors.

A room crammed with cameras and photographers explodes with movement.

A CHILD'S VOICE BREAKS THEIR NOISE.

				 JEREMY
		I told you!

Jeremy Dunne pushes forward through the mob of people and cameras. He bursts out
and runs to David. He wraps his arms around David's waist. David just stands
there, aware that the cameras are catching it all. He's overwhelmed.

Hospital staff and a couple police officers push the media back.

Jeremy tugs David to lean down. He does.

				 JEREMY
		They thought everybody on
		the train died.

David looks at his son's face. Wipes the tears on his cheek.

				 JEREMY
		I told them they were wrong.

A woman moves to them. David stands up and faces Megan Dunne.

				 JEREMY
		Mom even cried.

David looks at Megan's eyes.

				 JEREMY
		A lot.

Megan looks away.

				 MEGAN
		Not a lot.

They stand there for a moment. David looks shaken. Jeremy takes hold of his hand.

				 JEREMY
		Let's go home.

Megan nods. They move to the exit. The pack of cameras and reporters burst to
life as they leave the building. They jockey for position to get a last glimpse
of David Dunne.

								  CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

David eats a bowl of pasta alone in a modest kitchen. He stares at his hand.
Opens and closes it slowly. Beat.

He rises and puts the bowl away in the sink.

INT. FRONT HALL - NIGHT

David stops just before rising the stairs. He glances into a bedroom at the
bottom of the stairs. The doorway is half open. He makes eye contact with his
wife. Beat.

				 DAVID
		I don't think I got the job
		in New York.

				 MEGAN
		What does that mean?

				 DAVID
		I'm still going to New York.
		Just not this second.

				 MEGAN
		I don't want to drag this
		out too long for Jeremy.

				 DAVID
		I know.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		How about in the meantime,
		you don't sleep in the
		guestroom anymore?
			(beat)
		You sleep in our room. I'll
		sleep down here.

Beat.

				 MEGAN
		It stopped being our room a
		long time ago.
			(beat)
		You should go up and get
		some rest.

Beat. Megan slowly closes the door to the guest bedroom.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

David looks at his son asleep in his bed.

				 DAVID
		Jeremy, why don't you go
		sleep with your mom?

				 JEREMY(eyes closed)
		I want to sleep here
		tonight.

				 DAVID
		I think it's be better if I
		was alone.

				 JEREMY(eyes closed)
		I won't make any noise.

				 DAVID
		How about your room then? If
		you get scared like before,
		you can come back in here?

Beat. Jeremy doesn't answer because he's asleep. David rubs his forehead and gets
up. He turns on the t.v., low volume, as he moves into the bathroom.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

Hot water rushes over David's face as he stands in the shower. His attention is
drawn to the t.v. which is seen through the slightly open bathroom door.

He turns off the water to HEAR.

				 NEWS ANCHOR(t.v.)
		...Derailed approximately
		seven and half miles outside
		Philadelphia. It came to
		rest on its side on the
		northbound tracks. It is
		train officials belief that
		some if not most of the
		passengers were still alive
		at this time.

				 NEWS ANCHOR(t.v.)
		The momentary peace lasted
		only a few seconds. A Boston
		bound freight train on the
		northbound tracks was
		seconds away from passing
		train 177 when it derailed.
		The impact happened at about
		three-fifteen p.m. The first
		of the two occupied
		passenger cars was severed
		in half and sent careening
		in two directions. The
		second of the passenger cars
		was crushed and dragged for
		four hundred feet. Six crew
		members were on the freight.
		One hundred and eighteen
		passengers and seven crew
		members were on the
		passenger train... There is
		one reported survivor.
			(beat)
		Rescue teams will be working
		for the next forty-eight
		hours removing bodies and
		debris.

David steps out of the shower. He sees a glimpse of Jeremy asleep in bed. David
shuts the door. Locks it.

He gets back into the shower and turns the water back on.

He closes his eyes. His face tightens up. He slowly hunches down and takes a seat
on the tiled floor of the shower. Water pours over him. Beat.

His muscular body begins to shake. Then we realize he's crying.

								FADE TO BLACK:

EXT. FAIR - DAY

LEGEND "1969"

A hazy afternoon. A fair has come into town. They have set up in the vast parking
lot of the local high school.

A line of women has formed in front of the portable bathrooms.

The striking African American woman we saw giving birth is now standing in line.
She is older and somehow more beautiful.

She stands with a skinny, almost ethereal looking African American boy. The boy
wears a metal brace on his leg. THE EIGHT YEAR OLD ELIJAH holds two oversized
stuffed animals in his arms. He looks back over his shoulder as THE SOUND OF
VOICES YELLING IN EXCITEMENT FILL THE AIR. His eyes dance over the many colorful
rides in the parking lot.

The door opens to one of the portable bathrooms. A woman steps out.

Elijah's mother touches his head and enters the three foot square plastic
bathroom. She turns back and gives him a look.

				 MOTHER
		We'll play the water pistol
		game next.

Elijah nods, "Yes" happily.

The mother closes the cubicle door. Elijah is left alone amongst the line of
women. They stare at him blankly. Their eyes moves over his leg brace. Elijah
doesn't like it. He moves away from the line.

A CRESCENDO OF CHEERS RISES IN THE AIR FROM SOMEWHERE IN THE FAIR. Elijah follows
the voices. He carries the stuffed animals through the crowds of people. CLICK.
CLICK. CLICK. His metal brace sounds as he walks.

For a moment, he sees nothing but bodies all around him.

He emerges amongst a huddle of teenagers who wait at a turnstile.

A man in a red and white striped coat takes their tickets and waves them in.

Elijah looks up and sees the sign above the turnstile... "The Hurricane."

He watches the teenagers giggle as they each into a grey cup-like seat. They pull
the metal bars down in front of them.

The man in the red and white stripes leaves the turnstile.

Elijah stares up at the multi-colored sign. Beat. He moves quickly. Ducks under
the turnstile and climbs onto the platform.

Elijah finds and empty circular seat. He slips inside the gray metal compartment
and sits. He pulls down the rusted metal bar in front of him.

He looks around at all the excited faces. His eyes fill with excitement too.

His small hands feel the cold metal of the interior of the compartment. His
expression changes.

Elijah looks to the stuffed animals in his arms. He presses them to check their
softness. He places the stuffed animals on either side of him on the seat. He's
wedged in between them. Feels good.

He reaches out and touches the hard rusted metal bar in front of him. Elijah
looks a little anxious. Beat.

He pulls off his sweater and wraps it around the bar. It goes around twice before
he ties the arms together. He checks its softness.

Elijah looks around the customized cup-like compartment he sits in. He smiles an
eight year old smile of pride.

AND THEN HE HEARS HIS MOTHER'S VOICE.

He searches around and finds her walking in the waves of people. He hears her
calling.

				 MOTHER
		Elijah...

She moves in his direction by chance. She finds herself at the entrance to The
Hurricane ride. She looks up at the sign above the turnstile. Her worried eyes
immediately start searching the young faces in the gray circular compartments.

Her eyes meet Elijah's. He waves. Her face goes very still.

A HUGE ROAR OF MACHINERY as the ride starts up.

Elijah yells to his mother as the platform starts running.

				 ELIJAH
		I won't get hurt momma! I'm
		safe!

HIS WORDS GET EATEN UP BY THE CHEERS OF THE TEENAGERS AND THE GRIND OF MACHINERY.

The platform spins. He sees a glimpse of his mother and the red and white striped
man. She's pointing at Elijah.

The platform turns... Elijah sees a flash of the red and white striped man's
angered face as he yells at the frantic woman next to him.

And then the ride speeds up.

The gray circular seats start to spin on their own. The teenagers CHEER.

Elijah's eyes fill with joy as the wind plays against his face.

Suddenly the ride changes directions. The cup-like seats get jerked. Everyone
grabs the metal bars to hold on.

Elijah laughs as he smashes into the stuffed animal on his right. It cushions him
and then falls to the floor of the compartment along with the other stuffed
animal.

Elijah's expression becomes tense as his compartment spins. His hands slide over
the rusted metal bar as the sweater unravels.

Elijah looks around... a sudden panic enters his eyes.

THE BLURRING IMAGE OF HIS MOTHER NOW IN A GROUP OF RED AND WHITE STRIPED MEN.

THE SOUND OF MACHINERY GRINDING IS HEARD as the ride changes directions
suddenly.

Elijah's hands rip away from the bar as he gets thrown to the side of the
compartment. His shoulder and arm takes the brunt of the impact. WE HEAR
SOMETHING CRACK.

TEENAGERS SCREAM IN EXCITEMENT. ELIJAH JOINS THEM WITH SCREAMS OF HIS OWN.

The ride spins its passengers. Elijah's small face looks up at the swirling
clouds in a mixture of agony and terror.

The ride changes directions.

Elijah is thrust forward. He hits the rusted metal bar square against his chest.
WE HEAR MORE CRACKS.

The world spins. Giggles and yells fill the air. Elijah slumps down onto the
floor of the compartment.

And then finally, the grind of the machinery slows and then comes to a gradual
stop.

THE TEENAGERS MOAN.

Elijah is facing directly up at the sky. The clouds now move slowly over him.

WE HEAR COMMOTION. AGITATED VOICES. HIS MOTHER'S DESPERATE VOICE.

				 MOTHER(o.s.)
		His bones... He's not
		well...

HER VOICE GETS LOUDER AS SHE MOVES CLOSER TO THE PLATFORM.

				 MOTHER(o.s.)
		Elijah baby...

Then her face appears as she finds the cup-like seat Elijah is in. She begins to
scream.

Elijah lays on the bottom of the compartment. One arm is clutching his chest. The
other is curved horrifically like an "s". His mouth is open. His eyes are
bulging. The last thing we HERE ARE THE SHORT DESPERATE BREATHS of an eight year
old child about to black out from the pain.

								FADE TO BLACK:

PRESENT: EXT. CHURCH - AFTERNOON

WE EMERGE FROM BLACK to find news vans and reporters lining the street across
from a church. They have been cordoned off by a handful of police. Mourners are
recorded as they emerge from their cars and enter the church.

David is among the arriving crowd.

				 MAN(o.s.)
		David Dunne!

At hearing his name, David turns back as he walks. He can't tell which reporter
called his name because all of them seem to react. A storm of camera movement as
the group jockeys for the best angle of his troubled face.

David passes a magnetic board as he enters the church. It reads, "Services for
the families and friends of train 177."

								  CUT TO:

INT. CHURCH - AFTERNOON

A PRIEST stands before a podium.

				 PRIEST
		Sarah Elaston, social worker
		at Broad and Locust
		Community Center. We pray
		for your soul.
			(beat)
		Kevin Elliott, business man,
		father of six. We pray for
		your soul.
			(beat)
		Glen Stevens, researcher in
		the area of Leukemia at
		Drexel University. We pray
		for your soul.

David sits amongst the mourners in the standing room only church. His eyes drift
to a woman two rows ahead of him. She's turned around, looking at him. Her eyes
are red  from crying.

David looks away. His eyes stop on an old man far to his left just a few seats
away. Father, mother and daughter stare silently.

David surveys the entire church... Desperate inconsolable eyes question his
existence from every direction.

David has to look down.

				 PRIEST
		...Jennifer Pennyman, third
		grade teacher at Jefferson
		Elementary.
			(beat)
		We pray for your soul.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BACK OF CHURCH - AFTERNOON

David and the priest who conducted the mass are alone in the mass preparation
room. The priest looks in his fifties, eyes tired, blood shot.

				 DAVID
		I used to play football in
		college. In my first year as
		quarterback, we went on this
		winning streak. It just went
		on and on. It didn't matter
		who we played... I'd always
		win.
			(beat)
		You get superstitious when
		something like that happens.
		You give things meaning.
		Like you wear the same color
		socks each game or you
		listen to the same B.B. King
		song before you leave the
		apartment. I wouldn't even
		untie the shoelaces on my
		cleats. I'd just slip them
		on and off so nothing would
		change... I gave things
		meaning that had no meaning.
			(beat)
		I'm here to make sure I'm
		not making shoelaces into
		something they're not again.
			(beat)
		I was the only person to
		survive that accident. The
		only one... It feels like it
		means something.

Beat.

				 PRIEST
		Are you a religious man,
		David?

David nods, "No."

The priest removes the sacred stoll from his around his neck and kisses it before
folding it carefully.

				 PRIEST
		Good. Because I'm going to
		talk to you as a man. Not as
		a man of the cloth.

				 DAVID
		Okay.

Beat. The priest turns to David.

				 PRIEST
		It was luck.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		What do you mean?

				 PRIEST
		Luck... Random... Without
		meaning.

David just sits awkwardly.

				 PRIEST
		Three years ago, my cousin
		died on a plane that crashed
		on take off at Philadelphia
		International airport. Do
		you remember that crash?

David nods, "Yes."

				 PRIEST
		I prayed and prayed and
		finally found some meaning
		in the event. It gave me
		peace... And then not quite
		a year later, an entire
		family from my parish burned
		to death in a hotel fire
		downtown...
			(beat)
		Again I prayed. Again I
		found  meaning.
			(beat)
		Just two days ago, my nephew
		rode with you on that train
		back from New York. He was
		traveling alone for the
		first time.

				 PRIEST
		I'm sorry if I can't react
		to your survival with the
		appropriate 'It was the hand
		of God. It was a miracle.'
		kind of answer... I'm fresh
		out of those right now.

David is shaken. Beat.

				 DAVID(soft)
		The metal of the watch I was
		wearing was crushed like a
		sledge hammer hit it.

Beat. The priest's eyes fill with emotion.

				 PRIEST
		My twelve year old nephew's
		neck was broken in four
		places... What's your point?
		You were chosen?
			(beat)
		I don't think so.

The priest turns and continues putting away artifacts from the mass. Silence
fills the back room.

								  CUT TO:

INT. CHURCH PARKING LOT - LATE AFTERNOON

No cameras greet his exit. No people anywhere.

David walks across the now empty parking lot. His car is the only one left.

He walks to the driver's side. Pulls out his keys. That's as far as he gets.

His eyes catch sight of the GRAY ENVELOPE tucked under the windshield wiper of
his car.

David moves forward and gently pulls it out. His name is typed on the front. He
turns it over. Two embossed words on the back.

				 "Limited Edition"

He opens the envelope. One line, handwritten, gazes at him from the gray index
card.

The line reads...

  "How many days of your life have you been sick?"

Nothing else is written.

David Dunne looks around the empty parking lot quietly.

								  CUT TO:

INT. EMPLOYEE LOCKER ROOM - MORNING

A poorly lit changing room. A row of metallic lockers sits against one wall. A
bench splits the room. A brown folding table with Dunkin Donuts boxes and bagels
on it is crammed in the corner. A puke colored concrete floor sets the tone.

David and three other large men are changing out of their street clothes. They
all put on the same yellow short sleeve shirts. The same two words are written on
all their backs...

"Stadium Security"

This ritual goes on without a word.

								  CUT TO:

INT. MAIN STADIUM CORRIDOR - MORNING

David walks along the massive curved wall around the outer rim of the stadium. As
he passes the different walkways we get glimpses of the enormous and empty
sixty-thousand seat football stadium on the inside.

David stops at a door marked "PERSONNEL".

								  CUT TO:

INT. PERSONNEL OFFICE - MORNING

David knocks on the door as he steps into the cramped reception room to the
personnel office.

The SECRETARY, an ancient woman with thick flabby arms never stops typing and
never looks up as she talks.

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		Yes?

				 DAVID
		Is Noel in?

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		No sir he is not.
			(beat)
		I read about you in the
		paper.

				 DAVID
		Oh.

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		I was in an accident once
		too. A horse almost trampled
		me to death.

				 DAVID
		Wow.

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		I had to put him down.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		That's a sad story.
			(beat)
		Do you think you could ask
		Noel something for me?

The ancient secretary's right hand immediately picks up a pen and positions it
over a blank pad. Her left hand keeps typing. She never looks up.

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		Proceed.

				 DAVID
		Ask if he can check how many
		sick days I've taken since
		I've worked here?

Beat.

				 ANCIENT SECRETARY
		Is that the entire message?

				 DAVID
		Yes.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. STADIUM FIELD - AFTERNOON

Rain falls in sheets in the stadium.

David stands at the entrance to a tunnel that empties out onto the field. He
stands in an imposing dark green rain poncho and hood. The poncho almost touches
the ground. The word 'security' on the back has almost faded away. We can barely
see David's face under the hood.

There is a football game in progress on the enormous field. The players seem
unusually small. There is no one in the stands. About four hundred people are on
the sidelines of the field watching the players. A soggy limping banner stretched
behind them declares, "The Pennslvania Elementary School Championships."

David's eyes scan the tiny figures on the field. His eyes come rest on a surge of
activity on the sidelines. Beat.

David steps out into the rain.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. SIDELINES - AFTERNOON

A handful of red faced fathers are yelling at each other. They're in each other's
rain soaked faces. The scene feels on the verge of physical violence.

David and another security guard jog over. David steps in the middle of the tight
circle. The men stop yelling in the presence of stadium security. Everyone just
stands in the rain glaring at each other. Beat.

				 DAVID
		You know what I think about
		to calm down? I think about
		those big fat, hundred and
		twenty pound turtles that
		live in the islands. Those
		suckers never get angry,
		never get in fights and live
		longer than all of us and
		all they do all is sit on
		the beach and hump other
		turtles.
			(beat)
		Why don't we take a second
		and think about the turtles?

Nobody moves. Rain washes over the agitated faces. A father breaks the moment.

				 FATHER
		Yeah Jerry why don't you
		think about the fat ass
		turtles... Like your fat ass
		son on the field
		jeopardizing the rest of our
		chances at a fucking
		championship.

David tenses. Everyone looks to JERRY. A bald man who stands just a foot away.
Jerry nods to himself. Looks like he's going to say something. Instead he lunges
forward and smashes a HEADBUTT to the man who spoke to him.

David tackles Jerry hard and fast. He drives him into the ground.

Blood starts rushing out of the nose of the dazed father who took the headbutt.

The other fathers start yelling and pushing each other. The remaining security
guard calls on his walkie for assistance.

David keeps Jerry immobilized in a powerful arm and head lock that holds the
man's enraged face hard into the wet surface of the field.

David's eyes are not on Jerry. They gaze out onto the field where twenty two
elementary school boys have stopped playing and are standing frozen, helmets off,
rain washing over their faces. They watch in horror as their parents attack each
other on the sidelines.

								  CUT TO:

INT. EMPLOYEE LOCKER ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON

David is the last one left. He's showered and back in his street clothes. He sits
in the dimly lit room on the bench, lost in his thoughts when the door opens.

He turns to find a somewhat pregnant looking man with a tie step in. This is
NOEL.

				 DAVID
		Hey Noel.

Beat. He just stares.

				 NOEL
		Forty dollars.

David turns on the bench.

				 DAVID
		What?

				 NOEL
		You're getting a forty
		dollar raise per week...
		that's it.

Silence.

				 NOEL
		I checked. You were right.
		You've never taken a sick
		day.
			(beat)
		Five years, no sick days. I
		get it. You want a raise.
		You made your point.

The room is still. Beat.

				 NOEL
		All right fifty dollars and
		that's the god damn limit.
			(beat)
		Are we done here?

Beat. David nods, "Yes."

								  CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

LIGHTS OUT.

David is wide awake in his bed. He glances over. Jeremy is in deep sleep next to
him.

								  CUT TO:

INT. GUEST ROOM - NIGHT

David knocks again quietly. The guest bedroom door opens.

Megan looks up at David. She's just woken up.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Is Jeremy okay?

				 DAVID(low voice)
		He's asleep.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Oh.

Beat. They both stand awkwardly for a moment.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		I wanted to ask you a
		question. It'll sound
		strange, but just think
		about it for a second.

Megan nods, "Yes."

				 DAVID(low voice)
		When's the last time I was
		sick? You remember?

Megan tries to mask her reaction to the oddness of the question. Beat.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		I don't know. It's been a
		while.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		I haven't been sick this
		year. I know that.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Okay.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		Do you remember me getting
		sick?

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Not a specific day. What's
		this about?

				 DAVID (low voice)
		Megan, do you ever remember
		me getting sick?

Beat.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		In the three years we've
		been in this house?... In
		the old apartment?... Before
		Jeremy was born?... Before
		we were married?

Beat.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		...I can't remember.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		That's strange isn't it? Not
		remembering one fever... Or
		a cold... Or a sore throat.
		What do you think that
		means?

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		It means we're probably to
		tired to remember.

David becomes quiet as he thinks. Beat.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Is that what you wanted to
		ask me?

				 DAVID(low voice)
		Yes.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Is there anything else you
		wanted to ask me while I'm
		up?...

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		...When was the last time
		you wore pink? When was the
		last time you drank soup
		standing up? Final call for
		strange questions at two in
		the morning.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		No that's it.

David seems lost in his thoughts.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Maybe you should go up.
		Jeremy might see you're gone
		and get frightened.
			(beat)
		The train thing, really
		shook him up. He's scared
		something's going to happen
		to you. He doesn't want to
		let you out of his sight.

David stares at Megan. Beat.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		Yeah. I know.

There's silence for a bit.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		When was the last time I
		wore pink?

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		The Mitchell barbecue three
		years ago.

				 DAVID(realizing)
		Oh shit...

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Matching shirt and shorts.
		It was brutal.

David half-smiles as Megan turns and starts back into the guest room.

				 DAVID(low voice)
		Goodnight Megan.

Megan looks back at her husband. Just for a moment. Then she looks down.

				 MEGAN(low voice)
		Goodnight David.

Megan closes the door slowly shut.

								FADE TO BLACK:

INT. BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

WE EMERGE in a cramped sparse bedroom.

LEGEND "1974"

A thirteen year old Elijah sits in a chair with his arm in a sling. He watches a
small black and white television in the corner of the room.

WE HEAR FOOTSTEPS. Elijah's mother walks into the room. She looks around for a
moment, and then moves to the television. Turns it off.

The room GOES SILENT.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		No more sitting in this
		room. I've let it go on long
		enough.

				 ELIJAH
		I'm not going out anymore.
		I'm not getting hurt again.
		This was the last time. I
		told you.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		You can't do anything about
		that. You might fall between
		that chair and this
		television. If that's what
		God has planned for you,
		that's what's going to
		happen. You can't hide from
		it in your room.

Elijah just sits staring at the dark television screen.

				 ELIJAH
		They call me Mr. Glass at
		school. Cause I break like
		glass.

Elijah's face is tense. Unyielding. Beat.

Elijah's mother says the next words in almost a whisper.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		...You make this decision
		now to be afraid...
			(beat)
		And you'll never turn back
		your whole life. You'll
		always be afraid.

Elijah's eyes move from the television to his mother. He sees the emotion in her
face. Neither says anything for a while. Beat.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		...I got a present for you.

				 ELIJAH
		Why?

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		Forget why. Do you want it
		or not?

Elijah thinks it over. He nods, "Yes."

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		Well, go get it then.

				 ELIJAH
		Where is it?

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		On a bench, across the
		street.

Elijah looks at his mother with disbelief.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		You calling me a liar?

She points to the window. Beat. Elijah gets up and moves to the only window in
the room.

The view from his room looks out over a narrow street. On the other side of the
street is a public playground. A handful of children are playing on it.

There are three benches to one side of the swings. On one of them is a THIN
PACKAGE wrapped in brown paper with a bow on it.

Elijah looks to his mom who has joined him at the window.

				 ELIJAH
		Someone's gonna take it.

Beat.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		Then you better get out
		there soon.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. PLAYGROUND - AFTERNOON

Elijah walks across the playground. He's very wary of the other children running
about him.

He walks towards the bench with the present on it. Takes a seat. Puts the package
on his lap. It's flat. The edges of the bend down over his thin legs.

He undoes the white bow. He peels off the clear tape holding the brown paper
together. He unfolds the paper. Beat.

Elijah stares down at the single comic book in his lap.

He feels the shadow of his mother. She takes a seat next to him.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		I bought a whole bunch.
		They'll be one of these
		waiting for you, every time
		you want to come out here.

Beat.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		They said this one has a
		surprise ending.

Elijah looks to his mother. His intelligent piercing eyes take her in for a
moment.

He looks back down at his lap. He opens the first page...

						DISSOLVE TO:

INT. STORE - DAY

The same intelligent piercing eyes, twenty-five years older. Elijah has grown
into a handsome, regal looking man. He leans on a walking stick.

He's looking at an impressively framed charcoal sketch on a wall. Two figures are
depicted on the top of a building locked in fierce battle. One figure is
extremely muscular with a mask. The other is half human, half animal.

				 MAN
		This is from Fritz
		Champion's own library. This
		is before the first issue of
		the comic book hit the
		stands in 1968.

Elijah glances at the BUSINESS MAN standing next to him and then back to the
sketch.

				 ELIJAH
		It's a classic depiction of
		good versus evil. Notice the
		square jaw of Slayer -
		common in most comic book
		heroes. And the slightly
		disproportionate size of
		Jaguaro's body to his head.
		This again is common, but
		only in villains... The
		thing to notice about this
		piece... The thing that
		makes it very, very
		special... is its realistic
		depiction of its figures.
		When the characters
		eventually made it into the
		magazine they were
		exaggerated... as always
		happens.
			(beat)
		This is vintage.

The business man rubs his face. Gazes at the sketch. Beat.

				 BUSINESS MAN
		Wrap it up.

				 ELIJAH
		You've made a considerably
		wise decision.

Elijah starts to the back of the store which we now see is some type of art
gallery where all the framed pictures are images and sketches from comic books.

				 BUSINESS MAN
		My kid's gonna go berserk.

Elijah jams his walking stick into the extra thick carpet and stops. He turns.

				 ELIJAH
		Once again please?

				 BUSINESS MAN
		My son Jeb. It's a gift for
		him.

				 ELIJAH
		How old is Jeb?

				 BUSINESS MAN
		Four.

				 ELIJAH
		No.

Elijah starts back to the businessman shaking his head strongly.

				 ELIJAH
		No, no, no, no no... You
		need to go now.

				 BUSINESS MAN
		What did I say?

				 ELIJAH
		Do you see any Telletubbies
		around here?... Do you see
		a slender plastic tag
		clipped to my shirt with my
		name printed on it?... Do
		you see a little Asian child
		with a blank expression
		sitting outside in a
		mechanical helicopter that
		shakes when you put a
		quarter in it?... No?...
		Well that's what you see at
		a toy store? Any you must
		think this is a toy store,
		cause you're in here
		shopping for an infant named
		Jeb. One of us has made a
		gross error and wasted the
		other person's valuable
		time...

Elijah's eyes pierce through the shaken man.

				 ELIJAH
		This is an art gallery my
		friend. This is piece of
		art...

Elijah points at the sketch.

				 ELIJAH
		This is one of seventeen
		original drawings by Fritz
		Champion remaining in the
		world. It's value will
		triple every year... This
		piece is to be treasured. To
		be cherished... To be
		coveted by every single one
		of your banker friends that
		think they're better than
		you.

The business man stares at the sketch with large eyes. Beat.

				 BUSINESS MAN
		What if I kept it?

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		I'm listening.

				 BUSINESS MAN
		I'll keep it in my office
		room.

				 ELIJAH
		What about Jeb?

				 BUSINESS MAN
		I have a lock on the door.

Elijah just stares.

				 ELIJAH
		Will it be near a window?

				 BUSINESSMAN
		No direct sunlight will fall
		on it.

Elijah eyes the man for many seconds. Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		Come back in three days.
		I'll think about it.

Elijah starts to the back. He passes the front door as two customers walk in.
Elijah talks over his shoulder to them.

				 ELIJAH
		We're by appointment only.

				 MAN
		I received a card from your
		store.

				 ELIJAH
		Congratulations, you have a
		mailbox... The sale isn't
		for two weeks.

				 MAN
		This one was under the
		windshield of my car.

Elijah turns and faces the customers for the first time. David Dunne stands with
Jeremy.

Elijah just stands staring for the longest time. Beat. He walks closer to them.
When Elijah speaks, his voice has a whispery quality to it.

				 ELIJAH
		You've never been sick?

				 DAVID
		I don't know for sure.
			(beat)
		...I don't think so.

David and Elijah quietly look at each other. Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		Well if this ain't a riddle
		worthy of the Riddler?

								  CUT TO:

EXT. LIMITED EDITION - LATE AFTERNOON

Three chairs have been placed on the walkway in front of the bay window of the
store. The words, "Limited Edition" are etched in the window.

David, Jeremy and Elijah are seated watching the people stroll by. Elijah's cane
is on his lap.

Jeremy sips a drink in a paper cup.

				 ELIJAH
		So let's get some of the
		usual questions out of the
		way. Why am I using a cane?
		Raise your hand if you were
		thinking that.

Jeremy raises his hand.

				 ELIJAH
		I fractured my leg. It's the
		fifth time I've done that
		particular bone. It didn't
		really heal well this time.

				 ELIJAH
		Raise your hand is you're
		wondering who the hell
		breaks the same bone five
		times?

Jeremy and David raise their hands.

				 ELIJAH
		I have something called
		Osteogenesis Imperfecta.
		It's a genetic disorder. I
		don't make this particular
		type of protein very well
		and it makes my bones very
		low in density, very easy to
		break. I've had fifty-four
		breaks in my life. I have
		the tamest version of the
		disorder... Type one.
			(beat)
		There are type two, type
		three, and type four. Type
		four's don't make it very
		long...
			(beat)
		That ends our lecture on the
		medical anomaly known as
		Elijah Price.

Elijah stares at his two rapt listeners.

				 ELIJAH
		How certain are you that you
		haven't been sick in your
		life?

				 DAVID
		Seventy-five percent.

				 ELIJAH
		Seventy-five percent? That's
		not nearly good enough for
		me. I'm extremely skeptical.

				 DAVID
		Skeptical about what?

				 ELIJAH
		Your answer to my question.
		It's one thing to have never
		been injured in your life,
		but to state that you've
		never taken ill, well that's
		a whole new level.

				 JEREMY
		Dad's been injured.

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		What's he talking about?

				 DAVID
		In college. A car accident.

				 ELIJAH
		Was it serious?

David nods.

				 JEREMY
		He couldn't play football
		anymore.

Beat. Elijah looks shaken.

				 ELIJAH
		I assumed because of the
		train.

				 DAVID
		You assumed wrong.

Elijah closes his eyes. When his eyes open, the life force in them has
diminished. Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		It's over.
			(beat)
		You can go now.

Elijah uses his cane to get up and walk back through the doors of the store.

INT. LIMITED EDITION - LATE AFTERNOON

David and Jeremy enter the store. Elijah leans on a walking stick before one of
the framed sketches. He gazes at it quietly.

				 DAVID
		I think you skipped a couple
		steps.

Elijah turns.

				 DAVID
		You forgot the "Now I'm
		going to tell you what the
		hell is going on" step. See
		usually that comes before
		the, "It's over" Step. And
		it always, always comes
		before the "You can go"
		Step.
			(beat)
		What is over?

				 ELIJAH
		The life of an idea that has
		lived too long in my head.

David stares at Elijah impatiently.

				 ELIJAH
		There are probably only four
		or five individuals in the
		world who can claim more
		knowledge of comics than
		myself. I've spent a third
		of my life in a hospital bed
		with nothing else to do but
		read. I have studied the
		form intimately. I have seen
		the patterns in them... The
		references to social and
		cultural events and the
		atmosphere that surrounded
		them. I've come to believe
		that comics are our last
		link to the ancient way of
		passing on history.

				 ELIJAH
		The Egyptians drew pictures
		on walls about battles, and
		events. Countries all around
		the world still pass on
		knowledge through pictorial
		forms.
			(beat)
		I believe that comics, just
		at their core now... have a
		truth. They are depicting
		what someone, somewhere felt
		or experienced. Then of
		course that core got chewed
		up in the commercial machine
		and gets jazzed up, made
		titillating - cartooned for
		the sale rack.

Elijah gazes at David.

				 ELIJAH
		This city has had its share
		of disasters. Well
		publicized ones. It was
		around the time of that
		plane crash, when it first
		entered my head. And there
		it stayed, as I waited and
		watched the news over the
		years...
			(beat)
		And then one day I see a
		news report on a train
		accident and its sole
		survivor who was
		miraculously unharmed.
			(soft)
		And just like that, an idea
		blossoms into the flower of
		possible reality.

				 DAVID
		What was your idea Elijah?

Beat.

				 ELIJAH(soft)
		If there is someone like me
		in the world, and I'm at one
		end of the spectrum...
		Couldn't there be someone
		the opposite of me, at the
		other end?
			(beat)
		A person who can't be hurt
		like the rest of us. A kind
		of person they were talking
		about in those stories.

Elijah points at the framed comic sketches.

				 ELIJAH(soft)
		A person they believed was
		put here to protect the rest
		of us. Guard us.

				 JEREMY
		You thought my dad was a
		real-

				 DAVID
		Jeremy don't take another
		sip of that drink.

Jeremy looks down at the paper cup in his hands.

				 DAVID
		Throw it in the trashcan
		near the door and wait for
		me outside. Do it now
		please.

David waits for Jeremy to exit the store. Beat.

				 DAVID
		At the church... You were
		following me weren't you?

				 ELIJAH
		Technically no. I gambled
		that you would attend the
		church service. I just
		waited for you.

David glares at Elijah.

				 DAVID
		What's this about? This is
		obviously some scam. Is this
		where you tell me one of
		those pictures is like an
		investment?

				 ELIJAH
		You've misunderstood.

				 DAVID
		I see guys like you all the
		time in my work. You find
		someone you think is
		emotionally vulnerable and
		you tell them a fantastic
		story, utterly convincing...
		and somewhere in there, you
		slip it in... 'I just need
		your credit card number','I
		just need a small down
		payment.'

David shakes his head. He smiles out of frustration. Beat.

				 DAVID
		Did you know that this
		morning was the first
		morning I can remember, that
		I didn't open my eyes and
		feel that sadness... Do you
		know what I'm talking about?
		That little bit of sadness?
			(beat)
		I thought the person that
		wrote that note had an
		answer for me. For why I
		survived that train. For why
		my life feels so out of
		balance...
			(beat)
		But I guess that's what you
		were counting on.

Elijah stares carefully at David. Beat. David glances over to the entrance.
Jeremy watched through the window concerned.

				 DAVID
		I'm going to leave now.
			(beat)
		Good luck with your sale.

Elijah watches David walk towards the front door.

				 ELIJAH
		What type of job do you have
		David?

David opens the door. He looks back at Elijah.

				 ELIJAH
		You mentioned you've met
		'guys like me' in your work.
			(beat)
		What type of job would that
		be?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		I work at the stadium as a
		security guard.

Beat. David closes the door behind him. Elijah watches through the window as
Jeremy takes David's hand as they cross the street.

Elijah gazes out the window in a bit of a daze.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

ALL LIGHTS ARE OUT EXCEPT THE SMALL BEDSIDE LAMP ON DAVID'S SIDE.

David sits up in bed staring at a torn section of newspaper in his hands.

Jeremy is asleep horizontally with his legs over David's legs.

David doesn't blink as he gazes at the headline silently...

  "TRAIN CRASH DEATH TOLL CONFIRMED AT 131 DEAD. 1 SURVIVOR"

Beat. David slides out from under his son's legs. Jeremy stirs but doesn't wake
up.

David moves to the darkness of the corner of the room. He opens a closet door.

A NAKED HANGING BULB GOES ON as David yanks a chain. David steps inside the
narrow closet and closes the door slightly so the LIGHT FROM THE BULB DOESN'T
FALL ON JEREMY.

There's just enough room to stand and look around. David reaches up and pulls a
small travel bag out of the way. David stretches as he feels on the top shelf.

His hand comes down with something wrapped in a t-shirt. He unwraps it. It's a
handgun.

He stares at it for a beat before wrapping it back up and replacing it to the
highest shelf.

He stretches even more. Reaches farther back. WE HEAR SOMETHING SLIDE ON THE
SHELF AS HE PULLS IT FORWARD.

He pulls down a folder jammed with clippings. He opens the folder to reveal a
young David in football uniform holding his helmet in the air victoriously. The
word "Champion" is written over his head. David flips through the top clippings
- all are images and stories of David and football.

He turns the pile over. Goes to the last clipping. This piece of paper is folded
over three times, unlike the others. He opens it.

It's a newspaper headline. It reads...

"CAR ACCIDENT LEAVES TWO INJURED"

David puts the new headline next to the old one... They look like a set. Even the
font is similar.

David stares at the old headline. Stares hard at the photo of the bent and
heavily damaged car laying upside down in the middle of the highway... The bulb
seems to flicker. David is utterly still.

SOMEONE KNOCKS AT THE BEDROOM DOOR. David gets startled.

He puts back the clippings. Stuffing the new one inside with them. He replaces it
back to the top shelf and leaves the closet.

ANOTHER SOFT SET OF KNOCKS as David moves across the bedroom. He opens the door.

Megan stands in the darkened hall. Beat.

				 DAVID(whisper)
		Hi.

Megan nods. Beat.

				 MEGAN(whisper)
		I've come to a decision.

				 DAVID(whisper)
		Oh.

Beat.

				 MEGAN(whisper)
		Let me just ask you
		something okay? And you can
		be totally honest. I'm
		prepared for any answer. It
		won't affect me...

David nods, "yes."

				 MEGAN(whisper)
		Have you been with anyone?
		Since we started having
		problems? The answer won't
		affect me.

Beat. David stares at his wife.

				 MEGAN(whisper)
		It won't affect me either
		way.

Beat. David doesn't say anything. He just nods, "No."

Megan's face starts to tremble. She starts crying. Tears roll over her very
affected face. She tries to wipe them away, but there's too many. Beat.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		...My decision is... I'd
		like to start again. Pretend
		we're at the beginning.
			(beat)
		It's a big deal you walked
		away from that train. It's
		a second chance.
			(beat)
		If you want to ask me out
		sometime, that would be
		okay.

Megan nods and walks down the stairs as she wipes her face. David watches her
disappear into the shadows.

						DISSOLVE TO:

EXT.  VETERAN'S STADIUM - AFTERNOON

Sunday afternoon. The cavernous stadium opens up into a picture perfect blue sky.
The Philadelphia Eagles pro football players are in uniform and doing stretches
on the field. The opposing team warms up on the other end of the field.

The sixty thousand seats are already half filled as fans stream in on every level
of the stadium.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. ENTRANCE GATE 27B - AFTERNOON

A line of ticket holders snakes towards two turnstiles where stadium crew are
ripping tickets.

David Dunne stands to one side with two other security guards.

The fans moving through the turnstiles are clad in all types of Eagles
paraphernalia. A group of girls carries a homemade banner that David reads as he
tilts his head sideways. "We sleep with quarterbacks," is written in block
letters.

David stares at a woman carrying a newborn infant in her arms. The baby is
wearing an eagles uniform.

The WALKIE TALKIE on David's hip bursts to life. He pulls it off his hip an
listens.

				 WALKIE
		Dunne, it's Jenkins, we got
		a guy at gate 17C with a
		bogus ticket. Says he knows
		you. He won't tell me his
		name.

				 DAVID(into walkie)
		What's he look like?

				 WALKIE
		He's got the most beautiful
		eyes... The hell kind of
		question is that? He's a
		guy.

				 DAVID(into walkie)
		Send him packing. I'm not
		walking all the way over
		there.

				 WALKIE
		Consider him packed. I
		didn't like his attitude...
		Struttin around with a cane
		and shit.

Beat.

				 DAVID(into walkie)
		Hold up Jenkins...

								  CUT TO:

EXT. ENTRANCE GATE 17C - AFTERNOON

David finds Elijah waiting to the side as the crowds funnel through the gate.
Elijah offers his hand as he walks up. David doesn't take it.

				 ELIJAH
		They said I couldn't get in
		with my ticket.

Elijah offers him the ticket. David inspects it.

				 DAVID
		It's for last week's game.

				 ELIJAH
		I've come to understand
		that...
			(beat)
		An ill advised purchase in
		the parking lot.

David hands Elijah back the ticket.

				 DAVID
		What do you want?

				 ELIJAH
		Not money.
			(beat)
		But I appreciate your
		healthy cynicism in the
		manner. It will be wise for
		both of us to proceed with
		greatest caution.

				 DAVID
		We're not proceeding
		anywhere together.

				 ELIJAH
		We've already begun.

David looks around.

				 DAVID
		One more time. What is it
		you want?

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		Why is it, do you think,
		that of all the professions
		in the world... you chose
		protection?

				 DAVID
		Are you for real?

				 ELIJAH
		You could have poured coffee
		in Starbucks, you could have
		learned to install track
		lighting in office
		buildings, you could have
		told people their horoscopes
		on the internet... You could
		have been one of ten
		thousand things... but in
		the end, you chose to
		protect people. You made
		that decision... and I find
		that very, very interesting.
			(beat)
		Now all I need is your
		credit card number.

Beat. Elijah smiles.

				 ELIJAH
		That last part was a joke.

David fights it. But he smiles anyway. Beat.

				 DAVID
		I got this job because my
		college coach called the guy
		who manages the stadium.
		There's no hidden meaning to
		it.

David's walkie makes NOIES on his hip.

				 DAVID
		They need me at the gate.

David stares at Elijah leaning on his walking stick.

				 DAVID
		Did you really want to see
		the game? I can get you in.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. ENTRANCE GATE 27B - AFTERNOON

The line of fans outside the gate has tripled in size and intensity.

David and Elijah move along the line towards the turnstiles.

				 DAVID
		It gets heaviest ten minutes
		before kickoff.

David bumps a guy in line wearing an army jacket. David looks backs at him and
continues walking.

David moves to a security guard near the turnstiles.

				 DAVID
		Why don't we pat down?

David walks to his post near the gate and faces the crowd. Elijah moves next to
him.

				 DAVID
		Just give me a minute.

				 ELIJAH
		Is there a problem?

				 DAVID
		That guy in green. Sometimes
		people carry weapons in
		here. Then they drink too
		much. They're team isn't
		doing so well, bad things
		happen... We do random pat
		downs of the crowd to
		discourage people from
		carrying.
			(beat)
		If he's carrying, he'll step
		out of line.

Elijah observes as a security team pats down random males as they move through
the turnstiles.

The GREEN ARMY JACKETED MAN moves forward in the line. His face is blank as he
watches the pat down ahead of him. He's twenty people from the turnsstile.

David eyes him. Fifteen people away... Ten...

The man coughs and steps out of the line. Elijah watches the green army jacket
melt into the thick part of the crowd and disappear as it moves away from the
stadium.

								  CUT TO:

INT. STADIUM TUNNEL - AFTERNOON

AN UNLIT arched concrete passageway. The SUNLIGHT from the stadium streams in
causing long shadows.

Elijah stands waiting in the ground tunnel by himself.

THE THUNDEROUS CHEERS OF THE SIXTY THOUSAND FANS IN THE STADIUM ECHOES FROM THE
FIELD INTO THE TUNNEL.

David enters the tunnel and joins Elijah. He hands him a ticket.

				 DAVID
		I got you a seat in the
		seven hundred level.
			(points straight up)
		It's nose-bleed territory,
		but at least you won't get
		spit on.

				 ELIJAH
		How did you know that man
		you bumped was carrying a
		weapon?

				 DAVID
		Probably the army jacket.
		Those guys carry hunting
		knives and stuff for show.

				 ELIJAH
		You thought he was carrying
		a knife?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		I thought he was carrying
		something.

				 ELIJAH
		But not a knife?

				 DAVID
		I got this picture of a
		silver handled gun tucked in
		his pants.
			(beat)
		Like on t.v.

Elijah stares at David. THE STADIUM CHEERS BOUNCE OFF THE GRAY WALLS.

				 ELIJAH
		You have good instincts when
		it comes to things like
		that?

				 DAVID
		Like what?

				 ELIJAH
		Telling when people have
		done something wrong?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Yes.

				 ELIJAH
		Have you ever tried to
		develop it?

				 DAVID
		I don't know what you're
		asking?

				 ELIJAH
		You're skill.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Listen. I got to be on the
		sidelines during the game...
		You can get to your seat by
		taking the stairwell at-

				 ELIJAH
		Characters in comic books
		are often attributed special
		powers. X-ray vision, things
		of that sort.

David exhales slowly as he stares at Elijah.

				 DAVID
		Okay, I don't want to play
		this game anymore.

				 ELIJAH
		It's an exaggeration of the
		truth. Maybe it's based on
		something as simple as
		instinct. Like being able to
		touch someone and tell
		whether they've done
		something wrong... Or the
		level of what they've done
		wrong.

				 DAVID
		The guy might not have been
		carrying anything.

				 ELIJAH
		Or he might have been
		carrying a silver handled
		gun tucked in his pants.

David's WALKIE ERUPTS WITH NOISE.

				 DAVID
		I have to go now.

				 ELIJAH
		One last question.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Quick.

				 ELIJAH
		The car accident you were
		in... Was there anyone else
		involved?

The two men stand very still in the tunnel.

				 DAVID
		Yes. My wife Megan. She was
		in the car with me.

David turns and starts down the hall. David talks back over his shoulder.

				 DAVID
		Have a good life Elijah and
		try to buy your tickets at
		an authorized sales
		location.

Elijah watches as the silhouetted figure of David Dunne jogs down the darkness of
the tunnel.

								  CUT TO:

INT. CAR - LATE AFTERNOON

We are inside a customized car. The dashboard is covered in some sort of thin
foam padding. The steering wheel and gear shift have the same padding. Every
corner and hard surface has been safe guarded. Elijah sits behind the wheel of
his car in the parking lot of the stadium. He sits as thoughts crash at his head.
Beat.

He finally reaches for the keys and starts up the car. He looks into the rearview
mirror and sees the man in the GREEN ARMY JACKET pass behind his car.

Elijah quickly turns and sees the man moving through the parked cars heading out
of the parking lot.

Elijah takes a deep breath and turns off the engine.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. PARKING LOT - LATE AFTERNOON

Elijah's walking stick makes RHYTHMIC CLICKS on the concrete parking lot.

The figure in the army jacket seems to move farther away with every step.

Elijah starts breathing harder. He pushes himself to move faster. He avoids the
hard chrome bumpers and tailpipes that jut out from the cars as he quickens his
pace through the lot.

He gains on the army jacket.

				 ELIJAH(calls out)
		Hold up for a second!

The man in the army jacket turns as he reaches a subway entrance that marks the
end of the parking lot. He looks back at Elijah for a beat. Doesn't like what he
sees. He disappears into the subway entrance.

Elijah quickens into a jog now. He hasn't done this in a while and it's painful.
He makes it with great strain to the subway.

He looks into the entrance...

A steep flight of stairs leads to the subway floor. The tail of the army jacket
is glimpsed before it disappears.

Elijah breathes hard as he takes hold of the railing.

				 ELIJAH(calls out)
		I just want to ask you
		something!

Elijah's VOICE ECHOES down the stairs. No response.

Elijah starts his descent.

THE SOUND OF A SUBWAY PULLING IN ROARS UP THE STAIRS.

Elijah has to move fast. He takes the steps with less and less hesitation. He's
moving with great agility... and then his foot catches on a step.

His hand slips away from the railing...

He falls down the remaining part of the stairs. The FIRST SICKENING CRACK is
heard when his hand reaches out to stop his fall.

The SECOND CRACK IS MORE LIKE A CRUNCH AS HIS LEG LANDS AWKWARDLY ON THE METAL
STAIRS.

He comes to a stop in a pile on the dirty gum stained floor of the subway
landing. His jaw is locked in a HORRIFIC SCREAM THAT GETS EATEN BY THE ROAR OF
THE SUBWAY TRAIN PULLING IN.

His contorted anguished face sees the turnstiles of the subway upside down. The
green army jacketed man looks back at Elijah with a blank expression pushing
through the turnstile.

The last thing Elijah sees before he blacks out, is the tail of the man's coat
riding up as he move through the turnstile. The SILVER HANDLE OF A GUN peeks out
from the belt of his pants.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. BUS STOP - DUSK

David's neighborhood turns crimson as the day comes to an end. The Septa bus
pulls to a stop in front of a public high school. David steps off, still in his
security clothes. The bus pulls away as he hears his SON'S VOICE.

David turns to the high school football field behind him. A group of children are
having a touch football game. Jeremy runs out from the huddle across the field to
David.

				 JEREMY
		Was it sold out?

David nods, "No."

				 DAVID
		You know how mad your mom
		would be if she knew you
		were playing football?

Jeremy nods.

				 JEREMY
		Are you going to tell?

David nods, "No."

				 JEREMY
		You want yo play the last
		downs? We got a big guy like
		you. You can play on
		opposite sides.

David looks to the fields to see a very muscular college age man in sweats who
stands with the other children.

				 JEREMY
		He's Potter's cousin. He's
		the starting corner back for
		Temple University.

David stares at his son.

				 JEREMY
		He going pro in the draft.
		They say he can run the
		fifty-

				 DAVID
		In under six seconds.
			(beat)
		I've heard.

David watches the cornerback being surrounded by kids. He's letting a couple of
the kids feel his flexed bicep.

				 DAVID
		I'm going to go in.

				 JEREMY
		Just play one set of downs.
		I told them you were great.

				 DAVID
		Why'd you do that?

				 JEREMY
		Just one-

				 DAVID
		Jeremy.
			(beat)
		I'm going in. I have to do
		some things.

				 JEREMY
		What things?

				 DAVID
		I'm going to work out.

				 JEREMY
		I'll help you.

				 DAVID
		There's nothing to do.

Jeremy turns back to the children and waves.

				 JEREMY(yells)
		I can't play! I'm working
		out with my dad!

Jeremy turns back to his father and takes his hand. David looks down at his son
who waits patiently.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BASEMENT - EARLY EVENING

The basement is dominated by storage boxes and Christmas decorations. An old
bench press and weights are in a cluttered corner.

David sits and turns at the end of the bench as Jeremy laboriously carries and
places fifteen a pound weight on the bar. David talks over his shoulder.

				 DAVID
		Why don't you rest now? I'll
		take it from here. You've
		been a big help.

Jeremy goes to the opposite side of the bar and starts to put on another weight.

				 JEREMY
		You think you could beat up
		Mike Tyson? I mean before he
		started wiggin out and
		eating people's ears?

				 DAVID
		No.

				 JEREMY
		What if you worked out
		everyday for six months? You
		think you could beat him
		then?

				 DAVID
		No.

				 JEREMY
		What if you only ate foods
		that were good for you and
		you worked out everyday for
		a year?

Jeremy is breathing hard as he puts the safety collars on the barbell and comes
around to David's end of the bench. David lays back.

				 DAVID
		No.

David takes hold of the barbell. Beat. He takes a deep breath.

The weight comes off the armrests of the bench. David lowers it to his chest and
pushes it back up. He does just one more rep with serious strain. He puts the
weight back on the armrest and sits up.

				 DAVID
		How much did you put on
		there?

David twists around and looks back at the barbell. He counts up the black metal
circles. He turns back to Jeremy.

				 DAVID
		You put too much. That's two
		hundred and fifty pounds.

				 JEREMY
		How much can you lift?

David looks back at the weights.

				 DAVID
		That's the most I've ever
		lifted.
			(beat)
		That could have been
		dangerous Jeremy. Why don't
		you go upstairs and let me
		finish up?

Jeremy starts back to the barbell.

				 JEREMY
		I'll take it off. I'll help
		you right.

He slips off the safety collar.

				 JEREMY
		You think you could have
		beaten up Bruce Lee?

David hears the SOUND OF THE WEIGHTS SLIDING OFF THE BAR BEHIND HIM.

				 DAVID
		No.

				 JEREMY
		I mean if you knew karate?

				 DAVID
		No Jeremy.

				 JEREMY
		What if he wasn't aloud to
		kick and you were really mad
		at him?

Jeremy is breathing hard again as he finishes with the weights and comes around
to David.

David lays back.

				 DAVID
		No.

David takes hold of the bar. Lifts it off the armrest. Brings it down. His arms
are straining hard again. He raises it and lowers it two time; it takes a sizable
effort. The weights bang down onto the armrest.

David sits up.

				 DAVID
		How much did you take off?

				 JEREMY
		I lied.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		You added?

Jeremy nods, "Yes" slowly.

David turns completely around and looks at the barbell. He counts the black discs
on the steel bar. Beat.

Nobody says anything for a long time.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		How much is it?

				 DAVID(soft)
		Two hundred and seventy.

David just stares at the black steel circles on the metal bar. Jeremy comes and
sits on the bench next to his father. They both stare at the weight. Beat.

				 JEREMY(dead serious)
		Let's put more.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Okay.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BASEMENT - EARLY EVENING

David's fingers wrap around the cold metal of the bar. He leans his head forward
and looks to Jeremy.

				 DAVID
		Why don't you move back a
		bit? Just to be safe.

Jeremy moves back to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the house. He waits.

Another deep breath as David heaves. The weight CLINKS as it comes off the arm
rest. David is full out straining now as he lowers and raises it. His arms begin
to tremble as he lifts it for the second time. BANG the weight lands back safely
onto the rest.

David sits up. He looks at his son whose eyes are wide. Beat.

				 JEREMY
		More?

Beat. David nods, "Yes."

								  CUT TO:

INT. BASEMENT - EARLY EVENING

An enormous amount of black discs sits on the bar. David's hands are gripping the
metal.

He talks to Jeremy who stands in his position at the bottom of the stairs without
looking at him.

				 DAVID
		You should never try
		anything like this. You know
		that right?

Jeremy nods, "Yes."

				 DAVID
		What do you do if something
		happens?

				 JEREMY(soft)
		Get mom.

David nods, "yes" before starting his deep breathing. He takes one last breath.
CLINK the weights comes off the rest. His arms are trembling immediately now. His
face is locked in a grimace as he brings the bar down to his chest and back up
again two times before dropping it onto the armrest.

He slowly sits up.

				 DAVID
		How many did you put on that
		time?

				 JEREMY(soft)
		All of it.

				 DAVID
		There's no more left?

Jeremy nods, "no" in a slight daze. Beat. David looks around his basement.

				 DAVID
		What else can we use?

								  CUT TO:

INT. BASEMENT - EARLY EVENING

A set of two unopened MAB satin finish paint cans are dangling by their metal
handles on the outside of each side of the weights.

The fours cans sway a little as the bar is heaved off of David's chest. His arms
are shaking hard. He raises the weight to it's apex and brings it down again. It
touches his chest and rises up again. David's red strained face exhales
powerfully as he straightens his arms.

The bar lands on the armrest with A CRASH. The paint cans make METAL SQUEAKS as
they swing to stillness, one at a time. Beat.

David sits up and turns back to the weights. His mouth moves as he calculates the
discs and the cans.

His lips stop moving. Beat.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		How much is it?

David doesn't react.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		How much is it dad?

It takes a second for David to register the question. He looks to his son. Beat.

				 DAVID(soft)
		About three hundred and
		forty.

David turns and looks at his son. Jeremy's mouth is slightly open. He gazes at
his dad. Awe in his tiny eyes.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - EVENING

David sits on the edge of the bathroom tub. He's just showered and wearing jeans
and a t-shirt. He sits still with his elbows resting on his knees, staring at the
white tiles of the floor.

THE PHONE RINGS.

David gets up and walks out of the bathroom. He picks up the phone and stands in
the bathroom doorway.

				 DAVID
		Yeah, hello.

				 WOMAN(on phone)
		Is David Dunne there?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Megan?

				 MEGAN(on phone)
		Yes. Is this David?

				 DAVID
		Yeah? Megan where are you
		calling from?

				 MEGAN(on phone)
		My name is Megan Inverso. We
		went to college together.

David looks at the phone. The lights for line ONE and line TWO are glowing RED.
David squints his eyes as he pieces together the situation. Beat.

He moves back into the bathroom. The cord stretches as he takes his seat on the
edge of the bathtub.

				 DAVID
		I remember you.

				 MEGAN(on phone)
		I was hoping you would call
		me, but... Anyway I decided
		not to wait.
			(beat)
		I was thinking, it might be
		nice to go to dinner
		together.

Beat.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		...Hello?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Yeah it might be nice.

We hear A SOUND ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE. A SOUND MUCH LIKE AN EXHALE.

								  CUT TO:

INT. CHINESE RESTAURANT - LATE EVENING

The local Chinese restaurant. Red and gold plastic dragons hang from the ceiling.
A couple late-nighters are at the bar. Megan and David are two of a handful of
people left dining in the restaurant. They're a little dressed up. Megan looks
kind of stunning.

				 DAVID
		...When you work with
		clients on machines, do they
		sometimes just jump up a
		level or two? Do something
		they didn't know they were
		capable of?

				 MEGAN
		Not often, but it is
		possible. Most people get
		scared when they see the
		shadow of their limits. They
		don't know how long the
		shadow really is. They don't
		know how far away the real
		limits are standing... They
		stop out of fear.

David nods as he takes it in. Beat. He looks down at his plate and twirls his lo
mein onto a fork. Megan watches him.

				 MEGAN
		This is kind of strange
		isn't it?

David nods, "yes" before taking the bite.

				 MEGAN
		We're not even acting like
		ourselves.

David touches his mouth with his napkin.

				 MEGAN
		Like that. Your mouth's
		dirty. You tapped your
		napkin to your lips. You
		only do that when you're
		with someone you don't know.

David looks down at his napkin.

				 DAVID
		What do I do when I'm around
		someone I know?

				 MEGAN
		You use your sleeve.

They both smile at each other. Beat.

				 WOMAN(o.s.)
		Megan?

David and Megan look over to the only other table of late night diners as they
get up from their table. A woman about Megan's age walks over to her.

				 WOMAN
		I thought it was you.

				 MEGAN
		Hi.
			 (to David)
		This is Claire. Her son is
		in Jeremy's class. Claire
		and I worked on the school
		food drive together.

				 DAVID
		Hello.

CLAIRE smiles as she stares at David. She turns to Megan.

				 CLAIRE(mouths)
		He's cute.

Claire turns back to David.

				 CLAIRE
		I'm very happy about this.
		Megan mentioned to me she
		was considering dating
		again.

Megan becomes still.

				 CLAIRE(to David)
		I'm sorry, what's your name?

Beat. David doesn't look up.

				 DAVID
		David.

				 CLAIRE
		David?

				 MEGAN
		This is my husband.

Beat. All three people become frozen in silence.

Claire looks to Megan.

				 CLAIRE(soft)
		I am so sorry.

Megan nods.

Claire quietly walks away form the table and joins her group as they leave the
restaurant. Beat.

Megan and David are the last one's left. They sit silently in their booth. Megan
looks at David's face. He's shaken.

He slowly takes a sip of water and then taps his mouth with napkin.

								  CUT TO:

INT. FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

It's late. NO LIGHTS ARE ON EXCEPT THE ONE IN THE HALL. The babysitter has black
dyes hair and Buddy Holly glasses. David waits as she puts on her jacket.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		He ate about six of those
		chocolate covered doughnut
		holes with his milk. He said
		he only had three, but I
		know he had six.

				 DAVID
		Okay.

David is not paying attention to the girl. He watches as his wife takes off her
coat and heads to the guest room. She turns before entering the room. David and
his wife make eye contact.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		Goodnight.

David nods. Megan goes into her room. The guest door closes softly.

David finds the babysitter looking at him with an odd expression.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		My parents sleep in separate
		beds.

David reaches into his wallet and hands the girl money.

				 DAVID
		Thank you.

David opens the front door for her.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		By the way, Jeremy went to
		sleep in his room tonight.

				 DAVID
		His room?

The baby sitter nods with a smile as she walks out the front door.

								  CUT TO:

INT. JEREMY'S BEDROOM

David walks into the darkened child's bedroom. The lump on the bed turns when he
hears movement. He smiles when he sees David.

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		I'm sleeping in my room.

				 DAVID(soft)
		I see.

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		I'm not scared.

				 DAVID(soft)
		That's great.

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		Do you know why?

David nods, "No."

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		I know now.

				 DAVID(soft)
		Know what?

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		You're secret identity.
			(beat)
		That man was right.

Beat. David just stares at his son. Jeremy's eyes start to close.

				 DAVID
		Jeremy.

Jeremy opens his eyes.

				 DAVID(soft)
		There are big guys in almost
		every gym who can lift that
		much.

Beat. Jeremy's eyes start to shut.

				 JEREMY(whispered)
		You could have lifted more.
			 (his eyes close)
		...Don't worry, I won't tell
		anyone.

Jeremy Dunne falls asleep. David Dunne stands in the darkness of his son's room.
Posters of comic book heroes don the walls around him.

								  CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT

Elijah's cheek rests against two pristine white pillows. He looks exhausted. His
eyes are fixed on some abstract point in the room. WE HEAR SOUNDS OF A HOSPITAL.

The torso of a PHYSICIAN can be seen on the other side of the bed. We hear him
speak but never see his face.

				 PHYSICIAN(o.s.)
		...fracture of the proximal
		phalanx of the little finger
		as well as multiple
		fractures of the sixth,
		seventh, and eighth ribs.
		The worst of the injury,
		however, was sustained to
		the left leg in the form of
		a spiral fracture. There
		were fourteen breaks. It
		simply shattered...

				 ELIJAH
		They call me Mr. Glass.

Beat.

				 PHYSICIAN(o.s.)
		Who does?

				 ELIJAH
		Kids.

Elijah just keeps staring.

				 PHYSICIAN(o.s.)
		Shall I continue?

Beat. Elijah's head nods the slightest bit up and down.

				 PHYSICIAN(o.s.)
		Pins were placed throughout
		the length of the leg. The
		use of a wheelchair will be
		needed for a two month
		period. The use of crutches
		will follow for twelve to
		fourteen months. Hospital
		stay will range from five to
		eight days followed by nine
		to twelve months of physical
		therapy. Prescribed
		medication for pain
		management will take the
		usual forms of...

The PHYSICIAN'S WORDS FADE AWAY as Elijah continues to gaze at an abstract point
in the room.

								FADE TO BLACK:

INT. PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER - LATE MORNING

WE EMERGE FROM DARKNESS TO FIND OURSELVES IN THE PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER.

A CO-WORKER finds Megan working with an elderly gentleman who's laboring on a
stationary bike.

				 JANIS
		Your ten o'clock is here.
		The hospital discharged him
		this morning.

				 MEGAN
		Thanks.

The co-worker takes Megan's position by the elderly man.

Megan crosses the physical therapy center. A man in a wheel chair waits by her
office. She walks up to him with a smile.

				 MEGAN
		Elijah right?

Elijah's leg is immobilized by a metal brace and held straight. Under his shirt
we see the wrappings around his ribs. His left pinky is in a splint. He smiles
and nods, "yes" to Megan.

								  CUT TO:

INT. STADIUM LOCKER ROOM - LATE MORNING

David Dunne stands in security uniform by a set of double doors that leads into
the players locker room.

Three walls of the locker room are lined with shiny lockers. One side of the room
has benches and massage tables. The far end of the room has work out equipment.

About twenty players and trainers are scattered throughout the spacious room lost
in their own pre-game rituals.

David watches as a massive muscular player takes a seat on the massage table and
removes his dress shirt. His body is covered in old bruises. He lays down,
wincing a bit from the pain. A trainer begins to massage him.

David just stares at the battered athlete. His gaze moves across the room. Beat.

David stares at something in the crowded room then he starts towards it.

He moves through the room of players and trainers. He moves to the one area of
the large room not occupied by anyone.

David comes to a step at the foot of an Olympic bench press. Racks and racks of
free weights sit behind the press.

David looks down at the thick silver bar. Three large black plates are on either
side. Six in all.

David looks back and glances at the double doors where he should be standing.
Beat. He looks to the twenty or so players and trainers in the room. Some of the
players have headphones on. Some are staring into space. A couple are on cell
phones...

No one notices David Dunne as he reaches for a forty-five pound black plate off
the weight rack.

The huge disc slides onto the bar with almost NO SOUND...

A matching forty-five pound disc goes on the other side...

And then David adds another. He matches it on the other side...

THE BENCH CREAKS just the slightest bit as David takes a seat.

No one notices the security guard lay back on the bench.

David's hands take hold of the shiny bar.

He closes his eyes...

David's arms become tense. He pushes against the weight. It doesn't move.

His face turns deep red. He opens his eyes and stares at the bar as he keeps
training. His face and arms are shaking... He keeps staring... focusing.

And then, without any fanfare, the bar lifts off the arm rest.

The weight hovers over David. He lowers it to his chest for a second time. His
arms aren't shaking anymore. He pushes the weights back up.

He carefully brings the bar back to the arm rest. It touches down with the
smallest of CLINKS.

David's fingers uncurl from the bar.

David lets out two slow soft breaths as he counts the thick black discs.

				 DAVID(whispers)
		Four ten... four
		forty-five...
			(beat)
		Five hundred.

Beat. David sits up in a daze.

He finds the entire room of athletes and trainers staring at him. Some of the
players have stood up. Everyone stares as David Dunne with the same quiet
disbelief in their eyes.

								  CUT TO:

INT. PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER - AFTERNOON

Megan and Elijah are in the far corner of the room. They're separated from the
other clients. Megan is seated on an exercise machine. Elijah is in his wheel
chair facing her.

				 MEGAN
		We're going to prevent any
		substantial atrophy of your
		good leg with this.
			(She taps the machine)
		It works the quadriceps.

				 ELIJAH
		How long have you been
		married?

Megan is taken off guard by the question. She stares at Elijah. Beat.

				 MEGAN
		Twelve years.

				 ELIJAH
		How did you get together?

Elijah smiles warmly. Megan smiles softly back.

				 MEGAN
		A car accident.

Elijah smiles even bigger.

				 ELIJAH
		Now you're going to have to
		tell me more.

				 MEGAN
		...See my husband was a big
		football star in college and
		we were in an accident
		together. Our car flipped on
		an icy road. We were both
		injured. He couldn't play
		football anymore.
			(beat)
		If that hadn't happened, we
		wouldn't have been together.

				 ELIJAH
		How so?

				 MEGAN
		Football wasn't the kind of
		life I wanted... For ten
		years I'd be by the phone
		waiting for a call telling
		me he broke his neck in a
		practice game. And if it
		wasn't that call, it would
		be a call telling me he blew
		out his knee or suffered his
		third concussion. I've seen
		way too much of it in my
		job... I can barely take it
		when my clients are in pain.
			(beat)
		I don't hate the game. I
		admire the amount of skill
		it involved and, like
		everyone else, I was in awe
		of how he could play it, but
		I couldn't give him my heart
		and then have something
		happen to him. And it always
		does with that game.
			(beat)
		It's not a thing many people
		would understand.

				 ELIJAH
		You and my mother would have
		a special connection.

				 MEGAN
		Any way, fate stepped in and
		took football out of the
		equation.

				 ELIJAH
		...And everyone lived
		happily ever after.

Beat.

				 MEGAN
		Sort of.

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		What part of David's body
		was injured?

Beat. Megan's eyes become utterly still.

				 MEGAN
		Who said my husband's name
		is David?

								  CUT TO:

INT. STADIUM - AFTERNOON

Eleven football players in white and green battle eleven football players in blue
and gray on the field. A sold out stadium watches the event.

David stands at the lip of a tunnel that opens out onto the upper section of the
second level. Waves of people move from their seats through the tunnel to the
bathrooms and concession stands and back again.

David stares to the side away from the movement, his shoulder leaned up against
the wall. He looks over at the constant movement of spectators through the
tunnel.

Beat. His shoulder leaves the wall. He STEPS OUT into the stream of people.
Shoulders and arms bump into him and brush by him as they move.

David's eyes are looking down - his expression still - like he's listening.

He continues into the dead center of the tunnel. He's in the heaviest part of the
movement now. Fans continue to brush against him as they pass.

And then it happens... A stocky woman bumps into him.

FLASH CUT: AN IMAGE OF THE STOCKY WOMAN IN A BATHROBE STANDING IN A KITCHEN.
SHE'S HOLDING THE SHOULDER OF A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY STANDING NEXT TO HER. HE'S
CRYING UNCONTROLLABLY.

THEY BOTH ARE LOOKING DOWN AT THE KITCHEN TABLE WHERE THREE THINGS ARE LAID
OUT... A BELT, A HANGER, AND AN EXTENSION CORD.

				 STOCKY WOMAN
		Choose.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

We're back with David in the crowd. He turns and watches the stocky woman walk
down the tunnel. She's holding the wrist of her five year old son. She yanks it
quickly and violently to keep the boy close at her side. She and the boy dissolve
into the crowd.

								  CUT TO:

INT. PHYSICAL THERAPY CENTER - AFTERNOON

Elijah and Megan sit very still.

				 ELIJAH
		There have been three major
		disasters in this city over
		the last four years. I've
		followed each one of them...
		A Seven-three-seven crashes
		on take off. One hundred and
		seventy-two die. No
		survivors... A hotel fire
		downtown. Two hundred and
		eleven die. No survivors...
		And am Amtrak train derails
		seven and half miles outside
		of the city. One hundred and
		thirty one die. One
		survivor. He is unharmed.
			(beat)
		I've spoken with your
		husband about his survival.
		I suggested a rather
		unbelievable explanation.
		Since then, I've come to
		believe, that my
		explanation, however
		unbelievable, is in fact,
		true.

				 MEGAN
		And what was that
		explanation?

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		It's a mediocre time Mrs.
		Dunne. People are starting
		to lose hope. It's hard for
		many to believe that
		extraordinary things live
		inside themselves as well as
		others... I hope you can
		keep an open mind?

Beat.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		Is this a religious thing?

				 ELIJAH
		I own a comic book museum.
		It's called the Limited
		Edition.

				 MEGAN(smiles)
		For a second there I thought
		you were a fanatic.

				 ELIJAH
		I believe comic books are
		based loosely on reality -
		I believe there are real
		life equivalents of the
		heroes in those books that
		walk the earth - I believe
		your husband is one of those
		individuals.

Beat. Megan becomes utterly still.

				 ELIJAH
		I'm glad you brought up fate
		Mrs. Dunne. I'm becoming a
		strong believer in it...
		See, David refuses to speak
		with me any longer... And
		when I saw your name on my
		insurance list of approved
		physical therapists... It
		was like fate had
		intervened...
			(beat)
		We were meant to speak to
		each other.

								  CUT TO:

INT. STADIUM - AFTERNOON

David lets the waves of people move by him in the tunnel.

A MAN WITH GRAY EYES and wearing a dark blue sweat shirt carries a cardboard tray
of nachos and drinks. He brushes David's arm as he passes.

FLASH CUT: THE IMAGE OF THE GREY EYED MAN WEARING A BLOOD SPLATTERED T-SHIRT IN
A MEN'S BATHROOM. HE'S VIOLENTLY KICKING ANOTHER MAN CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR OF A
TOILET STALL.

HE STOPS KICKING. HE GLARES DOWN WITH POWERFUL GRAY EYES.

				 SWEAT SHIRT MAN(whispers)
		This is my house, bitch.
		These are my customers.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

The gray eyes man in the blue sweat shirt pauses with nachos in hand at the top
of the stairs to locate his seats. Beat.

David walks the five feet between them and taps him on the shoulder. People
continue to stream by as the man turns to face David. The man's GRAY EYES go from
David's face to the security emblem on his shirt. The man's face becomes still.

				 GRAY EYED MAN
		Yeah?

David stares hard at the man in front of him.

				 DAVID
		We've had some problems with
		drug selling in this
		stadium.
			(beat)
		Would you mind if I checked
		the pockets of your
		sweatshirt?

The gray eyed man stands eerily still with his nachos and drinks. The two men
just stare at each other, evaluating the situation. People move in both
directions around them, unaware.

The gray eyes man holds his tray of food to the side and raises his arms slowly.

David steps forward and reaches into his pockets. Beat. David pulls his hands out
from the pockets. They're empty.

The gray eyes man brings his arms down. Beat.

The walkie on David's hip COMES TO LIFE. David reaches down and pulls it off his
belt without removing his eyes from the man in front of him. David brings the
walkie to his mouth.

				 DAVID(into walkie)
		Yeah?

				 WALKIE(o.s.)
		There's a message for you at
		the office. Your kid was
		hurt.

David's face changes.

				 DAVID(into walkie)
		When?

				 WALKIE(o.s.)
		Just now. They want you to
		come down to his school.

David lowers the walkie from his face. The gray eyed man has a slight smile on.
Beat.

				 GRAY EYED MAN
		Why don't you go take care
		of your business?

The gray eyed man takes a bite of a nacho as he stares at David.

				 GRAY EYED MAN
		And dude, no one carries
		their merchandise on them
		any more. They got
		messengers for that shit
		now.
			(beat)
		That's what they tell me.

The gray eyed man in the blue sweat shirt turns and starts down the stairs to his
seat. He raises his fist in the air as someone scores a touchdown on the field.

								  CUT TO:

INT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NURSE'S RECEPTION AREA - AFTERNOON

Jeremy is seated in a chair with abrasions and cuts on his face. He sits next to
a smaller boy with a thermometer in his mouth.

They're both looking at the glass window of the nurse's private office. There are
tow people inside talking. David and A WHITE HAIRED NURSE.

The THERMOMETER BOY pulls the thermometer out of his mouth.

				 THERMOMETER BOY
		Is that your dad?

Jeremy nods "Yes."

				 THERMOMETER BOY
		I bet my dad can beat up you
		dad.

Jeremy turns to the thermometer boy.

				 JEREMY
		I don't think so.

								  CUT TO:

INT. NURSE'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON

				 NURSE
		...No, he insisted we only
		call you.
			(beat)
		Though it took us a while to
		track down your number. It's
		not on file here.

				 DAVID
		Megan handles that type of
		stuff.

				 NURSE
		What stuff is that?

				 DAVID
		Jeremy's stuff.

David feels uncomfortable as the nurse just stares at him. Beat. David rises from
his seat.

				 DAVID
		So do I need to put any
		smelly ointments on him or
		anything?

The white haired nurse nods, "no."

				 NURSE
		It's more emotional damage.
		It wasn't very serious
		physically.

David nods.

				 NURSE
		Nothing like when I sent you
		to the hospital.

David stares at the white haired nurse.

				 DAVID
		What was that?

				 NURSE
		My office was on the other
		side of the building back
		then.
			(beat)
		You don't remember me do
		you?

David nods, "no."

				 NURSE
		I had red hair.

David stares at the woman. He doesn't recognize her.

				 NURSE
		I think you were a little
		younger than Jeremy when it
		happened.
			(beat)
		Did you know we changed the
		conduct rules of the pool
		because of you?

David nods, "no" slowly.

				 NURSE
		The kids still talk about it
		like some ghost story..."Did
		you know there was a kid
		that almost drowned in the
		pool? He got pneumonia and
		almost died."

The nurse shakes her head.

				 NURSE
		We let them tell it... It
		helps keep them safe.

Beat.

				 NURSE
		Are you still phobic of
		water?

David seems lost in his thoughts. He looks up at the nurse.

				 DAVID
		Yes I am.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. BUS STOP - AFTERNOON

David and Jeremy are seated on a bench at a Septa bus stop. No one else is
waiting with them.

Jeremy talks without making eye contact with his dad.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		It was Potter and another
		guy I play football with.
		They were messing with this
		Chinese girl. She's kind of
		fat. She doesn't talk to
		anybody.
			(beat)
		I tried to make them stop.
		They kept pushing me down
		and wouldn't let me get up.

Beat. Jeremy's VOICE STARTS TO TREMBLE SOFTLY.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		I thought maybe cause you
		were my dad, I thought I
		might be like you.

Jeremy finally looks up. Tears in his eyes.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		I'm not like you.

David moves closer to Jeremy on the bench.

				 DAVID
		You are like me. We both can
		get hurt. I'm just an
		ordinary man.
			(beat)
		I'm not what you think I am.

Jeremy just stares at his father. Beat.

				 JEREMY
		Why do you keep saying that?

								  CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - EVENING

David stares at his bowl of pasta. He sits alone in the kitchen. Beat.

He gets up, slides the pasta in the trash and moves to the sink.

David is rinsing out the bowl when Megan walks in. David turns off the water.

				 MEGAN
		He's just laying in bed.
		He's pretty upset. He won't
		talk.

				 DAVID
		He's dealing with a lot of
		things.
			(beat)
		I think he needs to find
		answers himself.

Beat.

				 MEGAN
		It's weird to hear you tell
		me about Jeremy.
			(beat)
		A good weird.

David looks at Megan. They stand silently in an awkward pause. Beat.

				 DAVID
		Would you like to try going-

				 MEGAN
		Yes.

				 DAVID
		-out again.

Beat. David smiles.

				 DAVID
		But if we see another mother
		from Jeremy's school, me
		name is Juan. I always
		wanted to be a Juan.

Megan smiles softly back. Beat.

				 MEGAN
		Oh. Elijah Price came to
		visit me at the center
		today.

				 DAVID
		Jesus.

Megan sees David's shocked expression.

				 MEGAN
		He didn't do anything. He
		just told me his theory...
		It's sad when patients get
		like that. They loose
		reality.

				 DAVID(whisper)
		Jeremy what the hell are you
		doing?

Megan suddenly realizes David is looking over her shoulder.

Megan turns around. She SCREAMS.

Jeremy is standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He's crying hard. In his
outstretched hands is the HAND GUN FROM DAVID'S CLOSET. It's pointed directly at
David.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		You don't believe. I'll show
		you... You can't get hurt.

				 MEGAN(realizing)
		-Oh my God.

				 DAVID
		-Jeremy did you load that
		gun?

Jeremy nods, "Yes." Crying harder now.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		-You won't get hurt...

				 DAVID
		-Elijah was wrong.

				 MEGAN
		-Sometimes when people are
		sick or hurt for a long
		time, like Elijah, they're
		mind gets hurt too.

David shoots a tense glance at Megan.

				 MEGAN
		-They start to think things
		that aren't true. He hold me
		what he thought about your
		father. It isn't true.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		-I'll show you.

David starts moving a little to his right. Jeremy follows him with the barrel of
the handgun. David stops moving.

				 DAVID
		-You know the story about
		the kid who almost drowned
		in the pool?

Jeremy stops moving.

				 DAVID
		-That was me they were
		talking about. I almost
		died. That was me.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		-You're lying.

				 DAVID
		-I'm not. I just didn't
		connect it.

				 MEGAN
		-Jeremy, your father was
		injured in college - you
		know that. You know all
		about that.

Jeremy's small face tenses. Confusion mixes with the desperation on his face.

				 MEGAN
		-Don't do it. He'll die
		Jeremy.

Beat. Jeremy looks up, tears streaming down his cheeks.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		-I'll just shoot him once.

				 DAVID
		-Jeremy listen to what-

Jeremy starts pressing the trigger. The hammer clicks back.

				 JEREMY
		-Don't be scared.

				 DAVID
		-Jeremy if you pull that
		trigger I'm going to leave!
		I'm going to go to New York.

Jeremy freezes. David flashes a desperate glance at Megan then back to Jeremy.

				 DAVID
		You're right... If you shoot
		me, that bullet is going to
		bounce off me and I won't
		get hurt... but then I'm
		going to go upstairs and
		pack. And then leave to New
		York.

Beat.

				 JEREMY(crying)
		-Why?

Jeremy's hands are trembling. He starts to close his eyes as he raises the gun
level with David's chest.

				 DAVID(loud)
		Jeremy!

Jeremy's eyes open.

				 DAVID(loud)
		You're about to get into big
		trouble! I'm your father and
		I'm telling you to put that
		gun down right now God damn
		it!
			(beat)
		One!...
			(beat)
		Two!...

Jeremy puts the gun down on the floor in front of him and stands up.

Megan leans against the refrigerator and slides down to a sitting position on the
tiled floor.

David walks over and picks up the gun. He unloads the bullets in his hand. David
bends down very slowly and takes a seat on the kitchen floor.

Jeremy is the last to sit down. He takes a seat in the doorway of the kitchen.
Beat. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. Beat.

				 JEREMY(soft)
		...You didn't have to yell.

The Dunne family sits in silence on the floor of their kitchen.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. LIMITED EDITION - AFTERNOON

People move up and down the streets outside the storefronts. David is one of
them. He waits to cross the street. He sees movement inside the Limited Edition
window.

								  CUT TO:

INT. LIMITED EDITION - AFTERNOON

Elijah opens the door. It takes him a bit, because of the wheelchair.

David stares at Elijah's damaged condition. Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		Joined a rugby league.
		Turned out to be a bad idea.
			(beat)
		Come here I want to show you
		something.

Elijah wheels over to one of the framed sketches on the wall. It's a charcoal
drawing of a muscular figure shielding himself from a blow about to be delivered.
A huge ominous shadow is covering him, as if something unspeakable and evil is
just out of frame.

				 ELIJAH
		Look at this. I just noticed
		this today.

David steps in close and studies the drawing.

				 ELIJAH
		This is from the Sentryman
		series. A color version of
		this was actually used in
		the second issue.

Elijah points up to the drawing's face.

				 ELIJAH
		Look at this eyes. What do
		you see?

David looks right at the intense eyes of the drawing.

				 ELIJAH
		It's fear.
			(beat)
		He was scared. They were
		being honest in the
		beginning you see. They let
		him be human.
			(beat)
		They turned him into a
		garden variety hero later...
		Then he was brave all the
		time.

Elijah turns to David.

				 ELIJAH
		I followed the guy in the
		army jacket.

David becomes still as his words register.

				 ELIJAH
		He had a silver handled gun
		tucked in the back of his
		pants.
			(beat)
		Were you really injured in
		that car accident in
		college?

David looks unsteady all of the sudden.

				 ELIJAH
		Because I think you faked
		it. I think you took the
		opportunity to end your
		career - no questions asked.
			(beat)
		And I think you did it, of
		all things, for a women...
			(beat)
		Not only do you have the
		physical traits of a hero,
		down somewhere in there, you
		have the moral code of one
		too. You were ready to
		sacrifice everything for
		what's right. Where can you
		find that these days?
			(beat)
		Only thing you didn't realize
		is that you were giving up
		a part of yourself when you
		gave up football. The
		physical part. And you need
		that part desperately to
		feel balance again...
			(beat)
		You can have it back now.
			(beat)
		This was all just make
		believe before. What if
		there was someone the
		opposite of me? What if?...
			(beat)
		I now believe you are the
		genuine article Mr. David
		Dunne. The kind of person we
		knew existed, from our
		history.

Elijah points to the room full of pictures.

				 ELIJAH
		It's time for someone like
		you.
			(beat)
		Bad is winning. I can feel
		it.

Elijah looks at David with deep admiration. His voice cracked a little at the end
of his words. Beat.

David doesn't take his hands out of his pockets.

				 DAVID(rattled)
		I must have felt some lump
		in his back when I bumped
		him. Most guns have a black
		or silver handle. I had a
		fifty-fifty shot at the
		color.

				 ELIJAH
		That's not what I witnessed
		David.

				 DAVID
		Stop messing with my life
		Elijah. My son almost shot
		me last night. He wanted to
		prove you were right.

				 ELIJAH
		I never said you couldn't be
		killed. I never said that.

				 DAVID
		You have a problem, Elijah.
		My wife is right. Somewhere
		along the line one of your
		bones broke and your mind
		just broke with it.

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		Are you finished?

				 DAVID
		No. And I have been sick. I
		spent a week in a hospital
		when I was a boy recovering
		from pneumonia and almost
		drowning.

				 DAVID
		Two skinny eight year old
		kids were playing around the
		pool. They were dunking me.
		I swallowed water. They
		didn't know it and they
		almost killed me.
			(beat)
		Heroes don't get killed like
		that. Normal people do.

Beat. Elijah seems shaken for the first time. David stares at him coldly.

				 DAVID
		I don't want to see you
		again okay.
			(soft)
		Now I'm finished.

David turns and starts for the entrance. The BELL OF THE DOOR CLANGS as David
Dunne leaves the store.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. STREET - AFTERNOON

David exits the Limited Edition and moves down the street lost in this thoughts.
He bumps a man in a jacket and tie walking in the opposite direction.

FLASH CUT: THE SAME MAN STANDS IN A BAGGY SWEATER. AGAINST A PARKED CAR HE'S
HOLDING SOMETHING SHINY AND METALLIC IN HIS HANDS. HE INSERTS IT IN THE HALF INCH
GAP BETWEEN THE GLASS OF THE DRIVER'S WINDOW AND THE DOOR. THE DOOR UNLOCKS.

THE MAN LOOKS AROUND QUIETLY BEFORE ENTERING THE CAR.

SLAM CUT BACK TO THE PRESENT:

David looks over his shoulder at the conservative looking man in a shirt and tie
walking down the street.

David Dunne is shaken. He turns and keeps walking.

								  CUT TO:

INT. JEREMY'S ROOM - NIGHT

A superhero action figure and a plastic villain do battle on Jeremy's desk.

David sits dressed up in a white shirt and dress pants. He holds the villain.
Jeremy holds the superhero.

Megan enters the room in a beautiful brown dress.

				 MEGAN
		The sitter's here.

David nods, "yes." Megan studies his tense expression.

				 MEGAN
		We can do this another time
		if you want? I'm fine with
		anything.

David looks from the action figures, to his son's face to the face of his wife.
They both have the same quiet anxious expression. Beat.

				 DAVID
		But I put cologne on.

Megan smiles.

				 MEGAN
		Is that what that smell is?

Jeremy giggles.

								  CUT TO:

INT. DOWNTOWN COMIC BOOK STORE - NIGHT

An overweight man in sweats and a ponytail counts the cash in the register. We
are in a low-end comic book store. The walls are lined with shelves of comic
books. The more expensive issues are kept in a glass case.

THE PONYTAIL MAN looks at his watch and then to far back of the store where one
head is visible behind a low rack.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Hey man it's twenty after.
		It's time to close. I gotta
		head.

The top of the man's head doesn't move. Beat.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		You better not be jacking
		off to the Japanese comics.
		I swear to God.

No response. Ponytail man closes his register and walks towards the back.

As he gets closer to the customer, he realizes that the man is in a wheelchair.
The Ponytail man walks ups to Elijah.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Listen man, I didn't know
		you were in-
			(beat)
		Just choose something all
		right?

Elijah doesn't react. He sits in his chair in a quiet daze. Ponytail man leans
over.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Hello. You understand
		English?

Ponytail man makes fake sign language gestures in front of Elijah's face.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Look man, I'm just gonna
		wheel you out. You can think
		about things outside on the
		sidewalk. I gotta get some
		chicken in me, you know what
		I'm saying?

Beat. The Ponytail man shakes his head moves behind Elijah. He starts wheeling
him towards the front of the store. They move down a narrow aisle of comics.

Elijah suddenly grabs the left wheel and turns the chair. His immobilized left
leg hits a rack of comic books. A handful of comics tumbles to the ground.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Shit.

The ponytail man straightens the wheelchair and starts down the aisle again.
After a couple of feet, Elijah jerks and grabs the other wheel sending the
wheelchair ramming violently into the opposite wall. Comics are knocked free and
fall onto the wheel chair and the nearby ground.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		Dude, I don't care if you
		are in a wheelchair. If you
		do that again, I'm calling
		Five-O.

Beat. The Ponytail man takes Elijah's silence as a, "Yes." He straightens the
chair.

They move down the aisle. All is quiet... and then Elijah jerks the wheelchair to
the left again. His metal brace and the wheelchair crash into two racks. Elijah
gets covered in comics.

				 PONYTAIL MAN
		That's it crackerjack!
		You're going to sit your ass
		in jail now.

The Ponytail man moves to the front counter.

Elijah sits in a trance - slightly hunched over. His eyes stare at a comic book
in his lap. His expression changes for the first time.

The Ponytail man finishes dialing. He looks over to Elijah as he waits for a
voice on the other end. Elijah raises a single comic book in his hand.

				 ELIJAH
		How much is this one?

								  CUT TO:

INT. RESTAURANT BAR - NIGHT

LATE EVENING. A trendy restaurant. Not enough light to read the menus.

David and Megan are on stools at one end of the bat. They sip their drinks as
they appear in deep thought.

				 DAVID
		...I think rust.

				 MEGAN
		Rust?

				 DAVID
		As a color, not as rust. You
		know, a rust colored paint
		or wood?

Megan leans slightly closer.

				 MEGAN
		I didn't know that. Mine's
		still brown.

				 DAVID
		My turn. What's your
		favorite song?

				 MEGAN
		Soft and Wet, by the Artist
		Formerly Known as Prince.

				 DAVID
		What was that?

				 MEGAN
		We're supposed to be honest.

Beat. David brings his stool closer.

				 DAVID
		Soft and Wet. That's very
		interesting.

				 MEGAN
		My turn.
			(beat)
		When was the first time the
		thought popped into your
		head that we might not make
		it?

David's grin slowly fades.

				 DAVID
		That's not the game.

Megan moves her stool closer. They're only a foot or so apart.

				 MEGAN
		It's a second date. There
		aren't any rules.

Beat. David sips his drink slowly.

				 DAVID
		I'm not sure.

				 MEGAN
		Think carefully?

				 DAVID
		What about the game?

				 MEGAN
		It's finished. I won.

Beat. David glances at Megan. She waits for his answer.

				 MEGAN
		Maybe it wasn't a specific
		moment, maybe it-

				 DAVID
		I had a nightmare one night
		and I didn't wake you up so
		you could tell me it was
		okay.
			(beat)
		I think that was the first
		time.
			(beat)
		Does that count?

				 MEGAN(soft)
		That counts.

Beat. Megan takes her glass up to her lips. Doesn't take a sip. Brings it back
down.

				 MEGAN
		Do you knowingly keep Jeremy
		and me at a distance?

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Yes.

Megan's face tenses. She's on the verge of getting upset.

				 MEGAN
		Why?

				 DAVID
		I don't know Megan.

				 MEGAN
		It's like you resent us
		David. Resent the life you
		have.

Beat. David doesn't answer.

				 MEGAN
		You know even if it meant we
		couldn't be together, I
		would never have wished that
		injury on you? What you
		could so physically was a
		gift. I would never have
		wished it to go away.

Megan's eyes glaze with water. Beat.

				 MEGAN
		You know that right?

David takes a sip with a trembling hand. David's eyes look up and make eye
contact with Megan's. He stares at her for the longest time.

				 DAVID(soft)
		I know.

Husband and wife sit close together in the corner of the bar on their second
date.

								  CUT TO:

INT. FRONT DOOR - NIGHT

Megan stands next to David as he pulls out his wallet. The babysitter with the
black dyed hair and Buddy Holly glasses stands ready to leave in the doorway.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		You got two calls. One came
		through while I was on the
		line - I wasn't talking too
		long. There was an emergency
		with my sister. She tried to
		do her own perm and now she
		looks like-

				 DAVID
		Who called through?

Megan tries to hide her smile.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		Someone from New York.

The smile instantly fades.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		About a security job at a
		museum. They want to hire
		you.
			(beat)
		I didn't know you guys were
		moving to New York. Thanks
		for telling me.

				 MEGAN
		We're not moving.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		Oh.
			(beat)
		I let the answering machine
		pick up the other call.

The babysitter fixes her Buddy Holly glasses as she looks at the two suddenly
quiet faces.

David hands her the money. She opens the door. It's started to rain.

				 DYED HAIR GIRL
		Great.

The babysitter covers her head with her jacket and runs down the walkway. David
closes the door. Beat.

				 MEGAN
		Look let's be honest here.
		We're just at the beginning.
		I don't expect you or I to
		change the course of where
		our lives were headed
		because of two dates.
			(beat)
		If you do go to New York, we
		can still develop this.
		We'll just be forced to take
		it slow. And in the end,
		that's definitely better.
			(beat)
		This is our second time
		around David. I don't expect
		us to get carried away.
			(beat)
		I guess congratulations is
		the right thing to say.

Megan takes off her coat as she moves to the guest bedroom. She disappears
inside. The door closely behind her.

								  CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Only the COUNTER LIGHT is on in the kitchen. David stands by the phone.

ELIJAH'S VOICE IS HEARD ON THE ANSWERING MACHINE.

				 ELIJAH(on tape)
		...David. It's Elijah. It
		was so obvious. It's
		referred to over and over.
		That's the key you see. The
		repetition across time. That
		means at some point it was
		all based on common thought,
		a common event - a fact.
			(beat)
		It was this one issue that
		brought it back for me...
		Century Comics
		One-Seventeen. That's where
		this group, the Coalition of
		Evil, tried to ascertain the
		weakness of every superhero.

				 ELIJAH(on tape)
		...Because they all have
		one.
			(beat)
		Just like you.
			(beat)
		The cells that make up your
		muscles and your bones react
		to forces that act upon it,
		slightly different from than
		mine. That's clear... Your
		cells react to bacteria and
		viruses slightly differently
		than mine... That's also
		clear...But for some reason,
		you and I react the exact
		same way to water. We
		swallow it, we choke. We
		swallow too much of it, we
		drown. However unreal it may
		seem, we are connected, you
		and I, we are on the same
		curve... just on opposite
		ends.

				 ELIJAH
		The point of all this is, we
		now know something we
		didn't... You have a
		weakness... Water. It's your
		krpytonite.
			(beat)
		You hearing me David? Call
		me back... I got rugby
		practice in an hour.

THE SOUND OF ELIJAH HANGING UP IS HEARD. THE ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPS AS IT TURNS
OFF.

David hits a button on the answering machine. It makes a WHIRRING SOUND before
ANNOUNCING.

				 MACHINE
		Message erased.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

The master bedroom is very narrow. A bathtub and toilet are at one end. Two
identical sinks sit opposite each other.

David sits on the edge of the tub. His shirt is unbuttoned. He sits in a daze
staring at the tiled floor.

His eyes slowly move to a small white and red box laying on its side under one of
the sinks.

David rises and picks it up.

It's a BOX OF BAND AIDS. David looks up to Megan's sink. Perfume and lotions sit
on its edge.

David opens her mirrored cabinet. He starts to put the band aid box back, he
hesitates.

His eyes begin to roam the cabinet shelves. They stop on certain items... A
CONTAINER OF TYLENOL... A LOTION FOR DRY SKIN... A BOTTLE OF ALLERGY DROPS...
COUGH SYRUP...  A TUBE OF MUSCLE PAIN OINTMENT...

David just stands quietly for a beat before turning and looking across to his own
identical mirrored medicine cabinet.

There are three things on the shelf... DISPOSABLE RAZORS. SHAVING CREAM. AND
COLOGNE.

David's mouth opens just a little bit as he stares.

								  CUT TO:

INT. FRONT HALL - NIGHT

ALL THE LIGHTS ARE OUT.

David moves through the darkness down the stares in jeans and a sweatshirt.

He moves to the coat closet. Pulls out the dark green rain poncho. The word
"security" is almost faded away.

He opens and closes the front door with virtually NO SOUND.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. THIRTIETH STREET STATION - NIGHT

Rain falls like gunfire from the sky.

David's car pulls into the massive rain station parking lot.

David steps out and pulls the hood of the poncho over his head.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. METAL STAIRS - NIGHT

A steel fence leads to a set of stairs that travel down to the dozens of
interconnected tracks below. David walks down about forty feet. A fenced gate
with a lock stops his progress.

David looks through the fence down to the tracks. Just to the side is a
construction site. Cranes and lifts and various equipment stand idle in the area
next to the section of train wreckage that has been brought to the station
grounds for dismantling and salvaging. The bent shapes of the train pieces can
only be glimpsed in outlines as they sit in the darkness, hundreds of feet away
from the immaculately lit train station.

Beat. A HUGE METALLIC CRACK ECHOES THROUGH THE TRAIN YARD as David kicks open the
fence door that holds him back from going down.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. TRAIN WRECKAGE - NIGHT

Frightening twisted pieces of metal glisten in the rain. David walks along the
body of the caved-in passenger car.

The passenger car is split in two. Just before the tear, along the window line,
the windows have been crushed in. A huge hole has been ripped below the windows
exposing the ravaged interior.

David stands before this heavily damaged area of the car. He just stares at the
wreckage. Water falls off the rim of his hood in front of his face.

His eyes drift over the ominous pieces of deformed metal. He takes a couple slow
breaths as THE SOUNDS OF HARSH RAIN FADE AWAY TO SILENCE.

								  CUT TO:

FLASHBACK: EXT. STREET - NIGHT

SILENCE. BLACK. OUR VISION CLEARS TO REVEAL the glazed icy top of a street.

THE SOUND OF DISTANT FIRE COMES INTO THE SILENCE.

A TWENTY YEAR OLD DAVID DUNNE rises to his feet from the ground where he was
laying amongst the fragmented pieces of windshield. He looks down at himself. His
football jacket is torn. So are his jeans... He's trembling slightly, but not
bleeding.

HE LOOKS UP TOWARDS THE NOISES.

About thirty feet away is a Honda, upside down, wrapped around a telephone pole.
It's front is on fire.

Through one of the crushed door windows, WE SEE A WOMAN'S HAND.

Young David heads toward his car. He slips a couple of times on the slick iced
surface of the road.

He kneels down next to the inverted car. He looks in the crushed window frame.

THE FACE OF A TWENTY YEAR OLD MEGAN IS UPSIDE DOWN. She is unconscious.

				 DAVID
		Megan...

She doesn't answer. Her body is twitching as it sits pinned behind the wheel.

David pulls at the handle of the mangled door. It's wedged tight. It won't move.

The heat from the fire is tremendous.

David's powerful arms keep pulling with all their strength.

WE HEAR THE CREAK OF METAL... THE DOOR BENDS UNNATURALLY AND THEN PRACTICALLY
RIPS OPEN.

David leans into the car and unbuckles Megan. He works her out underneath the
steering column. He slides out. Her leg is bleeding.

David picks her up and carries her to the grass next to the road. He lays her
down gently.

				 DAVID
		Megan?

He just stares at her. She doesn't respond.

A LIGHT WASHES OVER THEM. David turns to see a truck approaching up the road.
David waves frantically. The truck slows.

David turns back to Megan. Her eyes are open.

Tears fall from David's face as he moves the hair out of her eyes. She looks at
David.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		I thought I was dead.

Beat.

				 DAVID
		Me too.

The driver of the truck slips and slides his way over to David.

				 DRIVER
		Is she all right?

				 DAVID
		I think her leg is
		fractured.

				 DRIVER
		Are you injured?

Beat. David looks at Megan who lays shivering in the grass. He looks back at the
driver.

				 DAVID(soft)
		My shoulder's hurt.

The driver nods.

				 DRIVER
		Hold on. I got a C.B. in the
		truck.

The driver moves back to his truck.

David takes Megan's hand in his and waits in the grass by the sight of their car
on fire.

								  CUT TO:

PRESENT: EXT. TRAIN WRECKAGE - NIGHT

David stands utterly still in the graveyard of train 177.

								  CUT TO:

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

The wheels of Elijah's wheelchair move down the hall as he follows the SOUND OF
THE PHONE RINGING.

He follows THE SOUND to a PHONE RINGING in the storage room of the store. There
are shelves and shelves of comic books. Thousands of them filed away in neat
piles.

Elijah picks up the phone a little out of breath.

				 ELIJAH
		Hello.

				 DAVID'S VOICE
		Elijah?

Beat.

				 ELIJAH
		David?

Nothing is said on the other line for a couple of beats. WE HEAR THE ECHOED DIN
OF A LARGE ROOM FILLED WITH PEOPLE AND MOVEMENT IN THE BACKGROUND.

				 DAVID'S VOICE
		What am I supposed to do?

Elijah closes his eyes. His face fills with strength.

								  CUT TO:

INT. THIRTIETH STREET STATION PHILADELPHIA - NIGHT

The interior of the station is a mystical sight. One huge cavernous room, a
football field in size, lined on both sides with giant pillars that rise into a
misty hand painted ceiling.

				 ELIJAH(v.o.)
		David, it's okay to be
		afraid. Because this part
		won't be like a comic
		book... Real life doesn't
		fit into little boxes that
		were drawn for it.

David stands in a quiet corner and watches the faces of passengers arriving and
departing late night trains. Even at the late hour, there is heavy traffic
throughout the station.

				 ELIJAH(v.o.)
		Go to where people are...
		You won't have to look very
		long.

David stares out at the midnight travelers. Beat. He starts towards them.

He passed the towering black statue standing at the far end of the station. It
watches over the whole building. It's in the form of an angel lifting a soldier
to heaven.

David moves through the first group of people - a crisscross of arriving
passengers from tracks one and two. They brush by him and lightly bump him as
they move.

FLASH CUT: WE ARE NO LONGER IN THE TRAIN STATION. A BLOND WOMAN IN HER TWENTIES
STANDS AT A COUNTER IN A CROWDED STORE.

SHE SLIDES THE SILVER BRACELET AND EARRINGS SHE WAS LOOKING AT OFF THE GLASS
COUNTER AND INTO HER PURSE. NO ONE SEES.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

David turns and glances at the blonde woman as she walks away from him towards
the exit of the train station. He doesn't stop moving.

David heads towards the densest part of the floor. The area near the information
board. Sleepy friends and tired family members stand and wait. A steady
spider-like web of movement flows as six  tracks let out on either side.

David moves to the center. His rain poncho almost touches the marble floor. Lines
of passengers emerging from trains below the main level move steadily on either
side of him.

David looks down and gently turns the palms of his hands out as they at his side.
His finger tops graze the jackets and clothes of the passengers walking by.

Dozens and dozens of people pass. Nothing happens. Then a man in a crumpled shirt
and slicked back hair brushes by...

FLASH CUT: THE SLICKED BLACKED HAIRED MAN LEANS OUT THE WINDOW OF A TRUCK. HE'S
HOLDING A BOTTLE OF BEER.

				 SLICKED HAIR MAN
		Go back to Africa!

THE SLICKED HAIR MAN THROWS THE BOTTLE WITH FORCE AS HE PASSES A CLACK FAMILY
WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK. THE BOTTLE SHATTERS AS IT HITS A WOMAN IN THE GROUP.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

David's eyes dart up as the slicked haired man turns the corner at the
information booth. He watches him for a beat.

FLASH CUT: WE ARE IN A BEDROOM. A YOUNG MAN IN HIS LATE TEENS LOOKS DOWN AT A
GIRL LAYING IN A PILE OF OVERCOATS ON A BED. THERE IS LOUD MUSIC AND LAUGHTER
COMING FROM SOMEWHERE DOWNSTAIRS.

				 TEENAGER
		What's your name? I think
		you drank too much.

THE GIRL MOANS SOMETHING INAUDIBLE AS SHE ROLLS ON HER SIDE. HER SKIRT RIDES UP
HER THIGH.

THE YOUNG MAN STARES AT HER AND THEN GETS UP. HE MAKES SURE NO ONE IS LOOKING
BEFORE CLOSING THE DOOR. HE LOCKS IT FROM THE INSIDE.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

David watches the teenager with baggy jeans hanging off his hip. He walks and
greets a group of identically dressed friends.

Beat. David turns his hands back in. He seems shaken. He takes a couple of deep
breaths as he gathers himself.

Then David steps back to look around. HE BUMPS the shoulder of a man standing
behind him.

David takes a sudden breath like someone punched him in the solar plexus.

FLASH CUT: AN ENORMOUS MAN WITH GLASSY EYES STANDS BEFORE A SCREEN SIDE DOOR.
HE'S BALDING. THE HAIR HE DOES HAVE IS SHOULDER LENGTH. HIS ECLIPSING SHADOW
FALLS ON THE CONSERVATIVE LOOKING MAN WHO STANDS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SCREEN
DOOR INSIDE THE HOUSE.

				 GLASSY EYED MAN
		Can I come in?

				 MAN IN HOUSE
		Who are you?

				 GLASSY EYED MAN
		I like your house. Can I
		come in?

				 MAN IN HOUSE
		What is this?
			(beat)
		No you can't come in.

Beat.

				 GLASSY EYED MAN
		Are you sure?

The enormous glassy eyed man takes hold of the screen door handle. He turns it.
The man inside the house grabs the door handle on the inside to stop him.

				 MAN IN HOUSE
		What are you doing?

The man inside the house uses all his strength to keep the door from opening...
It opens slowly anyway.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

David stands frozen in the train station. His face is almost unreadable.

David is standing less than a foot away from the man he bumped. They're standing
shoulder to shoulder. David's eyes slowly move from the ground over his right and
then finally onto the man.

He's huge. At least three inches taller than David. His shoulders are massive.
He's wearing a one piece ORANGE UNIFORM.

The man in the orange uniform leans over a trashcan next to him and removes the
full trash bag within it. He replaces it with a fresh one. He throws the full
trash bag into a gray plastic bin with wheels and starts pushing it.

David watches the man head across the floor towards a double door marked "Station
Maintenance Staff Only".

Four identical gray bins sit outside the door. The huge man disappears with his
bin inside.

David waits. He just stares hard at the double doors. Nothing happens for the
longest time... No one comes out. David makes a decision. He starts towards the
doors.

And then they open.

The huge glassy eyed man in orange emerges carrying a bag over his shoulder. He's
wearing a baseball hat with his uniform now. He heads toward a back exit.

David lets him get about twenty feet away before deciding to follow him.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET - NIGHT

The man in the orange uniform walks in the driving rain down a residential city
block. Almost all the lights in the middle class homes he's passing are off at
this late hour. No one is out walking except him and David Dunne fifty feet
behind.

The orange figure turns the corner onto a block of modest stand alone homes. The
uniformed man walks slower in this block. He looks around carefully as he moves.

He turns into a driveway of one of the homes. He stops and pulls a wad of mail
out of the mailbox.

David stands with the hood of his security coat covering his head and face. He
stands in the shadows and watches silently as the man in the orange uniform looks
over his massive shoulder before turning a knob and entering the white paneled
house through a familiar side door with a screen on it.

								  CUT TO:

INT. LAUNDRY ROOM - NIGHT

The side door opens with almost no sound. The hooded figure of David Dunne steps
into a narrow laundry room. THE SOUND OF A TELEVISION IS HEARD FROM ANOTHER ROOM.

A very large pile of unopened mail sits in a mound on the clothes dryer. Two or
three days worth.

David shuts the door very slowly.

								  CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

THE SOUNDS OF CHEERING FROM THE TELEVISION IN THE NEXT ROOM SPILL INTO THE
KITCHEN.

David stares out from under his hood at the mess.

Cabinets are left open. Empty cans of food sit on the counter with a handful of
unwashed dishes. The breakfast table is the eeriest thing in the room. It sits
frozen with a plate of half-eaten, now moldy eggs at one setting and two bowls of
colorful cereal in another. The cereal has dissolved in the old milk. Two
cockroaches are crawling in the bowl.

David moves slowly to a door in the kitchen. It's slightly open. As David gets
closer, he shields his face from the strong smell. He pulls the door open
quietly.

A SHAFT OF KITCHEN LIGHTS FALLS DOWN THE STAIRS INTO THE BASEMENT. At the bottom
of the stairs is a MAN'S BODY. The same man who answered the door in the
flashback lays partly in the shadow, partly in the light. His crumpled tie lies
folded over itself on his still chest.

								  CUT TO:

INT. FAMILY ROOM - NIGHT

A BOXING MATCH BLARES ON THE TELEVISION. Empty beer bottles and coke cans sit in
a pyramid on the coffee table.

David steps into the unoccupied room. His movements are slow and tense.

THUDS OF HEAVY FOOTSTEPS COME FROM THE CEILING OF THE ROOM. David looks up and
follows the SOUND AS IT MOVES AROUND ABOVE HIM.

David moves to the stairs as SOMEONE GETS KNOCKED OUT ON THE TELEVISION.

								  CUT TO:

INT. GIRL'S ROOM - NIGHT

Three closed doors converge on a landing. David opens the closest one.

It's a young girl's room. Posters of boy bands are on her wall. Clothes are
everywhere. The room is empty.

A NOISE COMES FROM THE HALF OPEN BATHROOM DOOR ATTACHED TO THE BEDROOM.

								  CUT TO:

INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT

A slightly overweight girl, probably fourteen years old is tied by her wrists
with a phone cord to the metal towel rack in her bathroom. She sits with her arms
pointed upward over her head. He knees tucked up to her chest.

Next to her is her younger brother. A skinny boy, maybe twelve. He's tied and
seated in the same way.

Their heads are leaned back against their arms. They're completely listless. Eyes
half mast. They watch as the door to the bathroom opens and the dark hooded
figure of David Dunne steps in. His long dark slowing rain poncho still dripping
water. He stands in the doorway for a moment before moving towards them.

They don't react in anyway as David reaches for the phone cord and unties them.
They're arms flop to their laps as they gaze up at the figure leaning over them.
They boy blinks once slowly.

David takes a step back and stares at them from under his hood.

				 DAVID
		You need to leave now.

								  CUT TO:

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

An exercise bike in the corner of the bedroom has been turned into a clothes
hanger long ago. The t.v. across the bed has framed family photos displayed on
top of it.

David's shadow passes over them as he moves towards the open bathroom on the
other side of the bedroom.

A woman is tied to the bathroom door handle. She sits on the tiled floor slumped
against the door. Her eyes stare blankly at the ground. She has considerable
bruises on her face and arms.

David stands before her.

				 DAVID(soft)
		Where is he?

The woman doesn't answer, but a SOUND COMES FROM THE SCREEN DOOR nearby. The
curtains draping the screen door move with the wind from outside.

David crosses the room and pushes aside the curtain. It leads to a small balcony.
An empty lawn chair is the only thing on it.

David steps onto the balcony and looks down.

The rain still pours down unmercifully. It comes down on a black tarp that covers
a pool in the backyard.

David turns to go back inside.

A BLURR OF ORANGE ATTACKS HIM.

The collision is sudden and explosive. The huge man drives his shoulder into
David's chest and takes him off his feet. David's body flips over the railing.

The dark green rain poncho flaps in the wind as he falls two stories directly
towards the black tarp.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. POOL - NIGHT

David lands on his stomach with a TREMENDOUS SLAP onto the nylon black tarp.

There's a thin layer of rain water on the tarp's surface. David is laying on his
cheek. Half his face is covered in water.

Beat. David's exposed eye looks around in a daze. The surface of  the tarp gets
pounded by the rain.

David uses his hands to push his body off the tarp. His hands sink into the water
as his pressure pushes the tarp down.

THE FIRST SOUNDS OF NYLON SLIDING AGAINST CONCRETE START.

David stops pushing. His vision catches the corner of the swimming pool as the
tarp slides out from under the sand bags that hold it in place.

The tarp sags. David becomes utterly still. THE SOUND CONTINUES ANYWAY.

One by one the tarp starts sliding out from under the sand bags all around the
edge of the pool.

And then without warning, the tarp caves in. It folds around David as he and the
tarp get pulled UNDER THE COLD DARK WATER.

								  CUT TO:

EXT.  UNDER WATER - NIGHT

David's body is tangled in the pool cover. His legs and arms thrash against the
constricting black tarp. He's drowning.

GLIMPSES OF LIGHT FROM THE HOUSE PIERCE THE DARKNESS UNDER WATER. THE BLURRED
IMAGE OF A DISTANT FIGURE HIGH ABOVE ON A BALCONY FLICKERS AND DISAPPEARS.

The last of the tarp slides out from under the sandbags that old it in place
around the edge of the pool.

The rain keeps falling.

The tarp moves like it's alive underwater. It shifts and wraps David tighter with
every movement.

GLIMPSES OF LIGHT AGAIN. TWO SMALL FIGURES NOW STAND IN A BLURRED SILHOUETTE NEAR
THE EDGE OF THE POOL. FLASHES OF SOMETHING SHINY THEY'RE HOLDING... A ROD OR
POLE... IT'S SHAKY NEBULOUS IMAGE WAIVERS IN THE AIR ABOVE THE SURFACE.

David's only free hand reaches for the light. It catches the silver pole.

The tangled mass of David and the tarp are pulled slowly towards the edge of the
pool. David's head and shoulders emerge from the darkness. He takes hold of the
pool's edge.

Huge desperate breaths as he pulls his body out from the water and the grasp of
the tarp. He hauls himself onto the ground.

He sits hunched over in a dark mass, his head down under his hood. The rain
poncho covering him like a blanket. Beat.

He rises to his feet. The water rushes off of him. His breathing is slowing,
calming.

He stands in a silhouette from the light of the house. He turns and looks to the
two small figures standing near the edge of the pool.

The children from the bathroom stand still in the rain. They're holding an
aluminum pole with a brush head for cleaning the pool. They stare up at the
hooded figure.

No one says anything.

								  CUT TO:

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

The man in the orange one-piece uniform stands over the woman tied to the door
handle of the bathroom. His back is to us. He's drinking from a beer bottle as he
looks down at her.

He doesn't notice the third presence come into the room. He doesn't hear him move
closer. Right behind him.

The man in orange takes another sip of his beer, not realizing an arm is reaching
over him... He doesn't get to swallow the sip in his mouth.

David Dunne's powerful arm wraps around the man's thick neck. David's hands clamp
together like and iron vise. He squeezes.

The man's beer bottle crashes to the ground as his neck begins to get crushed.

David yanks back hard, pulls the man off balance. The man's legs push back
violently, sending both of them backwards across the room. They come to a hard
stop as David's back gets RAMMED INTO THE BEDROOM WALL.

The huge man in orange pulls away and then SLAMS DAVID harder against the wall.
David's arm remains locked around his throat.

The man becomes frantic. His face turning dark red. He clutches at David's arm.
He spins, taking David with him into another wall. The IMPACT IS TREMENDOUS. The
room shakes. David holds on. His face bent low and hidden under his hood.

And then the man in orange throws a powerful elbow back. It lands hard right in
David's side. David groans. The huge man delivers another one. Savage, desperate
blows. WE HEAR THE IMPACT OF EACH ONE WITH DAVID'S BODY. And David never lets go.

The elbows slow and then stop. The legs of the man in orange start to buckle.

David pulls him back onto his heels. He turns him in a half circle. All of his
tremendous weight is hanging from David's arm now. David LETS OUT A YELL AS HE
APPLIES ALL HIS STRENGTH. The man's legs stop kicking.

David keeps turning him. The man's body goes completely limp. David's just
dragging two hundred and seventy-five pounds of weight in a circle over the
carpet now.

David slowly comes to a stop. He stands there with his arm wrapped around the
man's neck....The man's limbs dangle down to the ground. Beat.

David's hands let go of each other. His arm slips out from under the man's jaw.
The man in orange crumples to the ground like a rag doll. The only SOUND IN THE
ROOM IS DAVID'S HEAVY BREATHING. Beat.

He moves to the woman slumped against the door. He starts to untie the phone
cords that bind her wrists to the handle. He whispers to her.

				 DAVID(soft)
		It's over now.
			(beat)
		Your children are fine.
		They're getting help.

He unties her wrists. Her arms stay above her head where they were.

				 DAVID(soft)
		I'm going to go now.

He stares at the woman whose eyes stare blankly at him. She sits unnaturally
still against the door with her arms above her head. The mascara that has run
down her face and dried, has tracks where countless tears have rolled down.

David moves his hand near her mouth and nose. He checks for the feeling of breath
against his hand. Beat.

He rises up. Removes his hood. David Dunne stands silently in the master bedroom
of someone's house and gazes at the dead woman frozen in a slumped position
against her bathroom door.

								  CUT TO:

INT. FRONT HALL - NIGHT

The front door opens to SILENCE. The silhouetted figure of David steps into the
darkness of his home.

								  CUT TO:

INT. CLOSET - NIGHT

The dark green faded security poncho gets hung back on its hook in the closet
next to the family winter coats.

								  CUT TO:

INT. JEREMY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

David enters the quiet of Jeremy's room. Jeremy lays sound asleep. David stares
down at the shadowy figure of his son.

He pulls the blanket over the boy's small shoulder.

								  CUT TO:

INT. DAVID'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

David sits on the edge of the empty bed in the darkness of his room.

He doesn't makes a sound. He doesn't move an inch. He is so still, he seems to
disappear into the shadows of the room.

								  CUT TO:

INT. GUEST BEDROOM - NIGHT

Megan stirs in her sleep. She shifts her head on the pillow.

Then her body RISES INTO THE AIR.

She starts to wake as she floats across the room. She opens her eyes and sees
David close by. He's carrying her in her arms. He moves up the stairs with her.
No words are spoken.

								  CUT TO:

INT. THEIR BEDROOM - NIGHT

They enter their bedroom. David lays her down gently on her side of the bed.

She watches as he walks out of sight. He lays down right behind her.

He covers her with his arm... His hand is shaking. Beat. He speaks softly.

				 DAVID(soft)
		I had a bad dream.

David tucks his head in close to hers and closes his eyes.

Megan lays stunned in her husband's arms. Beat.

				 MEGAN(soft)
		It's over now.

She closes her eyes too as the tears start coming.

						DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. STREET - DAY

Downtown Philadelphia.

People move up and down the sidewalks in front of the storefronts. David Dunne is
among them.

He crosses the street in front of The Limited Edition. The front doors of the
store are open.

A banner over the door reads, "Annual Sale."

								  CUT TO:

INT. LIMITED EDITION - DAY

The compact store is crowded with customers.

David spots Elijah with a group of people before a framed painting of a comic
hero.

David moves to a less crowded area of the store and waits. He turns and looks at
a framed sketch.

Beat. An older woman walks over from a near by picture and joins David.

				 WOMAN
		...See the villain's eyes.
		They're larger than the
		other characters'. They
		insinuate a slightly skewed
		perspective of how they see
		the world. Just off normal.

David stares at the drawing.

				 DAVID
		He doesn't look very
		threatening.

				 WOMAN
		That's what I said to my
		son. He said, there's always
		two kinds. The soldier
		villain who fights the hero
		with his hands, and then
		there's the real threat. The
		brilliant and evil arch
		enemy who fights the hero
		with his mind.

David turns and looks at the striking and beautiful African American woman in her
sixties who stands next to him.

				 DAVID
		Are you Elijah's mother?

The woman turns and looks at David for the first time.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		I am. I'm helping him with
		the sale.

				 DAVID
		It's a pleasure to meet you.
		I'm David Dunne.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		He's spoken of you. He says
		you're becoming friends.

				 DAVID
		We are.

David looks across the store at Elijah talking with the customers.

				 DAVID
		He's doing well today.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		I'm very proud of him.
			(beat)
		He's been through a lot in
		his life. A lot of ups and
		downs, a lot of bad spells.
		A couple I'd thought had
		broken him... I mean
		emotionally.
			(beat)
		They were bad... But he made
		it. Yes he did.

				 DAVID
		He's kind of a miracle.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		Yes he is.

They both watch Elijah from across the room.

				 ELIJAH'S MOTHER
		I'll tell him you're here.

David watches as Elijah's mother walks across the store and waits for Elijah to
finish talking.

David turns back to the framed sketch. He looks at it with his hands in his
pockets. Beat.

David's stare turns into a gaze. His gaze turns into stillness.

THE SKETCH is of a withered man with large tense eyes. He sits in the shadows.
He's seated in some type of machine. There are lots of buttons and levers on the
machine. The machine has wheels.

David turns from the sketch. He looks across the room to Elijah seated in his
wheelchair. Elijah's large eyes stay focused on the customer's as he finishes
negotiating.

David turns back to the sketch. He looks at it with growing confusion. The more
you look at drawing, the more the machine the man is seated in looks like a
wheelchair.

David looks back across the store. Elijah and his mother are talking. Elijah has
spotted David.

Beat. Elijah starts across the crowded store towards David. He wheels up to him.

				 ELIJAH
		Did you see this?

Elijah has a newspaper on his lap. He holds it up.

There's a drawing on the front page. It's a hooded figure shielding two huddled
children behind him.

				 ELIJAH(soft)
		It has begun.

David stares quietly at the sketch of himself.

				 ELIJAH
		When I saw it this morning.
		I felt a part of the world
		again.

Elijah looks down at the newspaper.

David hesitates and then reaches forward.

He reaches past the paper... And TOUCHES ELIJAH'S ARM.

FLASHCUT: AN AIRPORT GATE. ELIJAH IS STANDING AT THE WINDOW LOOKING OUT ONTO THE
AIRFIELD. HE'S CRYING.

SIRENS START SOUNDING THROUGHOUT THE AIRPORT.

WAITING PASSENGERS START GETTING UP AND MOVING TO THE WINDOWS.

				 MAN
		What's going on?

Elijah speaks to no one in particular as he stares out the window with tortured
eyes.

				 ELIJAH
		A plane just crashed.

								  CUT TO:

FLASH CUT: ELIJAH AND AN ELDERLY MAN IN A UNIFORM ARE SEATED IN A HOTEL BAR.

				 ELDERLY MAN
		I've worked here twenty-five
		years. I know all its
		secrets.

				 ELIJAH
		Secrets?

				 ELDERLY MAN(whispers)
		Like if there was ever a
		fire on floors one, two, or
		three... Everyone in this
		hotel would be burned alive.

ELIJAH LOOKS UP FROM HIS DRINK.

								  CUT TO:

FLASHCUT: ELIJAH LEAVES THE ENGINEERING ROOM OF AN AMTRAK TRAIN. HE PASSES THE
ENGINEER WHO HAS JUST ARRIVED WITH COFFEE.

				 ENGINEER
		Passengers aren't allowed in
		there.

Elijah doesn't answer and doesn't turn around as he exits train 177.

SLAM CUT BACK TO PRESENT:

David takes two unsteady steps back. Elijah has tears in his eyes as he gazes
down at the newspaper. He looks up to David.

				 ELIJAH(low voice)
		I almost gave up hope. There
		were so many times I
		questioned myself. I've made
		so many sacrifices but it's
		all been worth it.
			(beat)
		There are millions and
		millions or mediocre people
		in the world David. Isn't it
		great that we aren't one of
		them?

David looks like he stopped breathing as he backs up in the store.

Customers step between him and Elijah. Elijah becomes obscured and then blocked
from view.

								  CUT TO:

EXT. STREET - DAY

David emerges from the store slowly. He braces himself against a parked car and
then keeps on walking in a nightmarish daze.

WE PULL BACK as David Dunne blends in with dozens and dozens of ordinary people,
walking on an ordinary street, in an ordinary city.

								FADE TO BLACK:



