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Transcript of Millennium episode "TEOTWAWKI"

Presented below is an episode transcript of TEOTWAWKI 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.


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TEOTWAWKI - Transcript


Season:

3

MLM Code:

#MLM-303

Production Code:

3ABC03

Original Airdate:

1998-10-16


 
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303 TEOTWAWKI

[MLM–303 (3ABC03)]


Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Original Air Date: October 16, 1998

[Transcribed by Libby]

 

[polaroid fade up]

[Inside a school sports hall. There are banners on the wall: "Warrior Pride", "State Champs '98".]

GIRL'S VOICE: Ready! Hit it!
CHEERLEADERS: One, two, three four. Who are the Warriors? We are the Warriors! What kind of Warriors? The Redland Warriors! Stand up and yell, Warriors! Tell them yourself, Warriors! Red, white, blue, fight!

[Cheers and applause from the audience, who rise to their feet. A band comes marching in. The cheerleaders sit at the floor. In the crowd, a young cheerleader, Kathy McNew, and a serious–looking young man, Brant Carmody, wearing a sports team jacket. Marching band music plays. In the audience, another young man, Carlton King. He seems less enthusiastic than the audience around him. He focusses on something and smiles. The band music fades and slows. His attention is on one of the cheerleaders. He sees the action in slo–mo. There is a sound of a heart beating, as he watches the girl, Tammy Meador. She gets to her feet and turns to the audience, clapping her hands in time to the music, while Carlton gazes at her. The sound and action return to normal. Carlton picks up something from the floor beside him and moves through the audience. In his hand is a book which he places, opened, under a pom–pom. He looks over to where Tammy is with her colleagues, and walks towards the exit. There are now just drums playing, and the lighting is dimmed. The sound is a little muffled. Brant moves down through the crowd. A spotlight shines on a man, Principal Kalmer, as he moves in front of a microphone. The applause comes to a stop.]

PRINCIPAL KALMER: As you all know, we're having this pep rally today not just to show our school spirit, but to celebrate our victory at the State Academic Championships!

[Cheers from the audience. Principal Kalmer holds up his hand for silence. He's carrying a large board – a facsimile of a check.]

PRINCIPAL KALMER: And also, to accept the most generous gift I can imagine from ComLogic Computers,

[His voice slows and deepens, everything in slo–mo, the heartbeat again.]

PRINCIPAL KALMER: – a system for school worth over two million dollars.

[As he holds up the check, a shot rings out. He falls. Another shot. The shooter is behind the bleachers, face in the shadows. Audience members begin to react. The Principal hits the ground, taking the microphone with him. Band members duck. More shots. The bass drum is hit. People fall. Others help friends away. Two girls have blood spattered on them. Tammy is hit in the back and falls. Kathy stays with her, crying out in anguish.]

[Main titles]

[Shots of a painting depicting scenes from the end of world, interspersed with a close–up of Frank, dimly lit.]

FRANK: At the turning of the last millennium, a thousand years ago, it was foretold the world would be consumed by fire and misery. The unbelievers slept untroubled but the fateful toiled against the inevitable, weighed by a terrible burden, deciding who would be spared and who would be left behind.

[Outside the school sports hall. It's a semi–chaotic scene in the aftermath of the shooting: A stretcher is wheeled past a news van outside the school hall. Many people, cars including police and ambulance. There's the sound of a helicopter overhead. A man is being interviewed for a TV news station. A young girl on a stretcher. A police woman checking a student for weapons. Members of the sports team watching. A man wheels out a stretcher with a body bag on it. Students comforting each other. Parents arriving and hugging their daughter. Carlton standing alone, watching.]

[A car arrives, a police officer points to where the driver should park. In the front passenger seat is Barry Baldwin. He gets out, along with other agents, and walks quickly towards the crime scene. Hollis has got out of the back of the car and spends a few moments collecting her thoughts before following.]

[Baldwin holds up his badge, looking on while another stretcher with a body bag is wheeled past him.]

BALDWIN: Is there somebody here who can tell me why these bodies are being moved?
POLICE WOMAN: We were asked to make our reports and get them out.

[Baldwin moves off. Hollis is moving through a group of people. Standing in a group of the sports team is Brant. He is uncomfortable with Hollis looking at him and he moves away. Hollis moves on, looking at a group of cheerleaders, hugging and crying. Another stretcher is wheel out, the body covered by a white sheet, bloodstains on the part covering the head. Baldwin walks quickly over to Hollis.]

BALDWIN: Hollis. Listen, see if you can get somebody to tell you what was documented on the victims. Anything. OK?

[A car with 'ComLogic' on it has stopped. A man gets out, anxious.]

[Carlton is standing up against the wall near the entrance to the sports hall. A stretcher is wheeled out. The body is covered with a sheet but it is possible to see this is Tammy, the girl Carlton was gazing at earlier. Blood stains the sheet in the region of her heart. He is upset but noticing Hollis looking at him, he turns his face away.]

MAN'S VOICE: Carlton.

[Carlton looks over and walks to the man from the ComLogic car – Gary King, Carlton's father.]

KING: Carlton. Let's go home, buddy. Let's just get in the car and go home.

[Carlton and his father go off to the car, passing by Hollis who watches them.]

[Inside the sports hall. Several police officers are working there, one taking photographs. Amongst them is Detective Giebelhouse with a colleague.]

GIEBELHOUSE: What's the Chief want to call it? What do you call it? A massacre, a shooting spree? What did they call it down in Oregon, that school down south. That I can even ask the question.

[Baldwin walks in, with other agents following him.]

BALDWIN: Who's Giebelhouse?
GIEBELHOUSE: That'd be me.
BALDWIN: I'm Baldwin, Special Agent, Critical Incident Response Group.
GIEBELHOUSE: Right. As you can see, we're pretty far down the road here.
BALDWIN: I can see.

[Baldwin walks past Giebelhouse and crouches down beside an outline in black tape of a body, bloodstains on the floor.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Yeah.
BALDWIN: Are you familiar with crime scene procedure, detective?
GIEBELHOUSE: Familiar with it?
BALDWIN: With preservation of evidence.
GIEBELHOUSE: It's not a question. [pause] Yeah. What is it you want to know?
BALDWIN: Just what's been missed.

[Baldwin gets up and walks off. Giebelhouse, exasperated, follows him.]

GIEBELHOUSE: We've got three dead. Those are the ones taped in black. There were nine wounded, taped in white. I went ahead and sent the wounded to the hospital rather than waste any more black tape. If that's OK with you.

[Hollis has entered the hall and is walking slowly around.]

GIEBELHOUSE: The shooter was under the bleachers. He got off fifteen shots, fired in rapid succession from a semi–automatic weapon.
BALDWIN: Have you recovered the weapon?
GIEBELHOUSE: Yeah, we found it under the bleachers. We're running prints and registration.

[Baldwin continues to look around.]

GIEBELHOUSE: You know, I don't know why I'm answering questions for you. I called the FBI and specifically asked for Frank Black to come out here. How come Frank Black's not out here?

[Giebelhouse walks off, angry. Baldwin has difficulty coping with the insult to his ego.]

BALDWIN [to no–one in particular]: OK, we've got interviews to conduct. You know the drill. Let's be quick but thorough. Let's try to get this done before anybody starts asking about feeding these kids.

[Baldwin walks out of the hall followed by his entourage. Hollis stays behind, looking around. She sees the book hidden under the pom–pom. Using a glove, she carefully moves the pom–pom and pulls out the opened book. She looks at the front cover: 'The Book of Hours'. She reads the handwritten message in the book, whispering 'Skylark' – the signature.]

 

[Computer screen shows a date and time of December 31, 1999 11:59:34. There are also sections: system air treatment, lighting grid, computer network, mainframe systems, power grid, security systems, backup generator. At the keyboard is Jock Hauser.]

HAUSER: Thirty seconds. Here we go. [pause] To the twenty–first century.
MAN: Or not.

[Hauser turns to the man who sitting behind him.]

HAUSER: One way or another, we're about to see the future.

[They are in a meeting room, several other people around a large table. The clock on the computer screen counts down.]

HAUSER: Five seconds. Four, three, two, one.

[The time changes to 12:00:00. The sections in turn disappear off the screen. Then the lights in the room fail.]

HAUSER: Oh god, there goes the grid.
MAN: Air treatment system is out. We should be going to back–up power.

[The screen is black except for the time, which hasn't changed.]

MAN: Where is it?
HAUSER: It's disappeared. It's gone.
MAN: It can't be!
HAUSER: It's gone. It's just gone.
MAN: I don't believe this.
HAUSER: Well, better start believing it. Because it's only the beginning.

[Hauser taps away at the keyboard. The lights come back on.]

HAUSER: The end of the world as we know it.

[The door is opened. Principal Kalmer, his arm in a sling, comes in. He addresses Hauser.]

KALMER: I need to talk to you.

 

[Later. A meeting elsewhere is addressed by Gary King, Carlton's father.]

KING: He didn't do it. He swears to me up and down, he didn't do it. [pause] He says Brant did it.

[Chris Carmody, Brant's father, responds.]

CARMODY: Just a damn minute, Gary.
KING: Have you talked to him, Chris? Have you even asked your kid?
CARMODY: I just found out about it.
HAUSER: Right now, we don't know who did it. Neither do the police.
KALMER: They're out there talking to the kids right now. They've got the FBI on this.
HAUSER: They find a weapon?
KALMER: Yeah.
KING: Did they get a registration? Because if they did and it's one of our kids, that could lead right back to us.
HAUSER: That's the big bugaboo here, isn't it?
KING: If they figure out who shot those kids, the rest of it is going to come out for sure. And I don't think any one of us wants to explain to our stockholders or to corporate America what the hell we're up to.
HAUSER: Let's just hope to god it's not one of our kids.

 

[Shots being fired – Frank is in a shooting range. He unloads the gun and presses a button and the target is winched in. There are several bullet holes grouped closely together in the center. McClaren enters.]

McCLAREN: That's a nice tight pattern. Going make you get yourself a permit – come out hunting with us this season.
FRANK: Well, you know me, Andy. I'm only going to do this because it's mandatory.
McCLAREN: Well, you know me, Frank. I'm always looking for ways to get you out of your own head.

[Frank smiles]

McCLAREN: I got a call from an old friend of yours, from Washington State – Detective Giebelhouse. He was first on the scene at this High School shooting we had this morning. He asked for you.
FRANK: What'd you tell him?
McCLAREN: It's too soon, Frank. I didn't want you out there, especially since it would be like going home.
FRANK: You're going to have to let me make my own way, Andy.
McCLAREN: When I really need you, Frank, then I'll consider it. Anyway, sad as it is, this is just kids and guns.
FRANK: Just kids and guns?
McCLAREN: One step at a time.

 

REDLAND HIGH SCHOOL
10:12 P.M.

[The school building is lit up. Hollis and Baldwin are in the sports hall. Hollis standing on the floor, Baldwin several rows up on the bleachers, hands on hips.]

HOLLIS: I talked to about fifty kids. They honestly seem without a clue who did this.
BALDWIN: Somebody saw something. I feel like we're not getting something here.
HOLLIS: I did get one red flag. A kid named Brant Carmody. He was very non–communicative in a kind of belligerent way. I asked the Administrator, she said he's a tough kid. Football star who quit the team and gave up two or three big athletic scholarships. He's also got a juvenile record here.
BALDWIN: What were the charges?
HOLLIS: Assault and battery twice. According to the Administrator he comes from a very wealthy family. Very. His father's some Fortune 500 computer executive.
BALDWIN: Let's go find him. Before he washes out the powder residue.

[Baldwin has become increasingly interested in this possible suspect. He goes down to the bottom row of the bleachers and picks up his coat.]

HOLLIS: I'm just saying it's a red flag.
BALDWIN: Right now, it's about the only flag we've got.

 

[Outside a very smart modern house. There are several agents, including Baldwin and Hollis. Baldwin rings the doorbell. The door is answered by a smart, attractive woman, two little girls with her.]

BALDWIN: Stacey Carmody?
MRS CARMODY: Yes.
BALDWIN: Sorry to bother you but we'd like to talk to your son Brant.
MRS CARMODY: Why?
HOLLIS: It's OK, Mrs Carmody, we spoke to him earlier, we just had a few follow up questions.
MRS CARMODY: How many people does it take? [pause] I don't have to let you in, do I?

[A shot rings out. The woman grabs her daughters. The agents rush in.]

BALDWIN: Becker, the kitchen! Hollis, upstairs! Wallace, follow me!

[Hollis goes quickly but warily along a corridor where she sees Chris Carmody slowly come out of a room, then he points back to inside it.]

CARMODY: Call 911. My son just shot himself.

[Hollis goes in. Brant is lying on his back on the floor. A gun is near his right hand, a pool of blood beside his head. Hollis goes over to him while his father stays in the corridor. Baldwin and another agent come into the room. Hollis briefly shakes her head.]

BALDWIN: Oh, god.

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[Briefing room. Slide showing a gun.]

BALDWIN: The gun on the left is a 9 millimeter Smith and Wesson handgun with a fifteen round magazine. It's the gun used by Brant Carmody in his own suicide.

[Hollis is there, also Frank. Hollis does not appear comfortable with what Baldwin is saying.]

BALDWIN: It's registered to his father, purchased through a wholesale dealer in Missoula, Montana. It's identical to the gun on the right, purchased through the same dealer and also registered to Brant's father, Christopher Carmody. Both were purchased, according to Mr Carmody, for home defense.

[Hollis is looking at a photo of Brant and Tammy, both smiling.]

BALDWIN: The guns were both locked in a cabinet, both had trigger locks and both weapons upon being recovered not only had been recently fired but had Brant Carmody's fingerprints on. Now, as Brant Carmody fits a certain profile as a youth offender and had a history of violent behavior, it was my deduction and the deduction of those who accompanied me to the scene of the shooting at Redland High School, that he fired this weapon, that he acted alone, and that his motives, although uncertain, can be attributed to what his counselors say was a strong tendency to act out whatever rage he was feeling. We've wrapped up our reports and our investigation, we've handed over our findings to the Justice Department and the Seattle PD who will now handle this matter for the unincorporated community of Redland. And we would like, without any further questions, to consider this unfortunate matter closed.
McCLAREN: All right. Good. Unless somebody has something, I'd like to move on.
FRANK: Why do you assume it was suicide?
BALDWIN: Um. Two reasons. The angle of entry on the wound, and the fact that his fingerprints were all over the trigger lock which had to be removed before the weapon could be discharged.
FRANK: That's very weak deduction. I'm not saying that you're wrong. I think that the assumption you make about the second shooting is the basis for your assumption about the first shooting. Did anyone test the parents for power burns?
BALDWIN: Well, we didn't test the mother because we were talking to her on her doorstep when the gun went off. And, no, we didn't check the father.
McCLAREN: Was that something that you overlooked, Agent Baldwin? Or was that a decision that you made in your investigations.
BALDWIN: Sir, it was a decision I made based on the circumstances.
FRANK: Where were the trigger locks found?
BALDWIN: Mr Carmody handed them over to us along with several other handguns that he asked us to remove from the house.
FRANK: So, his fingerprints were on those as well.

[Baldwin hesitates.]

BALDWIN: Well, of course they were.

[Hollis and Frank exchange a glance.]

McCLAREN: OK. Let's table this for now and move on to the next order of business.

 

[Later. McClaren's office.]

FRANK: I wasn't trying to humiliate him, Andy. It's that lax kind of police work we see all too often.
McCLAREN: I have spoken to Baldwin. I am reassured he made the right decisions out there.
FRANK: What are you afraid of?
McCLAREN: We weren't out there, Frank. Now you're just pressuring me because I wouldn't let you go.
FRANK: What is there about this case?
McCLAREN: You want the FBI to question this man – a major business figure, Frank – with the kind of evidence we've got? I send Baldwin back out there now, I am going to be the point man at a tabloid media circus.
FRANK: Send me.
McCLAREN: I am not going to be strong–armed like this, Frank.
FRANK: I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. I'm going to go out there. And if you say no, I understand. I'll just turn in my credentials and I'll go home for good. Because I'm not used to seeing you or myself sitting on our hands in any kind of meeting.

 

[Frank's bedroom. Frank is packing an overnight bag. He looks at his FBI badge and puts it in his jacket. Then he goes over to a set of drawers and takes out a small case, from which he takes out a gun and loads it, then puts it in his bag. The doorbell rings. Jordan calls out from downstairs.]

JORDAN: I'll get it.

[Frank goes to the stairs.]

FRANK: Jordan?

[Jordan is standing by the open door from the hall to the lobby.]

JORDAN: There's somebody here for you, Daddy.
FRANK: What did I tell you about answering the door without finding out who's there?

[Hollis pushes open the hall door.]

HOLLIS: Hi. I'm sorry, I told her I work with you.
FRANK: It's OK. Come in.

[Frank picks Jordan up and stands her on the stairs.]

FRANK: Now, what did I teach you about this, huh?
JORDAN: Not to answer the door because people aren't always who they say they are.
FRANK: Huh–huh. OK.

[Frank turns to Hollis.]

FRANK: I'm sorry. How can I help you?
HOLLIS: I'm sorry. I should have called first. I drove around the block three times, um, it was more like five times before I decided to ring the bell.
FRANK: So you weren't just in the neighborhood.
HOLLIS: You're going out there, aren't you? To Redland.
FRANK: Why?
HOLLIS: Because if you are there's something I need to show you. Something Agent Baldwin left out of his report. I found this at the crime scene. I've interviewed every kid. No–one wants to claim it or claims they've ever seen it, but there's an inscription in it to one of the cheerleaders who died in the shooting, Tammy Meador.

[Frank turns to Jordan.]

FRANK: Why don't you go up and finish packing to go to Grandma and Grandpa's.
JORDAN: OK.

[Jordan runs half way up the flight of stairs, then stops.]

JORDAN: Is she going with you on your trip, Daddy?
FRANK: No, honey. Go and get ready.

[Jordan goes up the rest of the stairs. Frank looks at the book.]

FRANK: Skylark. I assume it's not the accused shooter's handwriting.
HOLLIS: No. It's not, I checked that. It's a book of prayers from the Dark Ages, which I thought was kind of weird. It just doesn't seem like something you'd find in a high school gym.

[Frank reads out the handwritten inscription.]

FRANK: "The days are numbered. History counting backwards as we count forward to a new Dark Age, though not all will survive. I would rather die than live knowing I didn't try to save you. " It's a warning. It means someone out there knows about this. You were out there, you want to go back and follow up. [sighs] Go pack. I'll let Andy McClaren know that I'm requesting someone to assist me.

[Hollis leaves.]

 

[Outdoor firing range. Five men, all shooting at targets. None of them has as good a success rate as Frank. A car draws up. It's Chris Carmody. He brings a shotgun over to the table.]

CARMODY: I guess the problems fixed now.
HAUSER: How do you mean, fixed, Chris?
CARMODY: The FBI's closing their investigation. We won't be answering any more questions.
HAUSER: You told him, didn't you, Chris! You told your son about what we're doing.
CARMODY: I had to. I had to. Stacey insisted.
KING: That's why he went crazy! You can't tell a kid everything's going to be taken away from him and expect him to deal with it. Nothing's fixed, Chris. I just got a call from Detective Giebelhouse saying two FBI agents are coming out to ask more questions.

 

[Interview. Hollis and Frank with Kathy McNew.]

KATHY: I don't know what you think I can tell you.
HOLLIS: You and Brant Carmody were dating. He was your boyfriend. That's what we were told.
KATHY: Yeah, he was.

[They are in the otherwise deserted school dining hall. Hollis is sat next to Kathy, Frank on the opposite side of the table. Giebelhouse comes in carrying several drinks cans.]

KATHY: We went out for about three years. But we broke up the beginning of this year.
FRANK: Why was that?

[Giebelhouse puts the cans down on the table between Kathy and Hollis.]

GIEBELHOUSE: Excuse me. Go ahead.
HOLLIS: Why did you break up, Kathy?
KATHY: Brant, I don't know, he just kind of changed. He became a different person.

[Giebelhouse pulls the tab on a drink can, Kathy jumps.]

FRANK: What do you mean?
KATHY: He became really negative. He quit football. He quit school basically. He was here but not really. He was, like, numb.
HOLLIS: Like depressed?
KATHY: No. He would talk about the end of the world. And he would get really scary.
FRANK: What do you mean, the end of the world.
KATHY: Just like everything collapsing. Banks and governments and order and society. And he would totally believe it.
FRANK: Kathy. Do you think he shot those kids?
KATHY: I think everyone thinks he did.
HOLLIS: What do you think.
KATHY: But I don't understand why he would kill himself. That wasn't like Brant. He was angry at everyone else, why would he kill himself?
FRANK: Kathy, do you know who Skylark is? Mm?

[Kathy shakes her head.]

 

[Picture of Kathy and Brant on a table in Brant's bedroom.]

HOLLIS: We found him here, on the floor, in his pajamas.
FRANK: Was this bed made or unmade?
HOLLIS: The bed was unmade.
FRANK: I'm assuming they have full–time help. Is this the only access to this room? [Hollis nods.] And you are certain no–one else, other than the father, was in this area of the house at the time of death.
HOLLIS: To be honest, no–one really checked, and there were about five of us here too.

[Vision: gym shooting.]

FRANK: I think that Brant Carmody did in fact kill those kids. I think that his rage was driven by his absolute conviction that the end of the world was coming and that nothing, not even the taking of his classmates lives, mattered any more. But his death was not a suicide.
HOLLIS: He was murdered, wasn't he?

[Frank nods.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[A computer screen showing program code. A large open–plan office. Carlton King is standing by the desk of one of the employees. Gary King comes out of an office. He calls over to his son.]

KING: Hi. What are you doing here?

[Carlton goes over to him.]

CARLTON: I was talking to that programmer. Says you guys worked out the problem with the chips. You guys fixed everything.
KING: It's too late. No matter what anyone tells you. We shouldn't be talking about this. Especially after what happened at school.

[King takes Carlton over to a partitioned area of the office.]

CARLTON: Brant talked about it. He was telling everybody what happened.
KING: Well, you're not going to do that. You're going to be strong, and you're going to keep this secret.
CARLTON: Why? That's what I want to know. Why?
KING: Because that's the only way we're going to survive. If everyone knows, none of us is going to make it.

[Carlton leaves.]

 

[Night. A car draws up outside the Carmody house. Cops stand guard outside the front door. Members of the press are around. Baldwin gets out of the car. Reporters call out to him: "What is the FBI's involvement in this case? " "Agent Baldwin, just this one question. "]

GIEBELHOUSE [to cops]: Keep them out of here.

[Baldwin, Giebelhouse and other officers enter the house.]

[In the main room are Chris and Stacey Carmody, sitting together on a sofa. Frank is standing nearby.]

GIEBELHOUSE: How long we have to wait for this lawyer of yours, Mr Carmody?
MRS
CARMODY: You people are out of control. You couldn't find the person who shot those kids at the high school, so you blame my son. Now you want to blame my husband. You just need someone to blame.

[Frank shakes his head at Baldwin, who leaves, pretty pissed off.]

CARMODY: That's enough, Stacey.

[Carmody tries to comfort his wife but she shakes off his hand. She's almost hysterical.]

MRS CARMODY, That's what you're good at! You can't stop the violence, so you have to make it look like you're actually doing something!
CARMODY: Stacey, that's enough.
FRANK: Did your son ever talk to you about the end of the world.
CARMODY: The end of the world?
FRANK: About the breakdown of society. About futility.
CARMODY: I don't know, he was a kid, he had problems. You got kids?
GIEBELHOUSE: I got kids. And they get angry at me but I don't blow their heads off.

[Carmody jumps to his feet.]

CARMODY: I did not kill my son!
GIEBELHOUSE: Well, that's interesting, because we checked out a few things that don't quite make sense. The Coroner's pathologist said your son still had toothpaste in his mouth from brushing his teeth before he went to bed. And you know when we found him dead he was already in his jammies. I want to know why a kid who is so upset gets ready for bed like that before he offs himself.
CARMODY: And that's what you're basing this on. I'm not going to need a lawyer, you are.

[Carmody goes back and sits next to his wife.]

[In Brant's bedroom, Hollis activates his computer's internet connection. The modem dials in and the screen shows the mail program. Hollis checks the list of incoming emails. Several are from Skylark. Hollis prints one out. As she's looking at it, she becomes aware that Baldwin has entered the room.]

BALDWIN: What'd you find?

[Hollis hands him the printout, reluctantly.]

[Sitting room.]

BALDWIN: Frank Black! We'd better talk right now.

[Baldwin has gone back into the main room and is flourishing the printout, triumphantly.]

GIEBELHOUSE: What's going on?

[Frank, Giebelhouse, Baldwin and Hollis move off away from the Carmodys. The email from 'Skylark' to 'Carmody1117', dated October 14th, reads:
"I know what you did. The others are afraid to speak up and point the finger at you, but I won't let you go unpunished. You killed Tammy. And now I'm going to kill you. You don't deserve to live. I don't care what happens to me anymore. The only way to save yourself is to confess. If you don't I'll – –"]

BALDWIN: Who's Skylark?
FRANK: We don't know.
BALDWIN: He, she, whoever it is, sent this email to the victim. Did you read this? It's a death threat. It swears revenge for killing the cheerleader Tammy Meador.
FRANK: When was this sent?
HOLLIS: Half hour before the time of death.
GIEBELHOUSE: How does that work? His Dad sends his own kid a death threat?
FRANK: No. Skylark or someone else.
GIEBELHOUSE: So what are we saying?
BALDWIN: The father didn't kill his kid. Somebody else did. Looks like you got a real mess to clean up here.

[Baldwin snatches the paper out of Giebelhouse's hand and walks off.]

FRANK [to Hollis]: Can you get to the internet service provider and find out who Skylark is. Do it quickly and quietly. Because as soon as they know that we know, Skylark's life is going to be in danger.

 

[Night. Cars arrive at a rural location. There's a barn, digging equipment, storage tanks of some kind. Kalmer gets out of one car. Hauser out of another.]

HAUSER: What's going on?
KALMER: I just got a call from the FBI. About Gary King's kid.

[Another car arrives. Gary King gets out.]

HAUSER: They're looking for your son Carlton, Gary. Why?
KING: I don't know why. They say he has some online name – Skylark. And that he made a death threat to Brant Carmody.
HAUSER: You told him, didn't you! He knows about our plan.
KING: He figured it out! These kids are scared!
HAUSER: You think they're scared now? Wait till it'll all hit the fan!

 

CHALET MOTOR INN
9:24 P.M.

[A computer screen. Credit card transactions: gas generator, wire fencing, solar panels, seed, barbed wire, etc. Hollis is at the computer, Frank standing next to her.]

[A knock on the door.]

FRANK: Yeah!

[Giebelhouse enters.]

GIEBELHOUSE: We have an APB out on Carlton King. I got roadblocks going up, but he's gone, Frank.
FRANK: We're doing a background check on his family. Look at these credit card transactions.
HOLLIS: For the last year, they spent several hundred thousand dollars on things like gas generators, solar paneling, barbed wire, non–perishable food items. The list goes on. Including an arms purchase from that same wholesaler in Montana, 4 M16 assault rifles. Gary King – his father – is also on a deed of trust with the eleven executives who run ComLogic in the purchase of fourteen thousand acres of high desert land in eastern Washington State.
FRANK: A strange taste for a man who's made his fortune in high technology.
GIEBELHOUSE: What are they preparing for?
FRANK: The failure of technology in the year 2000 when computer chips designed to only recognize two digits think that we've made a leap backwards a hundred years.
GIEBELHOUSE: That's not going to happen. [pause] Is it going to happen?
FRANK: They believe it will. You have to pick up this Gary King, and everybody whose name appears on this deed of trust.

[Giebelhouse hesitates, but Frank nods.]

GIEBELHOUSE: I'm all over it.

[Giebelhouse leaves.]

HOLLIS: There's nothing illegal here, Frank. What are you going to arrest these men for?
FRANK: I just don't buy it. That Skylark, Carlton King, he snuck into that house and killed his classmate.
HOLLIS: You still think it was the father.
FRANK: Yeah.

[Another knock on the door.]

FRANK: Yeah!

[When there's no response, Frank gets up as the knock on the door is repeated.]

FRANK: Yeah.

[Frank opens the door.]

CARLTON: Back up! Go inside!

[Carlton points a gun at Frank. Hollis grabs her gun.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

CARLTON: Back up! Go inside!

[Hollis cocks her gun, Frank hears this.]

FRANK: Don't, Hollis.
CARLTON: I'll shoot you, I swear.

[Carlton is in the room and pushes the door shut.]

FRANK: You're not going to shoot anybody, Carlton.
CARLTON: That's what you're saying, isn't it? You're saying that I killed Brant.
FRANK: We found your letter.
CARLTON: I would've killed him. He killed Tammy.
FRANK: You don't want to hurt anyone. That's why you gave Tammy that book to warn her. Now what you're doing right now is very serious. And if you're innocent you don't want to make this kind of mistake.
CARLTON: What difference does it make? It's what going to happen anyway, isn't it? There won't be any police or FBI. My Dad's says it's going to be every man for himself.
FRANK: Why did you come here, Carlton?
CARLTON: Because I'm afraid they're going to do the same thing to me they did to Brant.
HOLLIS: Nobody's going to hurt you, Carlton. You've got to let us help you.

[Carlton is crying and slumps to the floor. Frank carefully takes the gun out of his hand.]

 

[Night. The rural area. A car draws up quietly and stops near the barn where the men had met up earlier.]

FRANK: Do you know who these cars belong to, Carlton?
CARLTON: Yes. It's where we keep all the stuff we're going to use to survive.
FRANK: I want you to stay in the car, Carlton, OK? Anything happens, here [gives him the car keys] I want you to go get help. OK?

[Frank and Hollis get out of the car.]

HOLLIS: We should be calling for back–up now, Frank.
FRANK: They have a lot of firepower and this could turn into a stand–off in seconds.
HOLLIS: What are you going to do?
FRANK: I don't know. But I think we should wait until they come outside and get in their cars. But we can't let them leave.

[They run off and start checking the cars. Frank lifts the hood of one car and pulls out some leads to disable the engine. Hollis does likewise to another car. Suddenly there's gunshots. Hollis drops to the ground.]

FRANK: Get down!

[A figure with a shotgun comes round the corner of the building.]

HOLLIS: FBI! Drop your weapons!

[The man is Gary King. He fires several times and Hollis returns fire. Carlton slides over to the driver's seat. King is on the ground, taking cover, aiming his gun.]

HOLLIS: Frank!

[More exchange of gunfire between Hollis and King. King crawls forward. Carlton puts the car keys in the ignition.]

HOLLIS: Frank! Are you OK?

[Hauser and Kalmer are round the side of the building. They appear unarmed.]

HAUSER: Gary? Gary!

[King moves off. Carlton is watching. He takes his hand away from the car keys.]

HOLLIS: Frank! He's going around the truck.

[King can't see Frank.]

KING: Dammit!

[Hauser and Kalmer carefully approach the corner of the building.]

HOLLIS: Frank!

[Hollis is getting a little desperate at getting no response from Frank.]

HAUSER: Gary?
KING: They're under the cars. I need some more guns out here!
CARLTON: Dad?

[Carlton is standing in the open.]

GARY: Carlton!
FRANK: Put the gun down, Gary!
GARY: Get down, Carlton! Get away!

[Frank has appeared behind and to the side of Carlton who flinches when his father points the gun towards him .]

GARY: Move, Carlton!
FRANK: Put the gun down, Gary, so nobody gets hurt.
GARY: Did you bring him out here, Carlton?
FRANK: He's not part of this, he's just afraid.
GARY: You brought the FBI out here, didn't you!
FRANK: Put the gun down, Gary. This is not a war. There's no enemies here. Put the gun down – show your son that he's got nothing to be afraid of. Show him! That you won't do to him what Brant Carmody's father did.

[Carlton stands still. King eventually lets the gun fall. Hollis comes round the side of the truck, gun aimed at King.]

HAUSER: Gary?
GARY: I'm here. It's OK. Everything's going to be OK.

 

[Carmody house. Baldwin is present, also Giebelhouse, Hollis and Frank.]

STACEY: Is that true, Chris? Did you do what they say? Did you? How could you do it. How could you kill our son. [shouts and starts hitting her husband] Answer me! Answer me! Answer me! Answer me! Answer me!

[A police woman pulls her up and leads her away.]

CARMODY: My son was a killer. I know that doesn't justify what I did. I did it to save my wife and my little girls. They would stay behind if Brant was in jail, see? You don't believe this, huh? You still don't believe it. It's going to happen, you can't stop it. All the chips, all the power grids are going to fail! I worked on those chips, I built them. We can't fix the problem fast enough. There'll be no banks, there'll be no police, airports will fail, and telephones, you won't be able to get food, you won't be able to get gas, you won't be able to get fresh water. How long will it be before people take to the streets with guns? How long is it going to be before people turn into animals?

[Giebelhouse has put him in handcuffs.]

FRANK: Is that what it takes to save the world? Killing your own flesh and blood? Saving the strong and letting the weak die?
CARMODY: What alternative did I have?
GIEBELHOUSE: Let's go.

 

[Frank's house. He unzips his bag and takes out his gun, looks at it and throws it back in the bag. The phone rings and Frank answers it.]

FRANK: Yes.
HOLLIS: Mr Black?
FRANK: Yeah.
HOLLIS: It's Emma. I want to say thank you. I don't know for what exactly. I've got to fill out all this paperwork and I've never done it before. For the discharge of my weapon they make you account for every shell. I was hoping I could look at your report.

[Hollis is at her desk.]

FRANK: I didn't fire my weapon, Agent Hollis. I wasn't even carrying it.
HOLLIS: You were relying on me?
FRANK: I was relying on my experience, and you. You did an excellent job, Agent Hollis.
HOLLIS: Do you think what he said was true? About the breakdown of society at the millennium?
FRANK: I think the only way we're going to survive is by our humanity. We lose that, then there's nothing. Goodnight, Agent Hollis.

[Frank ends the call.]

[The painting as at the beginning of the episode. Frank is reading a book.]

FRANK: [voice over] It is prophesied that when the end comes, it will come in darkness. A catastrophe all foresaw but few believed. Most of us will battle too late against the chaos, but not the few, the radical few, who obey no disciplines, unencumbered by conscience, they prepare ruthlessly, pursuing their own preservation. If they survive, the rest of us perish. None will weep for the civilized, the principled, us. None but God himself.

[Frank has closed the book, switched off the bedside light and lies back on the bed, thinking.]

[fade to black]

[end titles]

Starring:

Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Klea Scott (Emma Hollis)

Also Starring:

Brittany Tiplady (Jordan Black)

Guest Starring:

Peter Outerbridge (Barry Baldwin)
Stephen E Miller (Andy McClaren)
Robert Widen (Chris Carmody)
Stephen J Lang (Det Bob Giebelhouse)
Eric Keenleyside (Gary King)
Laurie Murdoch (Jock Houser)
Andrew Johnston (Principal Kalmer)
Michelle Skalnik (Kathy McNew)

Co–Starring:

John Gingell (Carlton King)

Featuring:

Hillary Strang (Mrs Carmody)
Jeremy Guilbert (Brant Carmody)
Sasha McLean (Tammy Meador)
Keith Martin Gordey (Software Engineer)

Music by Mark Snow
Editor: Peter B Ellis
Production Designer: James Cordeiro
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Executive Story Editors: Kay Reindl and Erin Maher
Production Manager: Kathy Gilroy–Sereda
Associate Producer: Jon–Michael Preece
Co–Producer: Julie Herlocker
Co–Producer: Patrick Harbinson
Co–Producer: Laurence Andries
Co–Producer: Michael R Perry
Co–Producer: Kathy Gilroy–Sereda
Co–Producer: Paul Rabwin
Consulting Producer: Daniel Sackheim
Producer: Thomas J Wright
Co–Executive Producer: Frank Spotnitz
Co–Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co–Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Thomas J Wright

Executive Producers: Michael Duggan and Chip Johannessen
Executive Producer: Chris Carter


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