He leaves Cat with the ketchup as he crosses to the phone.
ANGLE ON THE PHONE
The phone RINGS. We HEAR Laura’s voice.
LAURA
Hello?
TOM
Laura? It’s Tom. You’re not going to believe—
LAURA
Don’t say anything more. There are police here. They’ve been questioning me about you.
TOM
Damn it. Is it Trager?
LAURA
No. They’re very upset with you. Tom, what’s this all about?
TOM
Cat. Listen, tell them I’ll give myself up in…
(looks at watch)
…four hours. Just as soon as I get Cat to her door. I don’t care what they do to me then.
LAURA
I do.
TOM
It won’t be so bad. I know a real good lawyer.
(beat)
I better get off before they trace this. I just wanted to hear your voice. You okay?
LAURA
I will be once you’re home.
TOM
Me too. I love you.
Tom HANGS UP. For a moment he seems sad and tired as he walks back to the booth.
CUT TO
INT.—DINER—LATER
ANGLE ON THE REGISTER
The waitress is giving Tom his change.
TOM
Thanks. Hey, where are we? What town is this?
WAITRESS
T-or-C.
(off his look)
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Tom pockets his change and GRINS.
TOM
Yeah. Figures.
He EXITS, with Cat right behind him.
ANGLE ON THE COWBOY
Nursing a cup of coffee. He watches them through the window, then produces a PALM-SIZED RADIO. He cups it, speaks into it in a whisper.
COWBOY
Subjects have just left the diner. Heading south along the road, on foot.
OFF his watchful eyes, we
CUT TO
EXT.—TWO-LANE ROAD—NIGHT
The night is warm and still. It’s very late now, around three in the morning. Cat and Tom walk slowly down the shoulder of a road on the outskirts of T-or-C. There’s no traffic at this hour. Cat raises her arm to SCAN. The blue GLOW is VERY BRIGHT now.
TOM
We must be close.
Cat brings her arm around in a slow SWEEP…and the bracelet begins to STROBE, the triple insets FLASHING on and off in sequence, one two three, one two three, one two three, faster and faster.
CAT
There.
TOM
That?
REVERSE ANGLE—TOM’S POV
Cat is pointing at an old GAS STATION, a two-pump mom-and-pop operation that looks as though it’s been shut for twenty years. The windows are boarded up, the pumps are gone.
Cat crosses the empty highway at a run. Tom comes after, slowly. She does another sweep. The silent STROBING indicates one particular door. Tom is bemused.
CAT
Door.
TOM
Of course. What else?
REVERSE ANGLE—ON THE DOOR
The Men’s Room. It’s BOARDED SHUT.
TOM
This one doesn’t need Houdini.
Tom RIPS OFF the boards, tosses them aside. He opens the door cautiously, peeks inside.
TOM
I hate to tell you this, but it’s a men’s room.
CAT
Too soon.
TOM
So we wait.
CAT
(echoing)
So we wait.
(shyly)
Toe Mas…leaving here? Going with?
TOM
I’m sorry, Cat. This is as far as I go. Whatever’s on the other side of that door, it’s not for me. I’ve got a life here. A career. Friends, family.
(gently)
A woman I love.
(beat)
Do you understand?
Cat looks up, NODS briskly.
CAT
Understand.
She sits on the ground, crosses her legs. Her face gives nothing away. After a moment, Tom sits beside her. Cat looks at him. Tom, feeling awkward, says nothing. She moves closer, then curls up beside him, and closes her eyes. Finally, Tom puts an arm around her. Cat stirs faintly, and nuzzles closer.
MATCH DISSOLVE TO
EXT.—GAS STATION—NEAR DAWN
Tom and Cat are both asleep.
Suddenly a BLINDING LIGHT hits them straight in the face. Cat wakes instantaneously, Tom more groggily. He holds up a hand in front of his face.
REVERSE ANGLE—TOM’S POV
He is staring into two sets of HEADLIGHTS. Dark figures move out in front of the light, silhouetted in the glare. They have guns in hand. Tom hears a familiar voice.
TRAGER
You’re under arrest.
RESUME
Cat is not about to go meekly. She reaches for her weapon, Tom grabs her arm before she can get it up.
TOM
Cat, don’t.
Cat won’t fight Tom. He takes the hand cannon from her.
TOM
Here. We’re unarmed. Don’t shoot.
CAMERON
Smart move, Doctor.
Cameron relieves Tom of the weapon and slides it through his belt. Behind him are Trager and two other agents, GRIGGS and MONDRAGON.
TOM
How did you find us?
TRAGER
Please, Doctor. We never lost you. We played out the line a little to see where she’d go.
Cat struggles as Griggs and Mondragon pull her arms back, handcuff her wrists. Cameron cuffs an unresisting Tom.
TOM
Trager, please, don’t do this.
Cat and Tom are forcibly walked toward the waiting cars.
TOM
A few minutes, that’s all I ask. The door is about to open. What have you got to lose? For God’s sakes, man—
They are about to force Tom inside the car when the headlights of both cars suddenly GO OUT.
TIGHT ON CAT
She is the first to realize what it means. She goes wild, kicking and fighting, anything to be free.
RESUME
Trager has his first serious moments of doubt.
TRAGER
Get her under control, damn it.
Tom, staring over Trager’s shoulder, is the first to see them.
TOM
Trager, we’ve got company.
REVERSE ANGLE
Silent as ghosts, three black-clad manhounds walk out of the predawn darkness: Thane, Dyana, ICE.
The palanquin appears a moment later, blocking out the moon. The other three manhounds are riding atop it, guarding their master. Its SHADOW drifts across the upturned faces of the agents, and the alien, distorted voice of the darklord booms down.
DARKLORD
Give us the female.
MONDRAGON
I’m not seeing this.
TRAGER
Cat, who are these people?
TOM
Look at them, Trager. You know who they are.
He does; but he still cannot admit it.
TRAGER
The girl is a federal prisoner. What’s your business with her?
Dyana and Ice move forward toward the feds.
CAMERON
Hold it right there.
The manhounds keep coming. They’re not even armed. Griggs lifts his gun with both hands.
TRAGER
Griggs, fire a warning shot.
Griggs squeezes off a round. The gun CLICKS. Then Dyana is on him. She grabs his head on both sides. She TWISTS. We hear the SNAP as his neck breaks. Then everything happens at once.
MONDRAGON
pulls the trigger. The gun CLICKS. Ice curls his hands into fists. Six-inch STEEL CLAWS spring from his knuckles. He SLAMS his fist hard into Mondragon’s gut.
A BOLT OF ENERGY
br />
crackles down from the palanquin, touching first one car, and then the other. The vehicles EXPLODE and BURN.
THANE
strides through the carnage, straight for Cat. She backs up, looks behind her. We see her REACT.
CAMERON
tries to face Dyana hand to hand. She blocks his karate blow, pulls him off balance, and slams him down across her knee, snapping his spine like a dry stick.
TRAGER
unlocks Tom’s cuffs, gives him the keys.
TRAGER
Get her out of here.
Tom runs toward Cat. Trager turns, and…
A BOLT OF ENERGY
from the palanquin FRIES HIM where he stands.
ANGLE ON THE MEN’S ROOM
A pale blue GLOW shines through the crack beneath the men’s room door. Cat throws herself against the door. But with her hands cuffed, she can’t open it. Tom reaches her at a run. He has the keys.
TOM
Turn around. Hold still.
(unlocks cuffs)
We’ve got to…
Too late. Thane is there. He grabs Tom contemptuously, and FLINGS him aside like a child. Cat tries to claw out his eye. Thane catches her hand, holds her prisoner by her wrist. She glares at him defiantly.
THANE
Look. Look at he who gave you mercy, and was repaid in shame.
Tom RABBIT PUNCHES Thane from behind.
TOM
Let go of her, you son of a—
Thane whirls, and tears into Tom, a brutal barehand attack. Blow after blow drives Tom back across the lot, staggering.
ANGLE ON THE DOOR (SFX)
Cat OPENS the men’s room door. Beyond is chaos, a portal of strobing light. The light is a brilliant BLUE-WHITE. Somehow it hurts the eye to look at it.
Within the light, images flicker past too fast to follow, almost subliminal. For just an instant, the path is clear. Cat could step through at will. But she hesitates…
RESUME TOM
Thane is murdering him with his bare hands. Tom FALLS to his knees beside Cameron’s corpse. Thane grabs him by the hair, lifts his fist for the killing blow…and Cat comes hurtling through the air and lands on his back, pummeling him with blows.
QUICK CUT—THE DOOR
The light has faded to a DEEP MIDNIGHT BLUE. We sense the portal is closing.
RESUME
Thane pulls Cat off his back, and hits her a single terrible backhand blow across the face. She falls.
TIGHT ON TOM
On the ground. Dazed. He wipes blood from his mouth. Then he sees Cameron lying there, still and dead. He crawls to the body, fumbles in the agent’s jacket, and pulls out the hand cannon.
ANGLE ALONG THE HAND CANNON
Tom aims at Thane, but he’s too close to Cat. Instead he swings the cannon UP at the palanquin, and FIRES.
THE PALANQUIN
is rocked by a tremendous EXPLOSION. The darkfield protects the rider, but we see one of the manhounds FALL, screaming, wreathed in flame. A moment later, the massive palanquin itself CRASHES DOWNWARD.
QUICK CUTS
The manhounds stare in horror.
Ice and Dyana are both directly under the palanquin. They look up in shock as it falls. Dyana drops and ROLLS out. Ice isn’t quite quick enough. He SCREAMS as the palanquin crushes him.
Thane moves to help his master.
TOM
staggers over to Cat, sliding the cannon away. She is unconscious on the ground. Beyond her, the door has faded to a DEEP PURPLE GLOW. It’s almost closed. Tom scoops up Cat in his arms, and RUNS.
THANE
sees, and comes after them. But too late. Tom LEAPS through the door. Thane lunges after him…and finds himself in a gas station men’s room. Alone.
SMASH CUT TO
EXT.—BLIZZARD—DAY
as Tom emerges, cradling Cat, into knee-deep SNOW, in the midst of a HOWLING STORM.
FADE OUT
END OF ACT III
ACT IV
EXT.—BLIZZARD—DAY
Tom cradles Cat in his arms as the storm HOWLS around them. It’s day, but the sky is DARK, the sun hidden from sight. The wind drives the snow into Tom’s bruised, battered face. In b.g., we glimpse the mountains. Tom SHIVERS. He’s not dressed for this kind of cold.
TOM’S POV
as he turns, slowly. The world is a stark white wilderness of ice and snow and rock, with no shelter in sight.
RESUME
Already frost is forming on Tom’s eyebrows. He picks a direction at random, and begins to WALK, carrying Cat.
DISSOLVE TO
SERIES OF SHOTS—TIGHT ON TOM’S LEGS
as he struggles through knee-high snowdrifts, up ice-slick slopes, over rocks, sometimes staggering, fighting for every yard as the storm rages around him.
DISSOLVE TO
INT.—CAVE—DAY
As caves go, it isn’t much: a hole, half hidden by an overhang of rock, a dead tree near its entrance. But it’s shelter. Wearily, Tom carries Cat in side, lays her down on the hard-packed earth floor, out of the wind.
He’s covered with caked snow, trembling. He picks up some fallen branches from the dead tree near the cave mouth, begins to gather wood for a fire.
DISSOLVE TO
INT.—CAVE—HOURS LATER
Flames crackle and dance near the mouth of the cave. Outside, the snow has finally stopped falling. Tom washes the blood off Cat’s face with a handkerchief wet with melted snow.
ANGLE DOWN ON CAT—TOM’S POV
Cat’s eyes are open. She’s looking up at him.
TOM
Good morning. How’s the head feel?
CAT
Hurts.
TOM
Yeah. My face feels like chopmeat. Your friend Thane’s got quite a punch.
CAT
Not my friend.
She struggles to rise.
RESUME
Tom helps Cat to her feet. She crosses to the mouth of the cave, looks out. Beyond is a white wilderness of snow and ice. Cat SHIVERS, hugs herself.
TOM
Grim, isn’t it? You’re sure the doors don’t open in both directions?
CAT
Sure.
TOM
I was afraid you’d say that.
(beat, weary)
Maybe I traded us a quick death for a slow one.
CAT
Slow is better. More living.
TOM
Even if it’s only for a few days? A few hours?
CAT
Even if.
She cocks her head sideways, regards him curiously.
CAT
Why?
TOM
The door was closing.
CAT
Still. Why?
TOM
Some things you have to do.
Cat thinks about that. Then she moves closer, HUGS him with all her strength.
We can see TEARS in her eyes. Tom can’t.
CLOSE ON CAT
Her arms wrapped around Tom, holding him tight.
RESUME
Cat finally breaks the embrace, steps back. Tom looks as awkward as he feels. Maybe he doesn’t know what that hug means. Maybe he’s thinking of Laura.
CAT
Some things you have to do.
That brings a SMILE to Tom’s face.
TOM
What we need to do is make plans. The firewood won’t last long, and we’re not dressed for skiing.
CAT
Not knowing skiing.
TOM
It’s where you pay a lot of money to strap boards on your feet and slide down a mountain.
He moves to the cave mouth, studies the outside world. The black, overcast sky. The howling wind. The deep drifts of snow and overhangs of ice.
TOM
I don’t like the look of that sky. Darkness at—
(glances at watch)
—ten twenty-seven. Blizzards in September.
ANGLE ON TOM
Tom moves away from the wind and the cold, picks up a stick, prods the fire.
TOM
Maybe there was a geographical shift. Maybe we’re in Greenland…Antarctica…
SERGEANT (O.S.)
Try Wyoming.
REVERSE ANGLE
as Tom whirls at the sound of the voice. Just inside the cave stand FIVE ARMED SOLDIERS; gaunt, ragged men in ragged uniforms, ice in their beards, hunger and fear in their eyes, snow caking their boots. Their RIFLES cover Tom and Cat.
The SERGEANT is a tall black woman with a rough, earthy voice. She warms her hands over the fire.
SERGEANT
Nice. Warm. And you know, you can see it for miles.
ANGLE ON CAT
Backing up. She looks sideways at the hand cannon on the ground nearby, tenses to make a dive for it.
RESUME
The sergeant knows exactly what she’s doing.
SERGEANT
Girl, if you’re going to try for that gun over there, you’re going to be real dead real soon.
Cat FREEZES.
SOLDIER
What are we going to do with them, Sarge?