Casualty of War
by Kevin Wallace
FADE IN:
EXT. RUINED STREET, A BESIEGED CITY DAWN
Exchanges of MACHINE GUNFIRE drone on far away, KATJA (16), a panicked, unwashed girl wearing a tattered white shift-dress, is hiding. Her back is pushed-up against a redbrick wall on a corner. Her eyes are shut tight as two long shadows slide toward her from around the corner. Suddenly she opens her eyes.
The shadows edge ever closer. A pair of MUMBLING voices and heavy FOOTSTEPS can be heard over distant GUNFIRE. Katja closes her eyes, swallows, and then runs. She runs down a dark street towards a small ruin at its end.
INT. KATJA'S HOUSE - DAWN
A broken and dusty room is lit with the cool blue light of early morning. An old wooden dresser stands in the left foreground of the room beside a broken window. MACHINE GUNFIRE drones on. A few meagre dust-covered ornaments sit on the dresser; FAMILY PICTURES; CERAMIC STATUES; and a KORAN. A cat MEOWS from its nest in cobwebbed fireplace on the back wall. Above the fireplace a clock sits on the mantle piece.
Katja leans against the door as she SLAMS it closed. PANTING and sweating in panic, she bolts the lock and runs towards the front of the room. There she lifts a floorboard and wriggles into the small gap resting her feet on a copper pipe.
Hiding beneath the floorboards, Katja peers out through a gap in them GASPING, as two pairs of boots PLOD toward the door in the right rear of the room. She shifts her weight, resting her feet on a copper pipe. She grimaces as the door handle turns and the lock CLICKS. Suddenly bullets BLAST into the door, bursting the lock.
She's here!
GRIMM (24) a tall dark eyed man, and RATKO (21) a skinny, nervous soldier enter the room each wearing green and black camouflage jackets; black trousers; black boots; a green shell helmet, and carrying Kalashnikovs. GRIMM holds the broken door as RATKO walks into the room scanning it with his rifle.
Katja BREATHES HESITANTLY as she watches them. Ratko points at Grimm and then at the dresser as he takes out a cigarette.
Grimm walks over to the dresser. He smashes the ceramic statues on the mantle piece with the butt of his Kalashnikov and wipes them onto the floor.
The house shakes as a shell EXPLODES nearby but the Guerrillas take no notice of it.
Katja controls a little WHIMPER as the family pictures are smashed on the floor. Grimm picks up the Koran on the dresser and throws it across the room to Ratko who is smoking above the gap in the floorboards. He throws it back kicking the ground as he smokes.
(mumbles)
She's probably gone.
Grimm opens the book and grinds his cigarette into the open pages of the text.
RATKO (cont'd)
Probably has a trap door
or somethin'. Probably...
One of the discarded cigarette-butts falls in through Katja's peephole and onto her face. She flinches shifting her weight on the copper pipe. The pipe groans and breaks beneath her. She slips and falls six inches to a sub-floor, cutting her legs on concrete and metal, GROANING in pain.
The Guerrillas jump with a start.
Get out here bitch!
Grimm flicks his eyes around the room. They settle on the dresser. He fires a volley of bullets into it, rending the wooden frame sending splinters flying everywhere.
Katja's breathing gets heavier as she turns away from the gap in the floorboards wincing, and letting a WHIMPER escape.
Grimm walks stealthily to his right towards the door.
Katja's legs are bleeding and she can hear her own HEARTBEAT in her ears. Looking back up through the gap, she sees Ratko moving steadily towards her hiding place. He raises his rifle, bayonet pointed down - plunging it to the hilt into the board to the right of her head. The blade shivers slightly in front of Katja as Ratko pulls it out of the floorboard.
A broken piece of copper pipe falls
CLANGING on the ground.
Movement catches Grimm's eye. He fires towards the door. A small
black cat falls over dead into a shaft of light.
A fucking cat! All of that
to kill a fucking cat!
Bollox!
All is SILENT now, as Ratko looks at Grimm and pulls out a wad of cash from inside of the cover of the Koran, and smiles.
RATKO
(anxious)
Forget
her, lets go
somewhere
else.
Katja breathes deeply and rhythmically while Ratko LAUGHS as he leaves. She turns away in disgust as Grimm kicks the dead cat.
Fucking bitch.
(pause)
Fucking cat.
Leaving through the broken door their FOOTSTEPS fall off quickly. The house shakes again, more violently this time, as another shell EXPLODES nearby.
Katja pushes the floorboards above her apart and wriggles out. Her dress is further torn and her legs are bloody.
She walks over to the dead cat, kneels, picks it up and cradles it in her arms. She watches the Sun rise over the adjacent apartment block, sending more light into the room, changing its colour from cool blue to pale yellow. Standing up holding the cat close to her chest a red stain bleeds onto her dress as she walks out of the room.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. KATJA'S HOUSE DAY (FALSHBACK)
KATJA'S FATHER (36) a tall man wearing a suit without a jacket, and KATJA'S MOTHER (34), a stylish blonde woman in a white-shift dress, cuddle by the open window, beside the dresser. The woman kisses the man on the cheek and starts to wind-up the old clock on the mantle piece. Katja's Father turns his head and calls...
(indistinctly)
Katja!
FADE TO:
EXT. GARDEN BEHIND KATJA'S HOUSE DAWN (PRESENT)
Echoes of MACHINE GUNFIRE fill the garden. Cradling the cat in her arms, Katja walks, her legs no longer bleeding but bloodstained, CRUNCHING through the tangled weeds of the overgrown garden, along the path which is shattered by the gnarled roots of dead birch trees, one in each of the corners. As Katja steps over a smashed pave-stone, two mounds of earth come into view at the picket fence back wall. Laying the cat down Katja begins to dig a hole, beside the third mound on the left, with her hands.
When the hole is three feet long and a foot deep Katja puts the cat in the hole and covers it over. She kneels very still, bows her head, and shuts her eyes tight.
(whispers)
Goodbye.
Rising she turns away from the mounds and walks away PAST THE CAMERA.
EXT. SNIPER ALLEY DAWN
Katja walks, almost in a daze, down towards the tower-block lined Sniper Alley. Corpses lie in the street pilled in doorways and slumped in the centre of the road. A long way up ahead of Katja a figure makes a dash towards her. A SHOT rings out - the figure collapses an arm pulls Katja into an alcove between concrete buildings.
Katja's eyes widen as the palm of a hand is slapped over her mouth. An arm restrains her by the waist as she struggles.
(slowly)
Please don't scream!
A BURST OF MACHINE GUNFIRE strafes into the wall of the building beside the alcove, collapsing some plaster.
Katja turns her head around sharply, almost in panic.. MARIA (18) a nervy girl with short-cropped blonde hair, wearing a ripped brown leather bomber jacket, is holding her. The girls throw themselves up against the wall as flat as they can. A soldiers' battle CRY goes up at the end of Sniper Alley. Katja sticks her head around the corner.
POV KATJA ZOOMING IN
She sees a group of TEN SOLDIERS, nine firing as they run towards an apartment building, the tenth carrying a flag. They enter - SCREAMS ring out then HEAVY MACHINE GUNFIRE from the building. Windows light up with gunfire. White light blinks from the windows for an instant. Then it stops and the troops pull out, looking right and left as they do so. The echo of a CRY OF VICTORY lasts only a second, drowned by the persistent WAILLING of a baby.
CAMERA CLOSE ON KATJA & MARIA
A piece of plaster falls and SMASHES beside Katja's foot, she tightens her eyes as Maria lurches and SHRIEKS in shock.
It's alright they're finished
now.
Maria blinks hard to compose herself and then looks down suddenly smiling. She runs over to the west side of Sniper Alley turning to Katja, as she beckons her to follow.
(smiling)
Come on!
They run down the adjacent street.
INT. JOSHUA'S BEDROOM DAY
The hum of RADIO NOISE fills the bedroom. JOSHUA a fat unshaven man, lies sleeping, grumbling from time to time, in a musty room above his bakery. The radio rests on the table beneath the window, as the light grows in warmth and colour.
EXT. BEHIND JOSHUA'S HOUSE DAY
Maria rummages through a rusty yellow skip. Old magazines, and black bags are heaped on top of stale and mouldy slices of bread. GUNFIRE crackles on a few miles away.
Have you eaten yet today?
No, not yet.
(smiling)
What's your name?
(whispers)
Katja.
Katja! - I'm Maria!
Maria throws a piece of bread over to Katja, who begins to eat it cautiously. Maria looks around, paranoid that someone will find them. The gunfire stops, it is nearly silent.
Maria jumps down off the skip and calls to Katja. The HISSING of a falling missile begins in the distance.
Come on!
The HISSING grows louder as it gets nearer. Katja looks up wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Maria turns around, knowing the missile will strike.
The missile hits the wall of an adjacent building sending dust and rubble flying. For a second the street is lit with bright whit light and then all is dark.
Katja looks around, as the dust rises and the rubble begins to fall. She can hear an ENGINE rev close by. Finally she sees a hand trapped beneath some plaster and broken timber.
Maria's muffled CRIES are all that can be heard. Katja pulls the plaster off of Maria's head and back.
Maria winces as she drags her own leg out of the rubble, cutting it on the concrete and broken plaster.
Two figures make their way towards the girls, through the dust-fogged air. Ratko and Grimm advance Kalashnikovs pointed at the girls. Maria swallows hard, turns and looks at Katja, and then runs.
Grimm fires a volley of bullets all missing the girls.
A piece of plaster falls beside Katja. She looks at it and then starts to run after Maria.
The still standing wall of the shelled building starts CREAKING and then collapses on Grimm.
(jumping out of the way)
Grimm!
EXT. MASON'S STREET BY THE RIVER DAY
Maria and Katja are running. Katja's eyes are very wide and her breathing becomes more and more irregular.
Maria looks back smiling, giddy with manic elation. As they pass the ruins of terraced housing and rubble concrete lying on the ground.
Katja trips on some broken ground and falls. Her legs begin bleeding again. She suppresses a grunt, closing her eyes tightly and tilting her torso backwards on her knees.
Here - you're hurt.
Maria offers her hand to help Katja up but picking herself up, Katja pushes the offer of help away.
You can Wash your cuts
in the river.
EXT. RIVERBANK, QUEEN'S RIVER - DAY
Katja and Maria dangle their legs in the murky water, Maria sits beside Katja, with her arm about her waist. The blood from Katja's cuts drifts down river.
Daddy used to bring us here
Before the fighting
CAMERA FOLLOWS KATJA'S BLOOD UPSTREAM
Katja's blood runs in the murky waters, for about a metre with ruins and rubble reflecting in the river.
We used to come out here in
summer time, and row out to
the island
CAMERA CONTINUES ON UPSTREAM
The blood dissipates and the water clears as the reflections change to a landscape of terraced houses and trafficked streets.
Mammy used to sing with us
on the trip. I loved it. We
played in the sand, and
laughed
THE CAMERA STOPS ON THE EDGE OF A BEACH
Feet move about on the beach, reflections of children playing dance on the river, echoes of distant LAUGHING ring.
You know, no one laughs
anymore! I used to laugh
all the time - I was even
laughing when it started...
Play quickly turns to panic. Reflections of panicking children are suddenly obscured as a missile explodes on the edge of the beach sending sand flying into the air.
DISSOLVE TO
EXT. WESTERN RIVERBANK, MASON'S STREET DAY
Maria sits closer to Katja on the riverbank, tightening her grip about Katja's waist and resting her head on Katja's shoulder. Katja's cuts have stopped bleeding.
Daddy says it will end one
day. I dreamed about it last
night. Do you think it will
ever end?
Katja pushes free of Maria.
NO! No, get off me!
Katja picks herself up and begins walking away. Maria follows her slipping slightly on the riverbank as she climbs.
Stop! Katja what did I do?
Katja turns around facing Maria.
(faintly)
Shut up!
(Katja starts crying)
Just shut up...
Maria walks up to Katja puts her arm around her, but Katja pushes it away.
Leave me alone! Don't touch
me!
Katja turns and storms off back eastwards.
Katja! Come back! I don't
want to be here on my own.
Come on don't leave me!
(pause)
Katja! KATJA!
EXT. MASON'S STREET BY THE RIVER DAY
Katja walks slowly back down Mason's Street, passing the ruined terrace houses and walking over the shredded road towards the market square at the end of the street.
INTERCUT
EXT. MASON'S STREET SQUARE DUSK (FALSHBACK)
Queues of people line up at stalls in the square as packages are given out. Women in tattered shawls and headscarves push and shove towards the head of the queue. A sudden burst of GUNFIRE and some fall dead, others run screaming from the square.
EXT. MASON'S STREET BY THE RIVER DAY (PRESENT)
Katja walks along the torn concrete SPLASHING into a puddle.
MATCH CUT
EXT. SOUTH END, SNIPER ALLEY DUSK (FLASHBACK)
Children's feet SPLASH into a puddle as they run with white plastic buckets of water. A RIFLE SHOT rings out and a body falls splashing into the same puddle.
EXT. A RUINED STREET DAY (PRESENT)
Katja walks slowly towards her house. Maria follows her running.
INT. KATJA'S HOUSE DAY
She walks passed the shattered ornaments and over the splinters of the dresser, towards the broken picture frame on the ground. Maria runs into the room anxious and short of breath. Katja picks the picture up.
ZOOM IN ON PICTURE
Katja wait.
Katja looks up at Maria.
This was my family.
(pause)
They're all I dream
about!
Katja walks out of the room, and Maria follows wearily behind her.
EXT. GARDEN BEHIND KATJA'S HOUSE - DAY
Katja walks down to the three mounds by the picket fence back wall. Putting the picture onto the mound in front of her.
(whispers)
This is all that I've
got left of them.
She slumps down against the birch in the corner, she begins to cry. Maria sits down besides her and tries to console her.
An AEROPLANE PASSES overhead as Maria cradles Katja in her arms against her chest. Maria looks up at the sky.
Look Katja...
Katja looks up, as white spots float down, out of the sky. Leaflets gently fall to earth. She closes her eyes and tilts her head back against the tree trunk as a leaflet falls down passed her face and then onto the ground.
ZOOM IN ON THE LEAFLET
"CEASE FIRE DECLARED" printed in large bold type.
Katja rests her head on Maria's shoulder. The tears stop, and she looks down at the fallen leaflets and then up at the sky. Clouds pass the buildings in silence as the WIND picks up.
FADE OUT:
