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Transcript of Millennium episode "The Fourth Horseman"

Presented below is an episode transcript of The Fourth Horseman from Chris Carter's Millennium TV series. These transcripts have been provided thanks to the dedication and time consuming hard work of Millennium fans Libby and Maria Vitale. Millennium - This is who we are is extremely greatful to Libby who has painstakingly checked, updated and edited each one for accuracy to make sure that they are as true to the actual episodes as possible.

 

Welcome Frank.
There are 279 days remaining.

 

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The transcript on this page includes all spoken and visual content providing a full written account of the selected episode of Chris Carter's Millennium television series.

Please note that transcripts are different to the original Ten Thirteen shooting scripts/screenplays in that they have been painstakingly transcribed from the actual broadcasted episodes (and subsequently later checked against the DVD released episodes) for the benefit of resource and interest of Millennium's fans.

The original episode screenplays and shooting scripts may include or exclude varying scenes, explanations and character descriptions and are always of great interest to fans of Millennium. Such scripts of Millennium may occasionaly be found for sale on Ebay and other online auction sites and make for ideal collectors items.

In 2004, Lance Henriksen (Millennium's Frank Black) teamed up with Sue Myatt formerly of website Lance Henriksen Magic to auction his personal signed collection of 63 Millennium scripts filled with Lance's comments, notes, production sheets, location maps and reminders.

Together they are to be congratulated for raising over £13,000 for international charities, which was a fantastic endeavour.

Unfortunately many, if not most of the auctioned autographed scripts were believed to have been purchased by internet auction traders, and therefore never got to be appreciated and cherished by Millennium's actual fans.

We have available some scanned shooting/production scripts available within our main community downloads section, which have kindly been freely scanned and shared by their respective owners.

 

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The Fourth Horseman - Transcript


Season:

2

MLM Code:

#MLM-222

Production Code:

5C22

Original Airdate:

1998-05-08



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Episode Profile | Synopsis | Credit List | Original Fox Photos |  Episode Images


The Fourth Horseman

[MLM-222 (5C22)]

 

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Dwight Little
Edited by Jim Thompson
U.S. Air Date: May 8, 1998

[Transcribed by Dan Owen
Edited by Libby]

 

[The sound of a horse whinnying.]

[Fade in to opening quote.]

[The quote is read by Peter Watts. During it we hear the sounds of a storm and wind howling.]

WATTS: (V.O) So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the Earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

[The quote is attributed to Revelation 6:8]

[A lightning bolt sounds loudly, followed by a whistling wind.]

[fade out.]

[fade in]

WATERLOO, WISCONSIN
1986

[A beautiful sunrise on a well-kept farm. A two-storey farmhouse. A hammock slung between two trees. Inside the farmhouse kitchen a coffee pot is brewing. Someone places some bread in a toaster, then pours some hot coffee into a mug. Through a window we can see someone is driving a green tractor up a field. Someone cracks two eggs into a frying pan and watches them cook. That someone is Farmer Duffy. He now sits at his breakfast table eating, while reading a newspaper. He puts down his paper and swallows a mouthful of coffee. Then stops. Duffy senses something's wrong; he glances out of his kitchen window.]

[Duffy walks down the wooden steps, smoking a cigarette. A concerned expression on his face. He drops the cigarette and crushes it underfoot. He notices something: splashes of blood on the ground. Very worried, Duffy walks a little further and bends down again and sees more blood, this time mixed with straw. The trail leads to the chicken warehouse a few yards away. The door is ajar. He follows the trail.]

[Farmer Duffy stares through a glass panel in the door. He can't see anything unusual inside. He opens the door and enters. At first nothing seems wrong, but then he sees them – two dead chickens on the floor, covered in blood and straw. Duffy goes to them and bends down, shocked. Looking up, he sees true horror – his entire factory of chickens are dead. They lie in messy piles of blood and straw inside their metal cages – that stretch back into the distance. Heart pumping in shock, he grabs a telephone from the wall behind him. As he dials a number, he sees a black papule on the back of his hand. He drops the phone on terror and sees his other hand, slightly swollen in blood. As he watches, the infection in his hands is rapidly spreading. He staggers backwards in terror. In a dirty mirror he sees a large red welt on his neck. He stares in disbelief before he drops to his knee, breathing with difficulty. He crashes to the floor amidst his dead fowl, and dies quickly.]

[Outside, the sun is now above the horizon, shining over the seemingly tranquil but eerily silent farm.]

[fade to black]

[main titles]

[fade in]

[Another quote. Peter Watts reads it aloud.]

WATTS: (V.O) Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?

[The quote comes from Psalms 94:3]

"THE FOURTH HORSEMAN"

[Peter Watts sitting in an undetermined location. Thinking. Remembering.]

[River – day. Two police officers are lifting a plastic water cooler out of the water. Watching them is Peter Watts – younger, with a thicker moustache and wearing an FBI jacket. Behind him, more police officers wait on a bridge. The cooler is heaved onto shore, and Watts gives them a signal to open it. The men open the cooler's lid ajar with a click.]

[The present-day Watts, still sitting. He gulps down a glass of alcohol. Remembering.]

[Interview room – night. The younger Watts sits on the far side of a desk, listening to a Millennium Group Member.]

GROUP MEMBER: (O.C) Like yourself, Mister Watts, the Millennium Group is not content to sit around, waiting for a happy ending.

[The present Peter Watts sits. Contemplating.]

[Riverside – night. A small waterfall. The rushing water is given a blue glaze by the moonlight. Standing on some rocks is a white-haired Group Elder and the younger Peter Watts. The Group Elder talks in Latin, with English subtitles.]

GROUP ELDER: (in Latin, subtitled) And some of those understanding shall fail.

[The Elder takes out a sharp knife.]

GROUP ELDER: (in Latin, subtitled) To refine them, purify them.

[He takes Watts's palm and slices it diagonally. Watts winces slightly.]

WATTS: (in Latin, subtitled) Until the time of the end.

[Watts drops blood from his sliced palm into the cold water.]

WATTS: (in Latin, subtitled) Because it is still the appointed time.

[The modern-day Watts again, sitting. The sound of a horse whinnying.]

[fade to black]

[fade in]

[Frank's bedroom – morning. Frank lies asleep in his bed, a sunbeam across his chest. There's the sound of glass shattering. Frank jerks awake. He listens, then gets up and goes to the window. The window pane is smashed. He hides to the side a second, before he peers through the curtains. Looking down he sees the culprit: a dead crow laying dead on the grass. The wind whistles. Frank relaxes. The time on his radio-clock reads 6:02.]

 

[Front room – day. Frank is sat on his sofa. Richard Gilbert places a silver folder marked "THE TRUST" on a table.]

RICHARD: We're calling it "The Trust", and we have two ex-KGB, two ex-MOSSAD agents working alongside an old company man – who'd have believed it. Of course the rest of us you know from the old Bureau days. Duncan, Vitaris, Brian Dixon. We feel, Frank, that we have taken the best elements of these organizations, and dumped the worst, and put together a corporate security consultation dream team.
FRANK: That sounds great, Rich. I'm really happy for you and those guys, and ...
RICHARD: I tell you what, Frank – we've taken off like a rocket. And it's not just disgruntled employees and stalkers. Y'see, we're working with Western corporations in Moscow harassed by Russian gangsters.
FRANK: Threat assessment?
RICHARD: Yessir. And we've worked with, uh, the Japanese officials about the Aum Shinri Kyo Sect. Even governments in Columbia.
FRANK: (smiles) Rich, you don't have to pitch me, you don't have to sell me.
RICHARD: I just can't tell you how many times one of us from the Bureau says "well, we could sure use Frank on this one."
FRANK: You want me to come and work for Brian Dixon?
RICHARD: (chuckles) No, even Dix didn't want that – no, you're his idol. Now we all agree that the only way to do this is for you to come aboard as a full partner.

[Frank is intrigued, and sits closer.]

FRANK: What?
RICHARD: My hunch is you're tight on funds ...

[Frank looks slightly embarrassed.]

RICHARD: ... so the company will take care of the buy-in money. And you can work against it. Now I don't know what the Millennium Group pays you, but I'm sure we'll be in the ballpark, and the advantage is this one's yours. So you know what it is, and we're all upfront about everything. Hell, you'd have more time to spend with Jordan, and the potential to make more for her future.

[Frank's phone rings. For a second Frank is lost in thought, but then snaps out of it and gets up. ]

FRANK: Hold on just one second.

[He goes over to a table and picks up his phone.]

FRANK: Hello.
CALLER: Frank Black, please.
FRANK: Uh, may I ask who's calling.
CALLER: This is Dan Sullivan, I'm a public relations administrator at Saint Sebastian's hospital.

[Frank becomes concerned.]

FRANK: I'm Frank Black.
SULLIVAN: Mr. Black, I apologize for the delay in notifying you. However it took us some time to find the next of kin.
FRANK: Next of kin?
SULLIVAN: Our deepest condolences, Mr. Black, your father Henry passed away in our Intensive Care Unit at 6:02 this morning.

[Shocked, but holding back his emotions, Frank hangs up.]

 

[Graveyard – day. Frank stands, dressed entirely in black, in front of his father's freshly dug grave. Catherine and Jordan, also in black, approach. The gravestone reads: BLACK "For Thou Art With Me" It's a double grave for LINDA ANNE and HENRY FRANKLIN. Jordan looks up at her father.]

JORDAN: You can't die when it's your birthday. Right?
FRANK: I'm afraid no-one gets any free days, sweetheart.
JORDAN: What happens when you die?
FRANK: (shaking his head) I don't know. I know it sounds scary, but no-one knows. Maybe that's the beautiful part of it.

[Jordan opens Frank's hand and places a small white figurine of an angel in his palm.]

FRANK: Thank you.
JORDAN: Kids don't die. Right?

[Frank looks down at her, as Catherine bends next to Jordan.]

CATHERINE: Actually, some do. So that's why we all have to appreciate – remember that word?

[Jordan nods. Frank walks closer to the grave.]

CATHERINE: If we appreciate each other, and take care of each other while we're alive.

[As Catherine talks Frank places the angel figurine on the grave.]

FRANK: (to Jordan) Grandpa will appreciate this.
JORDAN: Are you lonely without your mommy and daddy?

[Frank and Catherine exchange looks. Then Catherine takes Jordan and leads her away, as Frank looks back to the gravesite.]

CATHERINE: Come on sweetie. We'll go and wait in the cr.
FRANK: (to himself) I'm very lonely.

 

[Frank's study – day. Frank looks at the cover of The Trust folder. He's wearing glasses, and slams it shut. He places it on the table at arm's length. Not sure. The computer is turned on, and Frank uses his mouse to position his cursor over a "Millennium Intranet" window. He clicks Members, and types in the word MEANS before selecting Search. Frank picks up his phone, and takes off his glasses. He waits as the number is dialed. It rings and is picked up.]

LARA'S PHONE VOICE: This is 555-0114, please leave a message.
FRANK: Lara, this is Frank Black, here's my thing: I've been trying to reach you – I don't know if you're getting my messages. Could you please call me back, I want, I need someone to talk with. I hope you're all right, bye-bye.

[He hangs up and sits back in his chair. Then his computer beeps and he notices something on his computer screen. Sitting forward he sees the familiar Millennium Group start-up screen with the flashing ouroboros symbol. The words 'Welcome Frank – there are 602 days remaining' blink on the screen. Frank focuses on the 602 digit.]

 

[Riverside – day. Police officers are combing a sparsely wooded area. Yellow tape runs through the trees. Peter Watts is walking with Frank through the area.]

WATTS: Jason Molgilny, he's 32. His roommate reports he left his residence two days ago to come up here fishing. He was discovered by a ranger this morning. Crime scene team didn't find any new tire tracks on the dirt road a mile away. There's no footprints in view, no disturbance in the foliage.

[They both stop walking.]

WATTS: The only, uh, sign of resistance were these two trails leading to the body.

[Frank looks and sees two drag marks leading up to the lake shore. A body, it's face bloodied, lies in the dirt. A man is wading through the lake for clues in the distance.]

WATTS: The body appears to have been exsanguinated. However, a precursory ME exam indicates no puncture or weapon wounds large enough to expel that much blood. An entire six pints.

[Frank bends down to the dead body.]

WATTS: No abrasions or lacerations. No sign of any struggle whatsoever, except for these drag marks.

[Frank looks at the body's feet, and its position from the river.]

WATTS: There are several one-inch diameter holes in areas about the body.
FRANK: Why stop at the riverbank? Why not just toss him into the river?

[Watts looks at the river. He remembers: the water cooler being dragged out of the water by officers. Unlocked with a click-click, then opened. Frank notices Watts's vacant expression.]

FRANK: Peter?

[Watts is lost in thought. Frank leaves him, grabs a half-buried trowel from the ground and walks off. Watts snaps out of his daydream and turns to see Frank a few yard away, knelt down and digging with the trowel. He digs up a patch of dirt, laced with white maggots.]

FRANK: These are not drag marks of the victim, these are maggot migrating trails.

[Watts comes over.]

FRANK: Post-feeding larvae leaving the body. That means that there's no evidence of a struggle whatsoever.
WATTS: (taking out a cell-phone) I'm gonna have the Group send out a pathologist to extract mitochondrial DNA because of the extreme degradation.

[Watts turns away as Frank stands.]

FRANK: Have you been in touch with Lara? I've been trying to get ahold of her for several days. Is she on assignment for the Group?
WATTS: Last I heard she was at home awaiting assignment.
FRANK: Let's get her here.

[Watts simply stares at Frank, obviously holding something back.]

FRANK: We're gonna need all the help we can get.

[Watts dials a number and turns away. Frank is annoyed, and looks back at the dead body. Then he notices something in the river, floating down stream: two black crows – dead. Frank closes his eyes. Flash on: Fzzzt! A burst of television screen static, very abrupt. The dead birds continue drifting downstream with the current.]

[fade out]

[fade in]

[Laboratory. Zager and Evans' "In The Year 2525" hit song plays as a lab technician carries in a container marked BIO-HAZARD. Dr Schroeder, the pathologist, is dressed in blue scrubs and stands at a metal table. Frank Black is in the background using a phone. Frank opens a small notebook: the words LARA MEANS 555-0114 has been written in. He dials the number. It rings, and rings.]

AUTOMATED PHONE VOICE: We're sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please dial again or ask the operator for assistance.

[Frank hangs up. We now see that Watts is present. Dr Schroeder opens the bio-hazard container and lifts out a smaller container marked Jason Molgilny. Watts is watching as Schroeder opens the container's lid. He remembers: the water cooler's lid being opened with a click-click. In reality, the container contains Jason Molgilny's brain. Schroeder carefully places the organ on a metal scale.]

[Later.]

SCHROEDER: This was not a homicide, but all indications point to a sudden and horrible death. Dementia, severe blood loss. Status-epilepticus; it's uh, continuous state of seizure. Impaired swallowing reflex. This man drowned in his own blood.
FRANK: What caused this?
SCHROEDER: I'm familiar with all of what we've found, but I've never heard a report of it occurring simultaneously. There is evidence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy – that's TSEs. It's a blanket term covering a number of brain diseases. You might be aware of it as "Mad Cow Disease"? Now this is transmissible, but the infectious agent is believed not to be either viral or bacterial, but, uh, a protein – called a prion. It's not even alive.

[Schroeder walks to a monitor showing numerous black spots against a white background; a microscopic close-up of the tissue.]

SCHROEDER: And although these diseases can produce astrogliosis – it's the enlargement of the cells in the brain which fight infection – TSEs produce no signs of infection. There's no fever, there's no detectable antibody activity. And the incubation period can be decades. But in the case of this victim – there was antibody activity. Evidence of viral infection as well. Just like an ambush. I would guess the incubation time to be minutes. Nearly all of the tissue cells were attacked – including the brain, causing his blood vessels to leak. His blood was unable to coagulate. He literally sweated blood. I've never seen such a thing.

[Frank steps forward, as if to ask the pathologist a question, but Watts grabs his arm.]

FRANK: Have you, Peter? Have you seen such a thing?
WATTS: (a beat) I've read reports of such a thing. (takes a deep breath) Connected to a mutant strain of the Marburg virus.

[Dr Schroeder is visibly shocked.]

SCHROEDER: Ah. (clears throat) I'll, uh, immediately contact the CDC and send a sample to, um, Mill Hill in Britain as well. As, uh, a precaution, I strongly believe that everybody exposed to this victim – uh, the Park Ranger, the crime team members, you two gentleman and myself – should be quarantined. Pending, um, blood and cell sample analysis.

[A close-up of the black cells on the monitor.]

 

[Quarantine cell #1. Two scientists dressed in blue bio-hazard suits and masks (haz-mat suits) enter the cell. An eerie blue light fills the area. Frank is standing dressed in a hospital gown and slippers. The scientists walk up to Frank and he sits down on his bed. A plastic cord is knotted around Frank's arm and a needle inserted into a vein. They draw blood.]

[Quarantine cell #2. Watts has just had blood drawn, too. The scientists in his cell stack the blood-filled tube into a rack next to two others.]

INTERCOM: (V.O) Thank you, Mr. Watts.

[The scientist with the rack stands at the door, as his partner opens it for him. Both leave. Watts watches them go. He remembers.]

RUSSELL: (V.O) The baby has been floating in the cooler for weeks.

[Interview room (flashback). The young Peter Watts sits listening his FBI superior, Russell.]

RUSSELL: Marks on the first cervical vertebra confirm the head was cut off. Probably with a kitchen knife.

[Younger Watts just sits listening.]

[Quarantine cell #2. A buzzer sounds. Watts turns at the sound – it's coming from a phone on the wall. He hesitates, then picks up the receiver.]

[Scene intercuts between Frank in cell #1 and Watts in cell #2.]

FRANK'S PHONE VOICE: You have seen it before, haven't you? The Group knows what this is.
WATTS: (a beat) The Group knows what it could become.
FRANK: Don't, don't, don't speak to me that way.

[Frank gets up, agitated.]

FRANK: I'm alone in a cell. I'm away from my family. I'm in a danger, and I don't know what it is. But you do. This really sums up my involvement with the Group. And as far as I can see it does for you too, Peter.
WATTS: I know.
FRANK: Then why? Why d'you do this?

[Watts has a flashback: the cooler lid opening; click-click.]

FRANK: Why?

[Watts shoots up from the bed, very annoyed.]

WATTS: I don't know why, Frank! Maybe I just have to have faith in something!

[He bangs on the cell wall.]

FRANK: Faith fills in the holes of uncertainty. Elements that are never meant to be known: God. Death. The Group creates uncertainties with their secrets: that's not faith – that's control. They know the sickness that killed Molgilny, but if they won't inform anybody outside the Group, they are not seeing prophecy fulfilled. They are fulfilling their own, for the purpose of control.
WATTS: "And behold a Pale Horse. And the name ...

[Frank gets up, extremely upset at Watts's response.]

WATTS: ... of him who sat on it was death, and Hades followed with him. And they were given power over a fourth of the Earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. When he opened the Fifth Seal..
FRANK: (as Watts continues) Peter, Revelations is not a prophecy.

[Frank and Watts talk over each other, Watts continuing his quotations as Frank attempts to persuade him otherwise.]

FRANK: (eventually) There is no millennium!!!

[Watts stops. Confused. Unsure what to say, or do. Then he hangs up.]

[Quarantine cell #2. Watts sits silently on his bed.]

WATTS: And they called out in a loud voice: "How long, Lord? How long until you judge? And avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?"

[fade out.]

EL CAJON, CALIFORNIA

[A doorbell rings.]

[Davis residence – day. Barbara Davis answers her front door. Standing outside is her daughter, Susan, with a bouquet of flowers, and her son, Greg Davis. Both in their late teens, early twenties.]

SUSAN & GREG: Happy Mother's Day!
BARBARA: Oh, thank you!

[Susan hands her the bouquet, kissing her mother.]

BARBARA: They're beautiful.

[Barbara kisses her son Greg.]

BARBARA: What are you doing ringing the doorbell?
SUSAN: It's not our house anymore.
BARBARA: Oh, don't you ever say that – it'll always be your home.

[All three walk into the house.]

GREG: Dad watching the Padre game?

[Front room – night. The Davis household is very clean and bright. Barbara leads her children through the room, down some steps.]

SUSAN: (looking O.C) Hi, Dad!
BARBARA: (to son) It's over.
GREG: Oh yeah, I spaced. They played Atlanta.

[Back garden – day. All three exit outside, where their father, Gordon Davis is cooking with the barbecue.]

BARBARA: God, all morning it's your father swearing at the Braves' announcer.

[Susan hugs her father.]

GORDON: You ever hear those guys?

[Behind him, Greg meets with his older brother, Tim. Tim play-punches his younger brother's stomach.]

GORDON: The Braves could be down by ten with two gone in the bottom of the ninth and they're goin' "well, if Klesco could hit one out.. or Chipper Jones hits one out." You never hear Jerry Coleman do that.
SUSAN: It's Mother's Day – no sports.
BARBARA: Oh, you know I don't mind.
GORDON: And I'm cooking now.

[Gordon and Greg now have beers.]

GREG: (referring to barbecue food) They nearly done?

[Gordon lifts the barbecue lid. Inside are two levels of freshly cooked chicken legs. The family "aaah" in appreciation at the sight and smell.]

GORDON: Oh yeah.
BARBARA: Oooh, I'll get the rest of the stuff ready.
GORDON: Yeah.
SUSAN: I'll help.

[Greg is stood drinking his bottled beer. He hears some whimpering and looks across the garden to see the Davis' sandy-colored dog, holding something black in its mouth – whimpering. Greg bends down and whistles. The dog runs over and drops a dead crow onto the ground. Greg reacts in surprise.]

[Davis' dining room – day. Soft music is playing, the type heard in elevators, pleasant, but annoying. It's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Dionne Warwick. The Davis family are all seated round the large table, crammed with food. Greg grabs a chicken leg from a bowl.]

GREG: Mom, don't you ever get tired of this music?

[Barbara passes a bowl of corn cobs to her daughter.]

BARBARA: Be quiet, it's Mother's Day.
SUSAN: (referring to the music) This stuff's getting big again.
BARBARA: See, I'm hipper than you think.

[Greg laughs, then begins to choke. The family watch as he coughs, and coughs, eventually stopping.]

GREG: Oh, wrong pipe.

[The family resume their meal.]

GORDON: Tim, pass me a ear of corn, would you?

[Tim passes his father some corn. It's smeared with red on one side. Gordon notices.]

GORDON: Barbecue sauce get on the corn?

[Now we see Barbara is feeling her face. Looking bemused. Nobody answer's Gordon's question and continue with their meal.]

GORDON: This chicken cooked enough?
SUSAN: Actually, mine's a little overcooked.

[Greg notices his mother feeling her face and neck with her fingers.]

GREG: Mom?

[Barbara slams her fists down on the table, we can see she has red welts around her neck area.]

BARBARA: I'll listen to whatever music I damn well please!

[Everyone is shocked by her behavior.]

TIM: We were just joking around, mom.

[Tim winces in pain. Susan dips a corner of a cloth into a bowl of water and carries it across to her mother. ]

SUSAN: You have some ketchup on your blouse.

[As Susan daubs her mother's chest, a dozen blots of blood appear through Barbara's blouse. Susan screams. Barbara begins convulsing, her chest and neck area red with blood. Gordon and Greg stand up in shock. Tim begins choking. Susan screams again. Barbara is still in painful convulsions.]

GORDON: Oh God!

[Greg is deeply shocked. He looks down at his leg: his trouser leg, shoe and carpet is stained with fresh blood. He becomes light-headed and falls to the floor. Tim now falls backwards onto the floor. Half-conscious on the floor, his forehead quickly sweats blood. Barbara is grabbing at the table-cloth in pain, dragging cutlery to the floor. Susan now falls to the floor. Gordon, in pure horror, backs away from the table. The telephone is on a high counter a few yards away. Gordon now on the floor, crawls to reach it. He manages to grab it and it falls to the floor with him. His finger presses the automatically saved 911 button –blood appears around his index finger as he presses. But Gordon loses strength, rolls over, and dies, his family also dead behind him at various positions around the table.]

EMERGENCY OPERATOR: (V.O) Hello? Anyone there? Hello? Hello, you've reached 911.

[A Mother' Day decoration sits on the table, the tranquil music continues to play.]

[fade out]

[fade in]

[Quarantine cell #1. Three bio-suited men are present in Frank's cell. One places a test tube of blood into a rack.]

BIO-SUIT MAN #1: Thank you, Mr Black.

[All three leave, taking the tube rack. Frank is sat on his bed, watching them leave.]

[Quarantine cell #2. Watts sits on his bed. He reaches over to the wall telephone, picks up the receiver. Listens.]

FRANK'S PHONE VOICE: Peter? Are you all right?
WATTS: Lara is safe, Frank.

[Quarantine cell #1. Frank is stood with his phone to his ear.]

WATTS 'S PHONE VOICE: I don't think it's right you be made to worry about her – she's safe.

[Quarantine cell #2. Watts hangs up.]

[Quarantine cell #1. Frank hangs up and steps back, thinking.]

 

[Quarantine cell #1 later. Two bio-suited scientists are present.]

BIO-SUIT MAN #1: Blood test, Mr Black.

[Frank wakes up in bed.]

FRANK: You just took some about a half hour ago.

[The scientists take a blood sample from Frank's arm, but there's a smaller syringe inside the larger one – as blood is drawn up, the small syringe pushes amber liquid into Frank's arm.]

FRANK: (groggy-voiced) Huh, what do they do – pay you by the hour?

[The scientists finish their task and all leave the room. Frank looks at his arm and then rests back in bed. He closes his eyes. The quarantine cell door opens again. Three more bio-suited men enter.]

FRANK: You guys just took some.

[A bio-suited man rolls up Frank's sleeve again for another blood sample.]

 

[Quarantine cell #1 later. Frank is sat on his bed, wrapped in a white sheet. A Physician, holding a black clip-board paces around his cell.]

PHYSICIAN: I was quite worried for a while, Mr Black. You're, uh, T and B cell count flew up there. Your body temperature was increasing. All signs of infection, but we couldn't identify any known infectious agent. I was prepared to administer antibiotics and other anti-infectious medicine but, uh, all of a sudden you returned to normal.
FRANK: (a beat) Peter Watts the same?
PHYSICIAN: Yes – very similar, nearly identical pattern for Mr Watts, the entire crime team, Dr Schroeder, everyone who was in quarantine. I think we're out of danger.

 

[Industrial – night. A dark and wet night. Richard Gilbert stands waiting amidst some stacks of wood as a car approaches. It's Frank Black; he walks over to Richard.]

FRANK: I'm here to accept your offer.

[They shake hands, begin walking together.]

FRANK: I'm really grateful for you guys. And I'm anxious to begin working with you.

[Richard stops.]

RICHARD: But we have to wait.

[Frank nods.]

FRANK: We can no longer communicate by phone.
RICHARD: The Trust understands the danger you're in.

[This surprises Frank.]

RICHARD: We've heard about the Millennium Group.
FRANK: There are people involved. I can't leave them behind. I've got to get them out.
RICHARD: Investigating the Millennium Group will be the most difficult case you've ever had. They don't tolerate enemies.
FRANK: I've been involved in that, Richard.
RICHARD: So how can we help you get out?
FRANK: I need your skills to find someone.
RICHARD: Lara Means?

[Frank is stunned at Richard's depth of knowledge.]

 

[Frank's study – night. The ouroboros start-up screen on Frank's computer. A window entitled VAS 1624-A SECURE LINK appears.]

FRANK: Soylent Green is people.

[A voice-pattern is displayed and Frank gained access to the Millennium Group's computer system. A new window opens. A SEARCH window – Frank types MARBURG VIRUS and PRIONS in the space provided and clicks SEARCH. Seconds later a fresh window appears, declaring: This area designated COMPARTMENTALIZED. BLUE level access required. Frank looks solemn. His phone rings. Frank looks upset, already guessing who it will be. He rests his hand on the receiver a second, before snatching it up.]

FRANK: Yeah.
WATTS'S PHONE VOICE: Don't. Don't pursue this.

[Frank slams the phone down angrily. O.C a door closes – Frank turns to see Catherine walk into the room.]

CATHERINE: We have to talk. (a beat) Um, Jordan, has been having these intense, reoccurring nightmares.

[Frank sits to listen.]

CATHERINE: Uh, she says that there's a jungle. A wall of trees and there are these men – who she calls "bad men", although she can't say why. And they go into the jungle but then all of these angry, screaming monkeys come out of the trees.

[Frank senses the approach of a vision. It happens: the abrupt image of a screeching tree monkey. Frank gets up, shaken.]

CATHERINE: The monkeys are covered with blood.

[Frank now has his back against a window's venetian blind. Catherine has followed him as she speaks. Another abrupt vision: a microscopic view of a vein, large blood cells pumping their way down.]

CATHERINE: I don't know where a six-year-old gets such images.

[Another vision: Fzzzt! An abrupt screen of TV static.]

CATHERINE: She dreams that we are the only ones left in the world. And then suddenly we – you, me, and her – are in a cabin in the woods.

[Frank is now supporting himself to a table with his hands.]

CATHERINE: And then she sees me walk off into the woods – leaving her and you alone.

[Frank has a vision: wind, a forest, with a figure walking into it.]

CATHERINE: She sees your father chasing after me. I have talked to her, and listened to her, suspecting separation anxiety because of her first experience of loss through death.

[Frank suddenly holds Catherine's arms.]

FRANK:Catherine, at your hospital – I need to speak to a physician. One with a background in research. Someone I can trust.
CATHERINE: Is this for an assignment? A Group investigation?

[Catherine scoffs, not believing her ears. She moves away as Frank makes a grab for her arm.]

FRANK: Hey!

[She shakes him off.]

CATHERINE: Look at what they have done to you. You care more about their concerns than about your own daughter. How could you let this happen?! These nightmares are occurring because you are gone.

[She gently pushes Frank's chest.]

CATHERINE: And you are gone because of them. They have so engulfed your life, you don't even care about your own daughter. These are the psychological tactics ...
FRANK: (grabbing Catherine) ... of a cult!

[Catherine is stunned.]

FRANK: (calmer) Listen, I'm not just making up some kind of simple deal here – I'd never lie to you.

[Frank hugs Catherine.]

FRANK: I can't take the heartache of not watching Jordan grow up right in front of my eyes. Or being there every day. Do this for me without question.

[He looks deep into Catherine's eyes.]

FRANK: I'll leave the Group.

[Hugs her.]

FRANK: We'll go back to the yellow house as a family. As a family.

[Catherine says nothing; shocked by the sudden change in her husband's behavior.]

[fade out.]

[Medical room. A bright lamp is positioned over Frank's face, as he sits on a medical bed. Dr Miriam Greenwald is present.]

GREENWALD: Okay. Open up.

[Frank opens his mouth and Greenwald takes a sample of cells from inside Frank's mouth.]

GREENWALD: That's all I need, Frank.

[Frank closes his mouth, sighs.]

FRANK: When you get the results could you please not phone, fax, or email me. Just seal the results and give them to Catherine.
GREENWALD: Okay.
FRANK: Thank you.

[Frank gets off the bed and leaves. Greenwald watches him go.]

 

[Car lot – day. Frank is walking along the rows of cars. He reaches his jeep, opens the door, glances around and gets inside.]

[Frank's jeep – day. Frank notices a thin envelope on the passenger seat. Wary, he looks around before picking up the envelope. Opening it he takes out a black file. He opens it. The front sheet is marked THE TRUST. As Frank reads:]

RICHARD: (V.O) The last phone call made from her apartment in St. Louis was on April 23rd to Peter Watts. Her apartment has been sublet to a couple with no prior history to Miss Means. On April 25th Lara Means vacated the residence.

[Forest road – night. Frank's jeep is driving down the dark country road.]

RICHARD: (V.O) She left no forwarding address.

[Frank's jeep – night. Frank drives fast, adjusts his rear-view mirror.]

RICHARD: (V.O) The investigation at this juncture proved difficult.

[Forest road – night. The jeep drives slowly round a bend in the road.]

RICHARD: (V.O) No credit card transactions, no presence on airline passenger manifests. Miss Means appeared to have vanished. Acting upon information provided by Mr Black, regarding Peter Watts' statement that Miss Means was safe ...

[Frank's jeep – night. Frank checks the file using a flashlight. He gets a gun out of his glove compartment and checks its readiness.]

RICHARD: (V.O) ... the investigation turned towards Mr Watts, under the possibility he may be in contact her. Via the use of electronic audio and video surveillance it was confirmed that Mr Watts was aware of her location.

[Frank pockets his gun.]

RICHARD: (V.O) Attached, please find a detailed report of Mr Watts' activities ...

[Forest road – night. Frank steps out of his jeep, checks the door is tightly closed.]

RICHARD: (V.O) ... and arranged travel destinations. The purpose of his travel remains undetermined.

[Frank heads off into the woods.]

RICHARD: (V.O) But evidence indicates the location may indeed be the current whereabouts of Lara Means.

 

[Forest – night. Frank, silhouetted in the gloom, heads through the thick woodland. Stepping over fallen trees and branches. He reaches a decline and looks down as a running river. He hears chanting coming from a short distance away. Frank moves closer, the chanting gets louder. Then, an attacker lunged at Frank from behind – snapping a twig. Frank hears and expertly diverts his attacker's lunge into a throw. The attacker lands on top of Frank and they struggle. The attacker has a knife and is trying to stab Frank. Frank grabs a rock and whacks the man over the head. The attacker loses his grip and Frank escapes, getting up. His attacker regains his stance and goes for Frank, but Frank has already grabbed a small branch – and whacks the attacker across the head. Frank goes over to the unconscious man, his gun barrel pointed at the attacker's chest. He unravels a lead from around the man's neck – it's an earpiece. Frank listens.]

RADIO VOICE: (V.O) Section four – no sign of him here.

[Frank continues into the woods. After a few seconds he arrives on a ridge. Looking down he sees about half a dozen people, each holding a candle, standing in a circle. Chanting. Frank nestles down on the ground and looks through a pair of binoculars. Through binoculars he sees the candle-bearers more prominently, then notices one man has a small knife. As the man looks up, Frank sees that it's Peter Watts. Watts speaks a verse in Latin. Frank lowers the binoculars, quite amazed. He raises them again. Through binoculars: Watts slices someone's palm. Frank lowers the binoculars, then quickly looks again. Through binoculars: it's Lara Means whose palm was sliced. She turns and speaks a passage of Latin. Lowering his binoculars, Frank is stunned – he's too late.]

[fade out.]

[A red sky. Filled with red clouds. Blue lightning cracks. Jungle. Flying over a luminous green jungle, with red sky.]

FEMALE VOICE: (V.O) If someone is out there, please help!

[Jungle. Tall jungle trees below the brilliant red sky. Cries for help, as some men come stomping through the jungle undergrowth. shouting. The faint sound of Morse Code beeps. A monkey lets out a long screeeechhh. Closeup of a blood canal system, pumping blood. Inside a blood vessel, the huge blood cells pouring down the narrow vein. fzzzt! Abrupt TV static fills the screen.]

[Frank's bedroom – night. Frank awakens. The dream has clearly unnerved him.]

 

[Catherine's front room – day. A twittering. Jordan is stood on a chair looking inside a cage. A parakeet sits on a perch inside, Jordan cheerful talking to it. A few meters away, Frank has a phone to his ear.]

FRANK: Peter, this is Frank – this is the last message I'm leaving, I'm not gonna page you – but we have to talk.

[Frank hangs up. As he turns round, Jordan jumps down from her chair.]

JORDAN: Hey, dad – how come people can talk and animals can't?
FRANK: That's just the way it worked out, I guess. That doesn't mean they can't communicate, though.

[Frank sits in a sofa, putting Jordan on his knee.]

FRANK: I mean if you take care of Kenny, you're gonna know if he's happy, or sad, or scared.
JORDAN: 'The way it works out' – does that mean it's the way it's supposed to go?
FRANK: Jordan – can I talk to you about the bad dreams you've been having?

[Jordan looks away, but Frank holds her face and eases her back to face him. ]

FRANK: Jordan, Jordan – listen. Come on.
JORDAN: We should leave the monkeys in the trees.

[This intrigues Frank.]

FRANK: What did you say?

[Catherine arrives home, closing the door. Jordan hears and leaps off her father's knee. ]

JORDAN: Mom! Dad bought me a parakeet, just like I wanted.

[Catherine comes over to Jordan.]

CATHERINE: (pleased) Oh, wow!

[Jordan takes her mother by the hand and shows her Kenny's cage.]

CATHERINE: Ooooohh.
FRANK: She asked for it and I thought taking care of something that was alive would help her feel better about what she's going through.

[Catherine nods her agreement and turns to the cage again.]

CATHERINE: (to Jordan) He's pretty.
JORDAN: Yep.

[Catherine goes over to Frank, who sits up.]

CATHERINE: Maybe I ought to get you a bird. (remembers something) Oh.

[She digs into her coat and brings out a sealed envelope. Frank takes it, knowing the importance of the results inside.]

 

[Later. Frank's study – day. The same computer screen window declaring: This area designated COMPARTMENTALIZED – BLUE level access required. Frank sits at the console wearing his glasses. He types something from a file at his side. A new window appears – SYSTEM FILE. A series of commands appear and he gains access. SYSTEM EVENT, ACCESS PERMITTED. Frank takes off his glasses and purposefully waits. Right on cue the phone rings. He throws the file to one side and picks up the receiver.]

FRANK: Hello, Peter.
WATTS 'S PHONE VOICE: How did you get access to Blue Level?
FRANK: Roedecker was so disgruntled when you fired him he showed me this trick to make it look like I got in – it's the only way I could contact you.

[Watts 's study – day. Watts is on the phone. He holds it away slightly now, gripping it. He decides to continue the conversation.]

WATTS: Talk.

[Frank's study – day]

FRANK: I know that you don't want to talk to me because you're afraid – and believe me, you have every reason to be. I ran some tests of my own, and they have done something to us that may affect everyone.

 

[Later. Frank's front room – day. Watts sits at a table, reading a medical report headed GENERAL BACTERIOLOGY.]

FRANK: Do you understand this?
WATTS: (reading) The blood test you were given indicate the presence of genetically altered Ebola virus.
FRANK: Yeah.
WATTS:(reading) There is also evidence of prions, which in nature have no R.N.A; they're not alive. But in your body there are prions with RNA.
FRANK: Exactly. Because they don't occur naturally.

[Watts looks up at Frank.]

FRANK: Someone gave these prions life.
WATTS: But the report says they're inactive.
FRANK: Life was taken away from these creatures to render a vaccine. It's a DNA vaccine against the disease that killed Molgilny by the river. And it's out there – spreading. But you and I were given a vaccine by the Millennium Group.

[Watts stares at Frank.]

WATTS: In quarantine?

[Frank nods.]

WATTS: I don't recall anything but blood being drawn.
FRANK: All right – a team came in. They weren't hospital doctors. They gave us the vaccine while appearing to be taking blood from us, so we wouldn't suspect. It's an old magician's trick. It's all an illusion, Peter.

[Watts gets up.]

FRANK: The Millennium Group's an illusion.

[Frank's front room – night. Watts enters and sits on the sofa as Frank follows him inside.]

FRANK: Ceremonies and secrets that only certain members can understand?

[Frank has sat in an armchair opposite Watts.]

FRANK: Collecting the Cross of the Crucifixion? Ancient text for future prophecies? It's all a diversion – sleight of hand. Distraction from the problems they're trying to control. This is not about the end of the world, it's about controlling the world, and that's not who I am, and that's – I believe – not who you are, Peter.
WATTS: (a beat) They came to me at a time in my life when evil, there's no other word for it, had lost all proportion with the rest of the world around me. I was witness to crimes that had no basis in human motivation. There has to be more to it than just us! There has to be! It all has to lead in some inevitable direction, Frank – I believe that. Their answers touched on all my questions. I believed it then, I believe it now!
FRANK: The Group, Peter, knows that there is an infectious man-made agent. And if reports are correct, it's a plague that can travel the world in a matter of days, killing people in seconds!
WATTS: You said we were vaccinated against this agent?
FRANK: Why didn't they want us to know that?

[Watts gets up, turning away from Frank to think.]

FRANK: The Group is not the solution, it's the problem, Peter.
WATTS: (a beat) I'm not gonna leave the Group.

[Watts walks round behind the sofa, in front of the venetian blinds.]

FRANK: Then investigate it with me. Question your faith. If I'm wrong – and it's confirmed – you're stronger.
WATTS: If they found out that I was doing that – a made member investigating the Group, they would kill me.
FRANK: If I'm right we'll save lives.

[Watts looks down, thinking.]

WATTS: Tomorrow morning, at 4:13 AM, a 5.2 earthquake will hit the Seattle area.
FRANK: How can you know that?
WATTS: The same way we knew the Kobe, Japan quake would occur a year to the day after the Northridge quake. We knew where to look. (quoting) And there shall be great earthquakes in various places ...

[Frank turns away, having had enough of Watts's Biblical quotations.]

WATTS: ... and famine, and pestilence, and there shall be fearful sights. And great signs from Heaven. (a beat) If this occurs will you accept an offer to become a full member of the Millennium Group? No more questions. No more doubts.

[Frank stares at Watts.]

 

[Frank's house – night. A few nightlights are on.]

[Frank's bedroom – night. A photo of Jordan rests on Frank's bedside table, along with his radio-clock, which reads 4.12 AM. Frank is asleep on his bed, fully clothed, his coat resting at his side. The phone rings. Frank wakes up and grabs his cell-phone from the table. Answers it.]

LARA'S PHONE VOICE: It's all right. It's all right, Frank. There's no need to doubt – they're right. The things I've seen – oh! – the things, the things they show me? The secrets you will learn.

[Lara hangs up.]

FRANK: Lara?! Lara?!!

[Annoyed, Frank hangs up and puts the phone down. He puts his coat on and lies back down on his bed. Waiting. He turns the radio-clock to face him. It's 4.12 AM. Suddenly, a low rumble is heard. It quickly grows to a gentle roar. An earthquake. It's 4.13 AM. Frank sits in bed watching as the room begins to rock. A painting falls off the wall and the sound of smashing plates can be heard elsewhere. The bedroom continues to rock wilder as Frank gets out of bed and heads for the bedroom doorway. Hallway – night. At the doorway, Frank looks out down the hallway. Lights flicker all along the walls. rumbling. Large cracks snap across the house's walls. Steam escapes from the radiator, as a bookcase falls to the floor. Sounds of smashing. Then, silence. A car alarm sounding outside. Frank looks around hesitantly, knowing what to expect. He's right, a second aftershock rocks the room and then dies.]

[Catherine's front room – night. Similar signs of earthquake damage in the room: cracked walls and fallen paintings, ornaments. We focus on the parakeet cage, still gently rocking. Inside, Jordan's parakeet Kenny lies dead on the cage floor. Sounds of alarms from outside.]

[fade to black.]

TO BE CONTINUED

[end titles]

Starring:

Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Megan Gallagher (Catherine Black)

Also Starring:

Terry O'Quinn (Peter Watts)
Brittany Tiplady (Jordan Black)

Guest Starring:

Glenn Morshower (Richard Gilbert)
Bill Dow (Dr. Schroeder)
Kristen Cloke (Lara Means)

Co-Starring:

Anna Hagen (Mom)
Terence Kelly (Dad)
Leslie Hopps (Jennifer Davis)
Boyan Vukelic (Greg Davis)
Curtis Bechdholt (Tim Davis)
David Longworth (Farmer Duffy)
Lindsay Bourne (Physician #1)
Fred Henderson (Agent Russell)
Eileen Pedde (Dr. Miriam Greenwald)

Uncredited:

Max Wyman (Group Member
Clayton Watmough (Millennium Group Member (III)

Music by Mark Snow
Editor: Jim Thomson
Production Designer: Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Executive Story Editor: Michael R Perry
Associate Producer: Julie Herlocker
Associate Producer: Kathy Gilroy-Sereda
Associate Producer: Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer: Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producer: Darin Morgan
Co-Producer: Robert Moresco
Co-Producer: Paul Rabwin
Producer: Thomas J Wright
Co-Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Dwight Little

Executive Producers: James Wong & Glen Morgan
Executive Producer: Chris Carter



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