found drama

Third person, fly-on-the-wall type P.O.V.  A Handmaid’s Tale-style near apocalypse.  An evangelical Christian school; a real house on the hill sort of thing.  No one knows how they’ve kept this thing a secret, this sprawling multi-wing complex.  It’s the eve before the unveiling; the board of directors is giving a tour to some media folks from the outside world.  They’re well-dressed and proud that they’ve come this far, proud that they haven’t succumbed to the terrors without, proud that this facility of theirs will no doubt serve as a beacon unto the rest of what’s left of civilization.

Our camera changes up; we follow a young man sneaking through the halls of the All Girls wing.  He isn’t a Humbert Humbert type; he’s about the same age as these girls and he seems to be here looking for one in particular.  We get the sense that he’s fought through whatever terrors are outside to get here, to find her.  And he does find her, manages to catch her arm and away they slip into one of the quieter rooms.  The room is slanted and at the top of the rise is a trophy case.  They talk guardedly; she is trying not to give something away and he is trying not to betray some other secret.  He notices that she is pregnant.  She explains that it has something to do with taxes, that it’s for the good of the school.  He makes some lewd jokes but they’re all in good humor.

The camera shifts again: outside, the terror closes in.  Thousands upon thousands of green-skinned plague zombies swarming up the cliffs.  The school’s defenses take their positions on the ridge of the cliffs and fire down into those hordes.  There is a muffled voice crying out not to shoot, that shooting will only make things worse but the firing goes on.

About Rob Friesel

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