(Opening Scene: Max and Sketch are standing on line waiting for gas.)

SKETCHY: It's gonna run out before they get to us.

MAX: Will you stop?

SKETCHY: I really need new shoes, man.

MAX: Uh, Sketchy, this line's for gas.

SKETCHY: I know. Sky said if I score him a couple gallons of premium, he'd give me a pair of bike tires. Hey, no cutting!

MAX: I thought you wanted shoes.

SKETCHY: Sky doesn't have shoes. Herbal has shoes.

MAX: So you're gonna trade him the tires for the shoes.

SKETCHY: Herbal doesn't need tires. He needs a waffle iron for his lady. Original Cindy needs tires.

MAX: And Original Cindy has a waffle iron.

(They sit down on the end of a pickup truck.)

SKETCHY: No, Normal has a waffle iron. He's gonna swap Original Cindy for some lingerie so she can give it to Herbal for the tires Sky's giving me for the gas, which is how I'm getting my shoes.

MAX: Nice. What does Normal want with lingerie?

SKETCHY: I'm a businessman. I don't ask questions.

SKETCHY: Don't you wish sometimes you could just get the hell outta here for a couple days?

MAX (smiling): Reason why I'm standing in line.

(Logan is at his penthouse calling Matt)

LOGAN (on phone): Hey, it's Logan. I need your help with something, Matt. Remember those protesters that went missing back when the city first imposed martial law?

MATT: Rumor was they were disappeared by a police death squad.

LOGAN: I think I can prove it.

LOGAN: I got a tip about one of the cops on the scene. Partner tried to step forward about what happened. Partner turned up dead…guy took off. He's been laying low in a little town up the coast ever since.

MATT: You think he's willing to talk?

LOGAN: Think you could score me a sector pass so I can get out of the city and find out?

MATT: Sector police have really clamped down since the New Year's riots. No one gets in or out of the city without a Class One pass, and even I can't get a hold of one of those.

LOGAN (sighing): Right.

MATT: I know you're not just gonna give up on this. But do me a favor…be careful.

LOGAN: You got it.

(Logan discovers Max standing behind him as he finishes his call.)

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Hey. Where you going?

(Max sets down the gas tank and a bag.)

MAX: "We," remember? The dizzying heights…fresh country air…hiking in the Cascades…We talked about it last week!

LOGAN: (moving over to the table as she follows): You might've noticed there've been some changes since then. Unless you're planning to roll me off of Mount Rainier, you might want to reconsider.

MAX: What? You're back in the chair so you can't have a life anymore?

LOGAN: No, but I can't exactly scale mountains, now, can I?

MAX: Forget about the dizzying heights. What about the country air? Campfires…S'mores.

LOGAN (removing the earpiece): I got work to do.

MAX: And I spent the entire morning waiting in line for gas!

LOGAN: You can't get out of the city anyway. Not without--

( Max turns and holds out two passes.)

LOGAN: --sector passes.

(He reaches for them and Max yanks them away.)

MAX: Class One, VIP, no-questions-asked sector passes. I had to hang upside-down outside the window for an hour to swipe these from police headquarters. I almost horked, I got so nauseous, and I hate horking. You're not bailing on me.

LOGAN: Who said anything about bailing?

(Max looks at Logan and he smiles.)

(Logan and Max are in his car, driving through the countryside. Max checks a map.)

MAX: I don't mean to bruise your delicate male ego, but your uncle's cabin is back that way.

LOGAN: Oh, didn't I tell you? It's, uh, being fumigated for termites. It's all tented up.

MAX: So? We'll untent it.

LOGAN: Ever hear of a town called Cape Haven? It's a little resort community. Passed through it once when I was a kid. Really charming.

MAX: Your uncle's cabin's pretty damn charming, as I recall, not to mention free.

LOGAN: It--it's rented out. Didn't I just tell you that?

MAX: You just told me it was tented for termites.

LOGAN: Whatever. You're really gonna love this place, though. Perfect vacation spot.

MAX: Long as I get my S'mores.

(They pass a sign that says "Cape Haven.")

LOGAN: I remember this hotel. Enormous swimming pool, high dive. My parents--

(They slow down as they approach several civilian men with guns guarding the main road to town.)

MAX: This hotel…Did it have valet parking, by any chance?

(A man comes up to talk to them.)

MAN: Where you headed?

LOGAN: Into town.

MAN: If you're looking for work, there isn't any.

MAX: I've got a question for you. Can I see your badge?

MAN: No badge. We're out here 'cause we don't want any trouble.

LOGAN: No, we're just here for the weekend.

MAN: Curfew's ten o'clock. After that you'd be advised to stay off the streets.

LOGAN: Got it.

MAN: Welcome to Cape Haven.

(Logan rolls up the window and drives on as Max rolls her eyes.)

MAX: …Where the men are men and the tourists are afraid. (Laughs.) What was his deal?

LOGAN: Ah, you remember what it was like after the pulse hit. Places like this were overrun by people trying to get out of the cities. They were desperate…starving.

MAX: I figured things wouldn't be that bad out here.

LOGAN: Nuclear burst fries all the computers and satellites, turns the Information Age into the Stone Age overnight, doesn't mean you can't still fish or farm or whatever. They had to keep people out. Places like this would've been mobbed.

MAX: He was just hassling us 'cause he was bored. Don't they realize people wanna leave the city to get away from martial law and pretend the pulse never happened?

LOGAN: Easier said than done.

(They pass a building with a clock on it that says 12:05.)

MAX: Twelve-oh-five.

LOGAN: June first, 2009. Time the pulse hit.

(They pull up to a house and a woman comes out and stands on the porch as Max closes the hatch and Logan gets out.)

LOGAN: Are you Trudy?

TRUDY: Mr. Cale. Uh, come on around. Through the kitchen.

(As they head for the house, Max notices a boy watching them from a window. Trudy opens a side door, and they enter and look around.)

MAX : Nice.

TRUDY : Um…Stove's gas. So's the hot-water heater. Just turn it on when you need it. Propane's hard to come by these days.

MAX: No problem.

TRUDY : Fireplace works. You can use the cuttin' stump outside if you need m…Oh, the steps. I'll get a carpenter to put a ramp down in the morning.

LOGAN: Great.

(Trudy walks down the hall. As they turn to follow, Max notices the boy watching them through the screen door.)

TRUDY: Bathroom's through that door. Master bedroom.

MAX AND LOGAN: Where's the guest bedroom?

(They look at her.)

MAX AND LOGAN: I snore.

TRUDY: Guest room's through there.

(They turn and look at the guest bedroom.)

LOGAN: Hi.

(The boy, watching them from the guest room, doesn't respond. They move through the hallway back to the kitchen.)

TRUDY: We didn't turn it down. I'll get Sage to come back with some linens.

LOGAN: Now, where's the phone?

TRUDY: There isn't one. Sorry.

LOGAN: Because my cell can't get a signal and I…(Max catches his eye)…I, uh…I need a phone.

TRUDY: There's a pay phone back in town.

LOGAN: Great.

TRUDY: If it's not a problem…would you mind…?

(Takes some cash from his jacket pocket and hands it to Trudy.)

LOGAN: Oh! Yeah. Sorry. Here you go.

TRUDY: Sage, let's go!

(Max and Logan look toward the guest bedroom, but Sage isn't there. They look out the front door and see him jump down the porch steps and run off. Trudy follows. Max sits down as Logan looks around.)

MAX: Spill it.

LOGAN: Spill what?

MAX: Need Bling to feed a cat you don't have?

LOGAN: There's a source that I need to talk to here in town.

(Max gets up.)

LOGAN: What?

MAX: I should've known.

LOGAN: Max, this is important.

MAX: You came here to work.

LOGAN : Ten years ago, there were eighteen people who were murdered for standing up against police brutality. This guy was there.

MAX : I don't care if he could raise the dead. This was supposed to be a vacation.

LOGAN: How can I even think about having a good time when--

MAX: When there are eighteen restless spirits waiting for you to avenge their deaths?

LOGAN: When the man responsible for killing those people was Rollins Miller, the chief of police! And not only did he get away with it, he got promoted for it!

MAX: If I'd known this was gonna be an Eyes Only wilderness retreat, I wouldn't have come.

LOGAN: So I'm just supposed to let him get away with it?

MAX: You can't right every wrong.

LOGAN: You've got to at least try.

MAX: Whatever. Go talk to your source. This girl's gonna kick back, make S'mores, and relax.

LOGAN: Fine. I'll be back later.

MAX: Don't hurry.

LOGAN (glaring at her on his way out): Have fun. Because that is the most important thing.

MAX: I'll try. Even though I'll be wracked by guilt since I don't have enough to share with every single person on this planet.

(They glare at each other as she pops a marshmallow into her mouth.)

(Outside, Max is chopping wood. As she raises the ax, she shakes a little, and she stops chopping. She gathers an armful of the wood she has cut and walks toward the house. As she reaches the porch, she begins to shake violently for a few moments and drops the wood.)

(Max runs into the bedroom and pulls a bottle of tryptophan out of her bag. She manages to get a few pills into her mouth before her shaking hands drop the bottle and pills scatter across the floor. She sits on the floor by the bed, legs drawn to her chest. Sage, who was passing by with some linens, sees her and drops to the floor in front of her, wide-eyed, as she continues to seize.)

SAGE: My aunt's a doctor. I can go get her if you want.

MAX: No, it's okay.

SAGE: What's the matter with you?

MAX: I have this problem. The chemicals in my brain go all buggy on me. I just have to take these pills and it goes away after a while.

(Sage reads the label on the bottle and begins to pick up the pills.)

SAGE: Tryptophan. That's what's in milk.

MAX: How'd you know?

SAGE: Aunt's a doctor. She doesn't just give you a glass of milk when you can't sleep. She tells you why it's gonna work.

MAX: I have a hard time sleeping, too.

SAGE: I don't really like to.

MAX: How come?

SAGE: Bad dreams.

MAX: Me too, sometimes.

SAGE: Like what?

MAX: People chasing me…trying to hurt me.

SAGE: In mine, I'm hiding from them. And when I try to get away…

MAX: You can't move.

SAGE: They keep coming.

MAX: But they never get closer.

SAGE: Yeah.

MAX: Yeah.

SAGE: Sure you don't want me to go get her?

MAX: Yeah. Positive.

SAGE: How come?

MAX: It's complicated. Kind of a secret.

SAGE: I have a secret too.

MAX: Yeah?

SAGE: I'll tell you mine if you'll tell me yours.

MAX (laughing): Nice try.

(They both smile.)

(Logan enters the sherriff's office. He approaches a couple of guys standing around, one of whom is the guy who stopped the car earlier.)

LOGAN: I'm looking for Herman Colberg.

(The guy looks over to a man sitting at a desk nearby.)

GUY: Herman?

(The man at the desk looks up. Logan turns and approaches him.)

LOGAN: Mr. Colberg?

HERMAN: Yeah?

LOGAN: I'm Logan Cale. I'm a journalist.

HERMAN: Uh-huh?

LOGAN: Can I talk to you for a minute…in private?

HERMAN: What about?

LOGAN (glancing around and lowering his voice): I know who you are…who you were. And I'm not here to make trouble.

HERMAN: I don't have any idea of what you're talking about.

(Herman gets up and walks into the next room. Logan follows and continues speaking at low volume. Herman pours himself some coffee.)

LOGAN: You used to be with the Seattle P.D. Changed your name back in 2010 when you quit the force.

HERMAN: I don't know what to tell you…but you got the wrong guy.

LOGAN: Look, I understand why you'd be reluctant to talk to me.

HERMAN: I'm not the man you're looking for.

LOGAN: Maybe you don't care about those eighteen people those cops killed…but your partner did. He died trying to come forward and do the right thing. Don't let his death be for nothing.

(Logan leaves as Herman watches.)

(At a local bar/pool hall, Max is sitting at the bar, drinking milk and sitting next to Sage.)

BARTENDER: You sure like milk, huh?

MAX : Does a body good.

(Sage laughs. A man sits at the bar and sets down a pitcher. Sage's smile disappears and he stares straight ahead.)

BC (to bartender): Hey, Benny. Top us up, there, fella. And a glass of milk for the lady. (Lights a cigarette as Benny pours Max more milk.) Sage. That your girlfriend? Hey, why don't you be a good pal and introduce us, huh? (Sage doesn't react.) That's okay, I'll do it myself.

(He thumps Sage on the back and removes the cigarette from his mouth.)

BC: Hi. I'm B.C.

(Max turns to the man sitting on her other side.)

MAX: Are you done with the table?

OTHER MAN: It's all yours, honey.

MAX (to Sage): Come on. (She takes the glass of milk and they walk towards the pool table.)

(Later, Max is leaning over Sage's shoulder as he takes aim. B.C. and his three friends, including the bartender, watch from the bar.)

MAX: Hit it right there.

(Sage takes a shot. Logan enters and approaches them.)

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Hey. Got your note.

MAX: You remember Sage.

LOGAN: Yeah. (To Sage.) How's it going?

SAGE: Okay.

MAX: So? How'd it go? Find him?

LOGAN: Ah, turns out he wasn't the guy I thought he was.

MAX (smiling): Oh. I guess you got no choice but to enjoy yourself.

(As she rounds the table, she shakes for a moment.)

LOGAN: You all right?

(He notices the empty glass of milk on the table as Max bends to take aim.)

MAX: I'm fine. (Quietly.) He knows.

(Logan looks at Sage.)

MAX (at normal volume): I'm just a little shaky.

(She takes a shot and sinks the eight-ball. B.C. and his friends whoop.)

MAX (to Sage): Sorry, bucko. My game.

SAGE: Thanks…for not treating me like a kid and letting me win.

(Max nods.)

MAX (to Logan): So you want to be my next victim?

LOGAN: Mind if I break?

(Logan takes a shot and the balls on the table scatter. He sinks some balls and moves to the side of the table.)

MAX (smiling): Lucky.

(He glances at her, takes another shot, and sinks another ball.)

FRIEND AT BAR (laughing, to B.C.): Lucky.

MAX: Not bad.

(Logan takes a third shot and sinks another ball. He takes a fourth but misses. Max leans over to take aim and B.C. notices.)

B.C.: Nice.

(Logan overhears the comment and frowns. Max takes her shot and sinks a ball. B.C. and his friends whistle a catcall. Logan backs up to approach B.C. while keeping his eyes on Max, who is taking aim for another shot.)

LOGAN: You got a problem?

B.C.: No, man, I ain't got no problem. I'm just enjoying the view.

LOGAN: Why don't you go enjoy the view from your cave?

(The friends laugh at B.C.)

B.C.: Oh, okay.

(He pushes Logan over, who falls backwards out of his chair and onto the floor. As he struggles to get back up, B.C. and his friends laugh and taunt him. Max is still leaning over the pool table, taking aim. B.C. approaches her from behind. Max shoves the pool stick backwards into his gut. As he falls, one of his friends approaches Max, and she whacks him in the face with the stick. Another friend comes up and goes to kick her. She blocks the kick with the stick, kicks him in the gut, and he falls. The man she whacked in the face throws a punch but misses. She socks him in the gut and in the face, and he falls. B.C. heads for her, she punches him in the face, and he falls. As the man she kicked comes at her again, she hops on the pool table and kicks him with both feet. B.C. rises to face her.)

B.C.: Hey.

(Max punches him and he falls. She sees that Logan is almost in the chair and lifts him the rest of the way. Benny stands behind the bar, looking surprised, with his hands on his head.)

MAX: You okay?

LOGAN : Yeah. I'm fine.

(Logan leaves and Max watches him go.)

(The next morning, Max enters the kitchen. Logan is sitting on the counter, legs on the wheelchair in front of him, spooning some oatmeal into a couple of bowls.)

LOGAN: Morning.

MAX: Hey.

LOGAN: Want some breakfast?

MAX: No. I'm not hungry.

(She gets some milk and shakes a little as she pours.)

LOGAN: Seizures getting bad?

MAX: No worse than usual. Just got a terrible headache and I'm tripping over my own feet.

LOGAN (chuckling a little): Well, that's new, huh?

MAX (smiling): Guess I need my 50,000-mile checkup.

LOGAN (dropping into the chair): Are you cold? 'Cause I can get a fire started.

MAX: No, I'm fine.

LOGAN: Let me get you a blanket.

MAX (testily): I said I'm okay.

LOGAN: That's right. I forgot. I'm not supposed to help you, 'cause you're the superhero and I'm the guy on wheels.

(He takes a bowl of oatmeal to the table and begins to eat while sulking. Max sets her milk down and watches him in disbelief.)

MAX (angrily): How did my screwed-up genetics suddenly become about you?

(He doesn't answer and her face softens.)

MAX: When you're done eating, d'you want to go for a walk or something?

LOGAN (sarcastically): Wouldn't want to slow you down.

(Max's face hardens again.)

MAX: Fine. You want to feel sorry for your bad self, be my guest.

(She walks out the door and Logan stabs the spoon into the oatmeal.)

(Max is walking along a dirt path on a hill and stops to look out over the town and the water. A short way down the hill, she sees Sage standing in a small cemetery. She approaches him, and we see he is standing in front of three headstones. The first name on one headstone is covered by leaves; the last name is Gilan. The birth year, in the 1980s, is also covered up, and the death year is 2009. The second headstone says EMILY GILAN 1984-2009. Sage is looking at the third headstone, which says SAM GILAN; the first date, in the 2000's, is covered up, and the second date is 2009.)

MAX: Hey.

SAGE: Hey.

MAX: Friend of yours?

SAGE: Sort of.

MAX: What do you mean, sort of?

SAGE: Remember when I said I had a secret?

MAX: Yeah.

SAGE: Promise you won't tell?

MAX: Promise.

SAGE: I see him sometimes. At night.

MAX: You mean like when you're asleep?

SAGE: No. He's there. In my room.

MAX: You mean like a ghost.

SAGE: Maybe it's just my imagination. 'Cause I know the story.

MAX: What story?

SAGE (looking at her): How he died.

(At the house, there is a knock on the front door. Logan approaches the steps to the living room and sees one of B.C.'s friends standing on the porch, looking through the screen.)

LOGAN: Can I help you?

MAN: Trudy sent me.

LOGAN (in disbelief): You're the carpenter?

MAN: Toolbox…wood…truck…Thought I was the dentist?

LOGAN: I was thinking something else.

(Max and Sage are standing outside an old house, looking at it. The house has obviously been in a fire, and several of the walls are missing.)

SAGE: Happened before I came to live here. It was right after the pulse. They were running a generator to keep the power on. There was an accident. They all died.

(Inside, they stand in the doorway of a bedroom filled with burned debris on the floor.)

SAGE: This was his room.

(Max enters and pokes through the debris. She picks up a doorknob with an interesting engraving and tosses it to Sage.)

MAX: Hey, Sage. Check this out.

(Sage catches the doorknob and looks at it. Suddenly he looks at Max with terror on his face.)

MAX: What's wrong?

(He drops the doorknob and runs out.)

MAX: Sage!

(She starts to chase after him but shakes. She stops, steadies herself against a wall, and walks out of the house.)

MAX: Sage!

(Back at the house Max and Logan are staying in, the carpenter is finishing the ramp while Logan watches, chin in hand.)

CARPENTER: Yeah. That's it. All finished. Wanna try it out?

LOGAN (tightly, through gritted teeth): I'm sure it's fine.

CARPENTER (somewhat contritely): It's a little steep. I, uh…wouldn't want you to tip over.

LOGAN (softening): It's fine.

(The carpenter nods and picks up his toolbox as a truck pulls up outside.)

CARPENTER: You have a nice day now.

(Logan nods, and the carpenter turns for the door. Herman gets out of his truck. The carpenter glances back at Logan and nods at Herman on the way to his own truck.)

CARPENTER: Herm.

(Logan, eyes on Herman, moves down the ramp and approaches the screen door. The carpenter drives off and Herman stands on the porch, looking in at Logan.)

HERMAN: No one here knows who I am and that's the way I want it to stay. If you're smart, you'll leave this whole thing alone.

LOGAN: Maybe I'm not so smart.

HERMAN: Nothing you can do could bring them back. (Turns to leave.)

LOGAN: No, but maybe I can get the cops responsible off the street so they don't do it again.

(Herman turns back around, enters the house, and closes the wooden door behind him.)

HERMAN: You don't know. You don't know what it was like, being out there on the front lines.

LOGAN: You make it sound like a war.

HERMAN: It was. (He paces.) Summer of '09, Seattle went crazy. People were looting, burning down the city. We had to do something.

LOGAN: You mean like rounding up demonstrators, shooting them in cold blood, and dumping their bodies in a mass grave?

HERMAN: Demonstrators? They were inciting people to riot.

LOGAN: They were just trying to keep the police in check.

HERMAN: Keep us in check? I saw people hanging from telephone poles, lynched by their own neighbors. At first, everybody thought it was the Arabs set off the pulse. Then just about any foreigner was a target. Pretty soon, anybody who had something that somebody else wanted was fair game. We had to get the situation under control.

LOGAN: And if you had to break some heads to do it, then…so be it?

HERMAN: We were protecting people like you. People that had the most to lose. You didn't want the barbarian hordes coming to your neighborhood. But you…you wanted us to be nice about it. You wanted us to play by the rules, but…the rules had changed.

LOGAN: Murder was always against the rules.

HERMAN (angrily): You tell that to the cops out on patrol who were being shot at by snipers! You tell that to the firemen who had their throats slit by piano wire strung across doorways! We didn't have any choice! It was us against them! Kill or be killed!

LOGAN: The people that I came to talk to you about were unarmed when they were killed, and they posed no threat to the police involved.

HERMAN (more calmly): As long as they were in custody, no. But…some judge would've let 'em right out. And they would've been right back at it.

LOGAN: Somebody decided to make sure that didn't happen again. Who gave the order? (Herman shakes his head and heads for the door.) Who pulled the trigger?

HERMAN: I don't know.

LOGAN: The bodies--where are they buried? You were there.

HERMAN: I don't know. I don't know anything. (Leaves.)

(Sage is walking down a street. One of B.C.'s friends pulls up next to him in a pickup truck.)

MAN: Hey, Sage. Let's take a ride.

(In an abandoned factory, B.C. is talking to Sage while his three friends look on. Sage is staring at the floor.)

B.C.: Clyde here tells me he saw you up at the house on Willow Street. You were with that girl from out of town. Yeah? (Bends to look in Sage's face.) What were you two doing up there?

SAGE: Nothing.

B.C.: You tell her about the house? The people that died?

SAGE: Yeah.

B.C.: How did they die, Sage? 'Cause, um…(Stands up.)…I forget.

SAGE: Generator shorted out.

B.C.: That's right. It was a coupla days after the pulse and all the lights went out. (Kneels in front of Sage again.) 'Course, you're probably too young to remember that, aren'tcha?

SAGE (looking him in the eye): No. I remember when the lights went out.

B.C.: What else do you remember? (He lights a cigarette; Sage doesn't answer.) Why you lookin' at me like that? Don't stare, kid. It's not polite. (Sage doesn't move.) I said don't stare.

(He slaps Sage across the face and Sage falls to the ground. As he sits up, we see his nose bleeding.)

B.C.: Now you listen to me. You stay away from that girl. You don't know her, you don't need to be talkin' to her. You got it?

(Sage nods tightly and B.C. helps him up.)

B.C.: Good. (Ruffles his hair.) Now get outta here.

(Sage runs away.)

(Max knocks on the door of Trudy's house.)

MAX: Sage? Trudy? Anybody home?

(Sage enters the yard, sees Max, and starts to run away. Max catches him by the arm and sees the dried blood on his lip.)

MAX: Sage! What happened?

SAGE: Nothing.

MAX: Who did this to you?

SAGE: Nobody.

MAX: Tell me.

SAGE: Leave me alone!

(He starts to run off again. Max reaches out and catches him by the shirt. The shirt rips, Sage stops, and Max sees a burn scar on Sage's chest. He looks down and touches it. She takes his hand, looks at his palm, and sees a scar that matches the engraving on the doorknob. She flashes back to the bedroom and to the burned-down house.)

SAGE (in flashback): I have a secret too.

(Max remembers the look of terror on his face when he held the doorknob, and then Sam's headstone.)

SAGE (in flashback): I see him sometimes. At night.

(Max looks at Sage. He turns and runs into the house.)

(That night, under a full moon, Logan shines a flashlight on Max as she stands in a hole in the ground, digging.)

LOGAN: Max, this is insane.

MAX: It's the only explanation.

LOGAN: No, it's grave-robbing.

MAX: The scar…the fire…

LOGAN: What scar? What fire?

MAX: I get it now. Even the ghost makes sense.

(The shovel strikes something hard and she drops it.)

LOGAN: Ah, the ghost makes sense. So, what, now you're avenging restless spirits?

MAX: They lied to him all this time. He was at the house.

LOGAN: Who? What house? (Max brushes some dirt off a wooden object.) Why are you doing this? What do you expect to find?

MAX: Nothing.

(She rips off a couple pieces of the wood and looks inside.)

MAX: See? It's empty.

LOGAN: Max, what the hell is going on here?

MAX: He didn't die in that fire. He's alive…Sage. Sage is Sam Gilan.

(The camera pans out and we see Logan's car parked nearby with its lights on them. A short distance away, we see Clyde, watching them from the darkness.)

(In Trudy's office, she is pacing angrily between her desk and the window. Max and Logan are sitting in front of the desk.)

TRUDY: Where do you get off digging up that poor boy's grave?

MAX: Where do you get off buring an empty coffin?

TRUDY: We wanted to give him a proper funeral. It was empty because his body had never been found.

LOGAN: According to the death certificates, which you filed and signed, the remains of John, Emily, and Sam Gilan were retrieved from the site. We know you falsified the documents…and we know who Sage is.

TRUDY: I don't know what you're talking about.

MAX: The burns on his body?

TRUDY: He was in a car accident when he was little.

MAX: The scar on his hand?

LOGAN: He's Sam Gilan.

TRUDY (no longer angry): Leave it alone. Please.

MAX: Why would you lie to him? Why would you lie to everyone?

TRUDY: Because they would have killed him. Just like they did John and Emily.

LOGAN: Who? Who would've killed him?

TRUDY: B.C. and his friends. Night of the fire, I was the first one up there. They didn't see me, but I saw them…running off, laughing, yelling. I heard something in the woods. It was Sage…Sam. He was burned all over, in shock. I took him home before anyone else got there. Didn't know what else to do.

MAX: Why didn't you go to the police?

TRUDY (looking at them): What police? They'd all been reassigned to the cities to put down rioting. We were on our own out here. I didn't have anyone to turn to, and I didn't know who I could trust. So I didn't tell anyone anything. Just kept him home, waiting for him to get better.

LOGAN: But you couldn't keep him hidden forever…so you started telling people he was your nephew.

TRUDY: Things were chaotic back then. No one questioned it. They all had their own problems to worry about. And Sage…he was so traumatized by what had happened…

MAX: He started believing it himself.

TRUDY: The only ones I had to worry about were B.C. and the others.

LOGAN: And why would they go up there and kill those people?

TRUDY: They did what a lot of people in town thought about doing…attack the outsiders.

(A door slams, and we see Sage running away.)

TRUDY: Sage…

(At the abandoned factory, B.C. is waiting with Benny and Clyde. The carpenter enters.)

B.C.: Well?

CARPENTER: They went over there to talk to her.

CLYDE: We're screwed. So screwed, man.

BENNY: She doesn't know it was us who did it.

CARPENTER: Oh yeah? Then how come she hasn't spoken so much as a word to any of us in ten years? Huh? I told you we shoulda killed her back then. Both of them.

CLYDE: Oh, so, what, it's our fault? Wasn't it your idea to go up there in the first place?

CARPENTER: You said they had food.

B.C.: Is that what you're gonna tell Herman?

CARPENTER: You're the one lost it…started hittin' the guy.

B.C.: Well, I thought he knew the pulse was comin'.

CARPENTER: Oh, yeah. You and your theories.

B.C.: So I was wrong. Anyway, we wouldn'ta had to kill 'em if this idiot didn't grab the wife. (Gestures at Clyde)

CLYDE: Somebody had to teach those A-rabs a lesson. Besides, you had some, too.

B.C.: Yeah, when you weren't up for the job.

(Clyde grabs him and they start to fight. Benny and the carpenter break them up.)

CARPENTER: Guys! Cut it out, man.

BENNY: Come on. Maybe she didn't tell them anything, huh?

CLYDE: Yeah, well, what about the kid?

BENNY: He doesn't remember anything.

CARPENTER: This isn't gonna go away because you want it to!

(They start to scuffle again and B.C. breaks them up.)

B.C.: Shut up! Just let me think.

(He approaches a fire and looks into it.)

B.C.: Benny, your foot's bothering you again. You gotta pay a visit to the doc. Suss out what she may have told them. Clyde, I think it's high time you volunteered for watch duty. Find out what Herman and his stormtroopers know about the grave. (Looks at the carpenter.) You're with me.

CARPENTER: Where we goin'?

B.C.: We're gonna remind the kid that good little boys don't talk to strangers.

(Max and Sage are standing at the gate to the cemetery. Sage is crying.)

SAGE: It's not true. It can't be!

MAX: It is true. In a way you've always known. I know it hurts…but you can't hide from it anymore.

(Sage hugs her and sobs.)

(At the house, Max lights a fire as Sage and Logan watch. Max starts to walk away but has to grab the railing as a seizure shakes her.)

LOGAN: You okay?

MAX: Whoa.

(She continues shaking. Logan hears a truck, looks out the window, and sees B.C. and the carpenter pulling up. He goes over to Max and whispers.)

LOGAN: We've got company. Take him in the bedroom and stay there. Okay? Do it. (To Sage.) Hey, Sage…

(Max and Sage head for the bedroom, Max leaning on Sage as she shakes. Logan goes to his bag, pulls out a gun, and loads it. Max hears him cock the gun and glances back at him on her way into the bedroom. Logan goes out to the porch as B.C. and the carpenter approach it.)

B.C.: Lookin' for Sage.

LOGAN: Not here.

B.C.: So you don't mind if we just come in just to--

(Logan crosses his arms and B.C. sees the gun he's holding.)

LOGAN: Guess you'll have to take my word for it.

(They all hear a truck and look to see Herman pulling in the driveway. Logan hides the gun under his arm and Herman gets out.)

HERMAN: Got a call from Trudy said Sage was missing?

B.C.: Yeah, they got him inside.

(Herman looks at B.C. and the carpenter.)

HERMAN: What are you doing here?

B.C.: Just tryin' to help find the kid, that's all.

LOGAN: He's found. So why don't you get lost?

HERMAN: Go on. (They don't move and he brushes his jacket aside to reveal a gun in a holster.) Don't make me tell you again.

(B.C. and the carpenter look at Logan, then at Herman, and start to walk away. Suddenly they jump Herman and begin fighting with him. Logan pulls out the gun but can't get a clear shot. The carpenter wrests Herman's gun away from him and shoots him in the gut. The guys stop fighting. Herman stumbles a few steps and collapses. The carpenter grabs the gun, which had fallen to the ground. Logan fires at him. The carpenter ducks behind the truck and returns fire. Max hears the shooting and starts getting up. Logan and the carpenter keep shooting at each other. Max's seizure makes her stumble. Logan goes into the house and closes the wooden door; a bullet pierces it. Sage helps Max back into bed and runs out to Logan.)

SAGE: She's getting worse.

LOGAN: Get back in the room and give her her pills.

(Sage runs back to the bedroom. B.C., who now has the gun, fires into Herman's truck and ducks behind his own with the carpenter.)

BC (handing him the gun): Here. I'm gonna go get the guys. You block the end of the driveway and make sure no one comes up. Make sure they don't take off to get help.

(He climbs in the truck and drives away. The carpenter runs into the trees, headed for the end of the long driveway. Once they've left, Logan comes out and approaches Herman, who is lying on the ground. Herman sits up a little, bleeding from the corner of his mouth, and Logan checks his chest for the gunshot wound.)

HERMAN (gasping): I don't know who gave the order…but…

LOGAN: It doesn't matter now. Don't try to speak.

HERMAN: We…we all did the shooting. All of us. (Grabs Logan and looks him in the eye.) Kill or be killed.

(His eyes roll back and he collapses, dead.)

(In the bedroom, Max is lying on the bed, seizing violently. Logan is beside the bed, one hand on her shoulder, and Sage is standing nearby.)

MAX: Must be the implant. Piece of junk's still stuck in my head.

LOGAN: It's affecting your balance, making your seizures worse.

MAX: It's okay. It'll pass. Always does.

LOGAN: In the meantime, neither one of us is in any shape to make much of an escape.

MAX: They're coming back, Logan.

LOGAN: And I'll be ready for 'em. (To Sage) And you're getting out of here.

SAGE: I'm not leaving.

MAX: Listen to him.

SAGE: I'm done hiding. I don't want to do it anymore.

(Outside, Logan peers into Herman's truck. Sage opens a metal box in the truck bed and hands Logan a bulletproof vest and a rifle. Logan unscrews the cap to the gas tank, inserts a plastic hose, and begins to siphon gasoline into a bucket. Sage hands him a propane tank. Logan cuts a length of fishing line and hands it to Sage. Logan boards up a window, inside the house, as Sage paints a big X on the wall below the front window. Logan straps a bulletproof vest on Sage.)

LOGAN: Ready?

SAGE: Ready.

(That night, the truck pulls up to the house. Logan and Sage look out the window. Sage flashes back and remembers that night shortly after the pulse, looking out a window as B.C. and his friends approach his house with guns. Sam's mother joins him at the window.)

BC (in flashback): Hey, Johnny! C'mon out. We wanna talk to ya.

(Logan cocks the rifle. B.C. and his friends duck behind Herman's truck and aim their guns at the house. Logan shoots above their head.)

LOGAN: We are armed. Leave now or you will meet with forceful resistance.

BC (laughing): All right, we'll just be leaving then, man. Just gotta tie up a few loose ends first. (Logan sets down the gun and lights a cigarette lighter that was sitting on the windowsill. B.C. sniffs the air and the ground.)

CARPENTER: What's that?

B.C.: Gasoline.

(Logan drops the lighter on the ground outside the house, and the fishing line catches fire. The fire heads toward the truck. B.C. and his friends run away and the truck explodes. Max hears the explosion and starts to get up. B.C. and his friends duck behind their truck.)

B.C.: Benny, go around the side of the house, man.

(Sage kills the lights inside the house.)

LOGAN: Good. Now go back and take care of Max.

(B.C. and his friends shoot at the house. Logan backs away from the window. Benny uses his gun to smash through the window. Sage watches and flashes back to his father trying to defend the family as someone smashes through the window with a gun. His mother rushes him to a closet and closes him into it.)

LOGAN: Go!

(Sage ducks under a table. Benny fires at Logan. Logan fires back and hits him in the shoulder. Benny sits on the porch. Max gets up and heads for the bedroom door, but the seizures make her sit on the floor. Benny reloads his gun on the porch. Logan takes aim at the X below the window and fires. The bullet goes through the wood and hits a propane tank sitting outside, and the porch explodes into flame.)

B.C.: I'll take the front. All right? Go around the back. I'm gonna take the front window.

(In the bedroom, Max passes out. Logan goes up the ramp as Clyde uses his gun to start smashing through the front door. Sage flashes back to B.C. and his friends busting into the house as he watches through the slats in the closet door. B.C. jabs the gun into John Gilan's gut as Emily screams.)

BC (in flashback): What are you lookin' at, raghead? (Punches John.) You knew it was comin', didn't you? Huh? (Kicks him.)

(Clyde breaks through the door and Logan aims at him.)

LOGAN: Put it down!

(Clyde goes to shoot but Logan shoots him first, and he collapses. Sage remembers watching from the closet as B.C. kicks John.)

BC (in flashback): It was you camel jockeys set off the pulse, wasn't it?

(Clyde grabs Emily.)

EMILY (in flashback): No! Please!

(In the present day, the carpenter opens the side door.)

CARPENTER: You're gonna pay!

(Logan rolls down the ramp. The carpenter goes to follow but is caught by fishing line strung across and falls. B.C. jumps through the shattered front window and shoots Logan in the vest. The force of the bullet knocks Logan backwards onto the floor. B.C. kicks him a bit to see if he moves; he doesn't and his eyes remain closed. B.C. sees the bloody fishing line and the carpenter lying on the floor, throat slit. B.C. lights a cigarette as Sage watches from under the table. Sage flashes back to B.C. lighting a cigarette with a match and smiling.)

BC (in flashback): Let's torch this sucker.

(In the present day, B.C. pours gasoline out of a water bottle and drops his cigarette. A fire starts. Logan opens his eyes, quietly reaches into his wheelchair pocket, and pulls out his gun. He shoots B.C. in the leg. B.C. falls on top of him and they fight. B.C. pulls out a knife, but Logan grabs his wrist.)

LOGAN: Thing about the wheelchair…Builds upper-body strength.

(Logan turns B.C.'s wrist and uses it to jam the knife into B.C.'s gut. They roll over. B.C. groans and Logan looks at Sage.)

LOGAN: Sage! Fire extinguisher!

(In the bedroom, Max is lying unconscious on the floor as smoke fills the room.)

LOGAN: Sage! Get the fire extinguisher!

(Sage shakes his head. He is having flash backs of his parents lying on the floor, reaching to him, as the house burns. He watches wide-eyed through the closet door as they pass out.)

LOGAN: Sage!

( Sage grabs a fire extinguisher puts out the fire. He and Logan look at each other.)

(Logan's car is being loaded onto a truck. Max and Sage are sitting on the steps of the porch, Max wrapped in a blanket. Logan is sitting nearby a fire. The man who stopped their car when they first entered town paces around him.)

MAN: We didn't know what happened up there that night. All the evidence was destroyed in the fire. Sure, I'd heard what the people were saying--"Why are they the only ones who've got food and power? They must've known the pulse was coming." You could see that house of theirs from miles away. Only thing lit up. I know it sounds crazy now, but back then…when people would say they must've known it was comin'…somehow it made sense.

LOGAN: Didn't help that the Gilans weren't from around here?

MAN: Never thought anybody'd go through with it.

(Trudy comes and calls out.)

TRUDY: Sage.

(On the porch, Sage looks up but doesn't get up.)

MAX: She went though a lot for you. You're lucky to have someone like that in your life.

SAGE: Yeah. You too.

(Max looks at Logan and smiles. Sage kisses Max on the cheek, walks over to Trudy, and hugs her. Max, smiling, gets off the porch and approaches Logan.)

MAX: It's good to know that when the superhero's otherwise occupied, the sidekick's ready to step in.

(Logan looks up at her.)

MAX: How you feeling?

LOGAN: Okay…considering I've never killed anyone before.

MAX: Sometimes you have no other choice.

MAX(voice over): I guess Logan must've figured it out. You can get more than you bargain for when you go looking for where the bodies are buried.

(In the cemetery, Sage is putting daisies on his parents' headstones.)

MAX: Even when they're not buried after all.

MAX: They say you can't raise the dead. But sometimes, if you're prepared to go through a little bit of hell, maybe you can.

(Sage takes Trudy's hand, they smile and leave the cemetery.)