Panel One.
A Midwest Sheriff in uniform and hat talks straight to camera. His face looks tired and drawn.
Sheriff: We finally got him cornered in a gas station outside Lincoln. Called in every available officer, state and local – National Guard too. They all wanted a piece of him…
Sheriff: ...for every god-awful thing he did while wearing that badge.
Panel Two.
The state coroner stands in a morgue, talking to camera. He’s a man in his 50s who’s seen a lot of terrible things in his time… but this might just be the one that breaks him. His eyes are tearing up.
Coroner: My granddaddy worked this office when Charles Starkweather hisself blew through town. Eleven dead, an' that was a nationwide scandal. Sickened him to his core.
Coroner: I’m just glad he ain’t around to see this bullpucky…
Panel Three.
A hard-faced defence attorney stands on the courtroom steps and addresses a crowd of reporters. She is indignant in the face of an unwinnable case.
Attorney: …a grave miscarriage of justice. After what happened to his wife and son, my client was clearly unfit to stand trial. In disallowing the insanity plea, the judge buckled under public pressure…
Panel Four.
Rick Grimes sits on his bunk in a prison cell, head down, the bars casting shadows over his face.
CAP (Rick): They tell me I did terrible things.
CAP (Rick): They tell me there were no zombies.
CAP (Rick): They tell me it was all in my mind.
Panel Five.
Rick is led out of his cell by a warden, guards and the prison chaplain. They’re taking him to his execution.
CAP (Rick): I can only prey they’re telling the truth.
CAP (Rick): Because if this is all just a nightmare, I don’t wanna wake up…
Guard (Shouting The Title): “Dead Man Walking!”
Wow, you know this was the idea I had for Ash last week, although I had no idea how to write it.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is how you write it. Good stuff. Although, is it just me or did it have the Mario Bros. 2 ending feeling about it?
As soon as I started reading this, I knew where it was going... and I loved it! This is the type of thing I like to read, where everything you've come to know is flipped on its head. Very fine work here, Sir Rol, very fine.
ReplyDeleteBen - I'm proud to say that I didn't even know there WAS a Mario Bros 2. Was it still Bob Hoskins?
ReplyDeleteDanial - thanks. Being a horror series, I tried to think of what could possibly be worse than everything this character had already been through... only halfway through the script, I realise he'd probably prefer even this outcome.
Rol - The fact that you immediately thought Ben was talking about the Mario Bros. movie, which was terrible, rather than the games, which are stellar, frightens me.
ReplyDeleteThat said, powerful stuff here. I knew where it was going, but I didn't see the twist of him being happy about it coming. Good job.
I used to love the Mario games, but I never got to the end. Are you telling me that if I had, they'd have led Mario off to the electric chair? After all that? Heartless bastards!
ReplyDelete