Art Style: This is drawn on a four panel grid, using a mixture of Sumi Painting and Charcoal. Because of the grid, I’m not sure how 5 panel pages will translate. Visually, it blends the French graphic novel tradition of Bande Dessinnee ( specifically Western ) and Seinen Manga of a Horror Scifi bent.
Plot: This is a Horror / Scifi Romance that crosses the time periods of the 1830s to 2129 A.D. In the 1800s, France recovers from the aftermath of the first French Revolution. However the main focus revolution is in the one of 1871. In the future, mankind blurs that distinction between Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Humanity in a period of Modern Stasis.
Historical Context: Paris is recovering from the aftermath of the 1871 Revolution. In the future, the US is split between Japanese and French imperial powers for control over the hallowed land mass that was once the United States.
Conlang: https://personaljournal.ca/hafestra-conlang/
HEMATO-TOMATO - Age 19-119 ( is age 26 when she goes dormant inside a cave filled with cybernetic wires, protected from the “colonial wars” between French and Japanese American territories. Would become the next state executioner, after her father who had inherited the title from the Guillotine Family of France after the return of the device. She doesn’t want to become an executioner, but finds that her desires conflict with this soft nature. When she returns into the flesh in 2084 A.D., her faith in humanity is broken, and thereby completely breaking her sanity.
EHENA-MAERIE - Age 60 when she died in her original lifetime, but dies at age 18 when she is reincarnated into a family with a Japanese mother and a French father. Ehena-Maerie murders her father and two brothers who were abusing her. Her mother hand been long dead. She hesitates to build a romantic relationship with Hemato, whom she knows is next in line to become a headsman. Hemato tries to resist her father beheading Ehena-Maerie by Razor Arrow.
NADINE - Age 13-29. She is introduced by her riding a flying wing school bus after the closing of the civil war between French and Japanese America. She lives in a sky city, where her mother works as a politician. When her mother goes missing from a terrorist attack, she is transferred to a special military school, where she escapes and falls off the city in the sky. Here she develops in injury that requires a prosthetic leg and a prosthetic arm. She pop pain killers. Here she gets involved with a band of misfits that train on old “war dog” technology, ancient battle dog robots in the desert landfill. When she finds a virtual reality game in a dumpster, she replays the game Slephner beta tested, and find herself playing a medieval fantasy game set in Medieval France and Spain.
ELLEN - Age 13-29. She ran away from her abusive father’s home, murdering him with a crowbar. Slephner takes her in, allowing her to wash the blood off. Here she is introduced to the battle arena, where they use Robot Dogs to settle old scores. Later she develops a relationship with Nadine, after she had helped her escape with her life from a raid on “The Barbershop” arena.
BLANCI - Age 13-29 - Spanish girl raised Italian, she ran away from her abusive father’s home as well. Her stepfather murdered her parents during a feud between Italian and Spanish crime families. She hides from her her stepfather, living with her best friend Malcolm, whom she had known since they were kids. Malcolm and Blanci are part of a splinter “street gang” that had originally encompassed all of the territories in the Potato District under the city in the sky. She dies in the raid on The Barbershop, before Nadine finds a mysterious fantasy game.
MALCOLM - Age 13-29 - Initially we meet Malcolm after her had been kicked out of his family home, do to his parents having to choose between taking care of him or his dying sister who had developed a disease after the war between Japanese and French America. Her works as a drug smuggler, who dreams of someday becoming a star on the “Meadow Of Gold”.
SLEPHNER - Age 13-29 - A beta tester presumed dead after the raid on The Barbershop. He beta-tested an early prototype of Voreth’s Promise, before it was released for wider game play, as a tool for studying those who had the potential to become violent criminals later in later. He however developed a degenerative disease caused by the drug cocktail that enabled a sleep like state, to allow for lucid dreams connected to micro-VR set.
RASSIE - AGE 26 ( 27 when Beheaded in the game world. ) A dream-scanner who had rose in the ranks of the normal secret police, but had developed a mild crush on Nadine. Her affections were partly what made her choose to help Nadine try to fix the game, rather than letting her natural instincts similar to Hemato’s take its natural course. She follows the orders of her brother Tanner, who is her Elite Handler. She wears a prosthetic Ai with machine learning abilities.
HEMATO’S FATHER - A state executioner for French America, who uses a razor arrow, that had evolved from the original guillotine. He had been instrumental in the instruments creation, that later went on to become a common self-defense device during the colonial wars. Hemato’s father is also implied to being a clinical vampire like Hemato.
MARINE LA PEN - The presidential candidate of France, who later organized an invasion of the hallowed out United States. Later she made a truce with Japan for owning American territory closer to California and Cascadia. Later she became a Neo-Napoleonic like figure who led the effort to trail and crush the invading Japanese forces. Later the United States expelled both, permanently affected the English language in a way that included more French and Japanese than in even the middle ages.
VELLA, MR. CLOCKTIME - Vella is the progeny of Nadine and Mr. Clocktime that allowed for an unnatural bith between a trans woman and a cis man, that enabled Vella to have god like Time abilities. However her father, Mr. Clocktime, wants to pass down his abilities.
MILLIE - A half Spanish half French fairy princess, who in the original playthrough was allowed to be executed by the invading army of Dantino. Instead, when the apocalypse loomed do to causing a massive game world glitch, this gave Nadine a chance to replay the game. Dantino murdered her parents and her family’s made, causing Elena, Aldiel, and Millie to flee persecution from the town across the foreboding mountains watched by the “eyes in the sky”, giant floating eyes that collect data about gameplay choices.
ELENA - Coming Soon
ALDIEL - Coming Soon
DANTINO - Coming soon
VISUAL REFERENCES ( Work In Progress )
HEMATO - Coming Soon HEMATO’s FATHER - Coming Soon EHENA - Coming Soon NADINE - Coming Soon BRITTNEY - Coming Soon ELLEN - Coming Soon BLANCI - Coming Soon MALCOLM - Coming Soon SLEPHNER - Coming Soon ELLEN - Coming Soon MILLIE - Derived partially from Blanci. ELENA - Derived partially from Ellen. ALDIEL - Derived partially from Malcolm. DANTINO - Derived from Hemato’s father. RASSIE - Derived from Brittney TANNER - Coming soon MARINE LA PEN - https://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-sees-political-opening-after-teacher-beheading-in-france/ ( Just the visual appearance of La Pen.)
PAGE ONE
A DISSASSEMBLED GUILLOTINE IS HUNG UP ON THE WALL OF A DARK ROOM. A MAN IN SHADOWS WASHES THE BLOOD OFF THE ANGULAR BLADE, AND GRINDS THE EDGES SMOOTH.
Caption Post Decapitation Stress Disorder Caption The anxiety of having survived your beheading, and having to live with…
A BODY IS BEING GROWN IN A VAT. THE SEVERED HEAD OF THE LAST EXECUTED WOMAN, A STEET SAMURAI, IS KEPT ALIVE IN A JAR.
Caption the memories of seeing your body whisked away by an angular blade shot out of a specialized rifle.
SHE WAKES UP REMEMBERING THE SHARPNESS THROUGH HER NECK. THE WOMAN IN SILHOUETTE SPEAKS IN A FUSION OF FRENCH AND JAPANESE AT HER BATHROOM MIRROR.
NAMELESS WOMAN They always get you eventually. In your dreams, and behind the curtain.
WOMAN IS GENTLY STROKING HER NEWLY MENDED NECK.
NAMELESS WOMAN They grew me a new body suit out of my own cells, in the off chance I was wrongly executed.
SHE TOUCHES THE WINDOW, AND LONGS FOR THE SKY.
NAMELESS WOMAN Is this the world you wanted Marine La Pen?
PAGE TWO
MARINE LA PEN, A HANDSOME MIDDLE AGED BLOND WOMAN WHO RAN FOR FRENCH PRESIDENT IN 2017. BEHIND HER IS NATIONAL FRONT FLAG. SHE SPEAKS IN FRONT OF A CROWD OF PEOPLE. THE MARINE LA PEN WAR IS INITIATED: A SPACE CRUISER IS CAPTURING AMERICAN SPACE FORCE PRIVATES, AND COVERTING THEM OVER TO THE FRENCH CAUSE.
IN THE US, TRUMP SPEAKS TO MARINE LA PEN ON THE LANDLINE, ABOUT A SWEET DEAL BETWEEN HER AND SAUDI ARABIA IF THEY FORM AN ALLIANCE.
Caption 2018 Trump victory changes the United States irreperably.
MEN IN SPACE SUITS ARE SHOOTING AT AMERICAN FORCES. FRANCE SLOWLY TAKES BACK ITS OLD COLONIAL TERRITORIES.
Were these wars worth it to you, Ma France?
PAGE THREE
A COUPLE IS EXCHANGING TASTES OF THEIR COFFEE DRINKS IN A FRENCH CAFE IN CHATTANOOGA. THE WOMAN, IS DRESSED AS A FRENCH PEASANT FROM THE 1830S, COMPLETE WITH WOODEN CLOGS. THE MAN, IS DRESSED AS A MODERN SALARYMAN.
NAMELESS WOMAN Konnichiwa! C’est un bonjour?
SARARYMAN Oui, pour toi c’est une konnichiwa!
THE WOMAN MAKES A JOKE AND GIVING THE BUSINESS MAN A HAND JOB, IF SHE WOULD TELL HIM THE NAME OF HER EMPLOYER.
Sometimes it takes a lot win an appointment with a sibling, even if its a boss of your ex.
THE ARMY STORM THE CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, AND CAPTURE EVERY THIRD CHILD WITHIN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY FOR CONSCRIPTION.
YOUNG MOTHER Dont take my baby, hes the only one I have left.
SOLDIER Piss off Frog.
PAGE FOUR
THE NAMELESS WOMAN VISUALIZED THE SOLDIERS MUTATED INTO FACELESS PARASITE, FEEDING OFF THE REMAINS OF THEIR CIVILIZATION.
THE SOLDIER SHOOTS THE MOTHER IN THE FOREHEAD, TAKING THE BOY WITH HIM FOR RECRUITMENT INTO THE COLONIAL FORCES.
Author Note: The baby grows up, and becomes NADINE’S FATHER.
But that time was not that day.
CUT TO BEDROOM:
NAMELESS WOMAN I suppose all colonies become like this.
PAGE FIVE
HEMATO TOMATO FLOATS IN A SEA OF LIME GREEN PIXELS. THE BACKGROUND OTHERWISE IS BLACK. WIRES OF COMPUTER MESH BLEND WITH A CATACOMB OF FLESH. HEMATO REMEMBERS HER LAST CONVERSATION WITH ANNA-MARIE:
HEMATO Dad want your head after you murdered your father.
EHENA MAERIE Your the one who gets off from the blood of people’s necks.
ANNA-MARIE’S NECK IS LOCKED INTO A LUNETTE OF A GUILLOTINE GUN.
EHENA MAERIE Until we meet again.
THE BLADE FROM THE GUILLOTINE GUN SHOOTS THROUGH HER NECK. HER HEAD FALLS TO THE FLOOR. BLOOD SHOOTS OUT OF HER NECK.
Caption It was then I decided to not pursue my job as an executioner, but a champion of justice.
HEMATO TOMATO One can’t believe it is 2085. So many things have passed sense the wars.
PAGE SIX
HEMATO IS AT DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION CLUB. SHE IS SITTING AT ONE OF THE DESK CLUSTERS ARRANGED AS A TABLE AROUND THE EDGES OF THE ROOM.
HEMATO What are you doing Saturday night?
EHENA-MAERIE I might be busy, needing to secure immigration papers.
HEMATO You have a father who is French, and a mother who is Japanese right?
EHENA-MAERIE Yes, apparently immigration to France was easier than here in the US.
HEMATO Not a surprise, with you know who in office.
EHENA-MAERIE Yea, … dont remind me.
HEMATO AND ANNA MARIE ARE IN THE PARKING LOT. HEMATOS MOM IS WAVING TO HER.
HEMATO See you in the next club meeting after school.
PAGE SEVEN
HEMATO ROLLS A BOWLING BALL AT THE BOWLING ALLEY.
HEMATO My name is Hemato. And I have a thing for blood.
HEMATO I used to think it was for decapitation, but sometimes life can be cut throat.
Like a game of bowling, sometimes things roll a different way.
HEMATO Let me tell you about my dead girlfriend Anna Marie.
Hemato opens an old tome. It looks like it might turn to dust.
HEMATO It was way back in the year of 1839.
PAGE EIGHT EHENA-MAERIE IS WALKING BACK HOME TO HER COTTAGE. SHE IS TENDED BY TWO BROTHERS, BOTH CARRYING WHITE WINE BOTTLES.
EHENA-MAERIE Yet more wine brothers?
HEMATO Back then, laws were different regarding familial relations.
EHENA-MAERIE IS BEING TRIED IN COURT FOR THE MURDER OF HER ELDEST BROTHER AND ABUSIVE FATHER.
HEMATO She came within a month of almost going to the guillotine.
HEMATO When she moved to the US to restart her life, she lost friends do to various fevers and plagues on a trip to the new world.
HEMATO In this strange new world, where I call my home, things operate a bit differently.
THE SPIRIT OF ANNA MARIE FLOATS IN A SEA OF DISEMBODIED SPIRITS. EVENTUALLY SHE WAKES UP AS A NEW BORN.
HEMATO But this life, I hope will be different.
PAGE NINE
PARIS FRANCE. FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHARLOTTE CORDAY WALKS UP THE SCAFFOLD STAIRS, BEFORE A CROWD OF BLOODTHIRSTY ONLOOKERS.
Caption 1792 Caption Charlotte is beheaded by essentially the same machine that killed my EHENA-MAERIE.
HEMATO TOMATO IS HOLDING THE SEVERED HEAD OF ANNA MARIE. SHE HAS TEARS IN HER EYES.
HEMATO And yet somehow now, this embrace feels more cruel. This was suppose to be 2016. Not the 18th century.
HEMATO OPENS THE CASKET AT THE QUARRY NEAR CHATTANOOGA.
HEMATO I embrace the only person that ever loved me.
PAGE TEN
ONE YEAR AGO. EHENA AND HEMATO PLAYING JRPGS TOGETHER AFTER HIGH SCHOOL.
HEMATO When we were young, we used to hang out together.
THEY KISS IN THE LAKE NEAR THEIR HOME AFTER SCHOOL.
HEMATO And yet that is now in the past. I didnt think I’d love a parracidal girl.
PAGE ELEVEN
HEMATO TOMATO SITS BY A TOMBSTONE IN THE GRAVEYARD OF DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA. A MARIACHI AND FLAMENCO PLAYER OFFERS HIS HAND TO HEMATO TO PLAY A FUNERAL MARCH.
HEMATO Dance, to the rhythm of death. In this kingdom by the wavy seas.
ONE MUSICIAN PLAYS THE ACCORDION, ONE A FADO GUITAR, AND THE OTHER A FLAMENCO TAP DANCER.
HEMATO For me and my Anna-Marie. The final epitaph of the damned.
HEMATO IMAGINES AN EMPTY ALTER, WITHERED WITH AGE, AND A PORTAL TO HEAVEN, WHERE THEY MARRY IN DEATH.
PAGE TWELVE
AN EXECUTIONER STANDS WATCH OVER A NORMAL GUILLOTINE MODEL, WITH A YOUNG WOMAN STRAPPED TO THE BOARD.
Caption In the 1800s, they called the guillotine “The Planks”, “The Dreadful Climb”, “The Widow”, or “National Razor”
CHARLES SANSON Any last words?
HEMATOS FATHER GUIDES A YOUNG WOMAN TO STEP ON A PRESSURE PLATE.
Sound Effect: Rolling guillotine model
THE GUILLOTINE ROLLS BEHIND THE WOMAN, AND TIGHTENS A METALLIC STOCK AROUND HER THIN NECK.
Caption But now it was refined into a short range firing arm.
A SERIES OF GUILLOTINE GUNS ARE MANUFACTURED ON AUTOMATED ASSEMBLY LINES.
Caption Now they are cheap, like carrying around a Colt 55 in your holster.
HEMATO I really dont want this job.
FATHER You’ll grow to love it mme.
HEMATO D’accord
PAGE THIRTEEN
HEMATO DREAMED OF BEING ON A SURGEONS TABLE, HER MANHOOD REPLACED WITH FEMALE PARTS.
Caption The smell of blood turned Hemato on. Caption And yet she felt something missing.
HEMATO Charles, what would you have done?
PAGE FOURTEEN
HEMATO IS RIDING A MOTORCYCLE THROUGH CHATTANOOGA TO REACH HER DESTINATION. SHE IS LISTENING TO THE RADIO, PLAYING NEWS OF A RECENT CAPTURE OF A MEXICAN GOODS IMPORTATION JET HIJACKED BY FRENCH-AMERICAN SPACE MARINES.
ANCOR We have word that a small crew of Mexican immigrants have by captured in space flight, attempting to import Chorizo.
HEMATO Thats enough of that shit.
Hemato turns off the radio.
PAGE FIFTEEN
HEMATO ARRIVES AT THE GROCERY STORE, AND NOTICES THAT THE LOCAL MEXICAN GROCERY STORE HAS BEGAN SELLING ALSATIAN PASTA ALONG WITH THE REGULAR STOCK OF PRODUCE. SHE COULDNT IMAGINE HERSELF HERSELF EATING FAJITA PASTA, THOUGH DO TO THE INFREQUENCY OF CHORIZO SOMETIMES SHE WAS TEMPTED.
HEMATO IMAGINES THE DOUGHNUTS TALKING IN THE GLASS CASE.
HEMATO Sometimes Fajitas get old after a while. Those doughnuts look good.
HEMATO I’m just glad they know some English. The cashier I mean.
HEMATO ARRIVES AT HER STUDIO. SHE CRASHES ON HER JAPANESE FUTON. SHE HAS INTERMITTENT MEMORIES OF WHEN SHE BEHEADED EHENA-MAERIE.
HEMATO America was not good enough for you.
– Volume 3 second half
PAGE SIXTEEN
SOCIETY EVOLVES INTO A SLOWLY GROWING MALIGNATE CANCER.
Caption One could say society was suicidal. Caption On a path of self destruction.
THE THORNS OF A ROSE BURY THEMSELVES IN THE TUMOR.
The blood flow flowing like electrodes pumped into wetware drives.
A RADIOACTIVE WOLF HUNTS IN THE FOREST FOR ITS PREY.
Caption Simulated natural landscapes, dream like water flow. Caption All under the glow of a night light.
A GUILLOTINE BLADE IS SHOT THROUGH A YOUNG WOMAN’S NECK, HER HEAD FALLING TO THE BLOOD VENTILATION.
HEMATO Father’s job was a bloody business. But I wanted no part of it.
PAGE SEVENTEEN
EHENA’S SPIRIT HAUNTS THE GRAVE SITE, WITH HER HAND REACHING OUT TO LET HEMATO INSIDE OF THE CRYPT.
Caption And inside this tomb, where I now belong… It flowed like a Western movie set.
HEMATO BOARDS A BULLET TRAIN, ARMED WITH A HOMEMADE GUILLOTINE GUN, ON THE RUN FROM DREAM SCANNERS AND SECRET POLICE.
HEMATO But thats life. Sometimes you got to be cut throat.
FRENCH SPACE INFANTRY MEN CAPTURE ANOTHER MEXICAN GOODS VESSLE.
HEMATO I knew I could only trusy my own judgement about society. Even as I fall in love, with a lop sided bow. And hair the color of blond fairies slaughtered by robots.
– Bookmark
PAGE EIGHTEEN
A DRUG ADDICT SNORTS COKE AND METH ON THE SIDEWALK OF CHATTANOOGA.
Caption Before the world became a mixture of simulated forests..
Caption And layers of underground catacombs. Society had loathed the homeless.
HOMELESS BUM Can I purchase that joint from you?
HEMATO Dont worry about it man, just have it.
HOMELESS BUM Thanks a lot man!
HEMATO DREAMED OF SEVERED SHEEP NECKS, SPRAYING WITH BLOOD IN MIDNIGHT FORESTS.
HEMATO Yes yes!
HEMATO TAKES OUT A THUMB DRIVE, AND LOOPS IT THROUGH A NECKLACE.
HEMATO I didnt used to like chokers, but grew an appreciation.
PAGE TWENTY
HEMATO REMEMBERED TRYING TO LEARN FRENCH WITH EHENA-MAERIE. THEY SIT IN HIGH SCHOOL CLASS EXCHANGING NOTES.
HEMATO Konnichiwa Mme Ehena.
EHENA MAERIE Et toi gozaimazu!
SPLIT PANEL. SEATTLE IS FREEZING A HOMELESS MAN. CHATTANOOGA SUFFERS FROM TREE DEFORESTATION DO TO FOREST FIRES.
Caption Seattle had the coldest weather, the coldest culture. The weather from climate change made people super pationate in Tennessee.
A MIDNIGHT FOREST IS LITTERED WITH OLD EROTICA MAGAZINES FROM DIFFERENT ERO-GURO PUBLICATIONS.
Caption Some humans would read slasher magazines…
SENTIANT OWNED BY THE NSA PLAYS WITH HACKERS IN 4 DIMENSIONAL CHESS MATCHES WITH COUNTLESS DATA STREAMA.
Caption The chess match of the gods begins…
PAGE TWENTY ONE
BACK WHEN HEMATO WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL, SHE WOULD BE INVITED TO HER HIGH SCHOOL BEST FRIEND’S HOUSE. THE HOUSE WAS AROUND TWO STORIES, AND WHEN YOU ENTERED THE KITCHEN WAS THERE TO GREET YOU.
INSIDE, TOMMY’S MOM WOULD BE MAKING GOULASH IN THE OVEN, AND FOR DESERT CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE.
HEMATO AND TJ ARE IN THEIR BEDROOM PLAYING MEDIEVAL JAPANESE ACTION GAMES.
HEMATO Didn’t you get the princess chick last time?
Caption The problem with my old best friend. Caption He was extremely random.
TJ Yea but so what, you always get the pigtailed blue haired girl that looks like a J Pop idle.
TJ Want to go to the quarry afterward? Tony and Ash made some napalm.
PAGE TWENTY TWO
IN THE PRESENT, HEMATO IS HELPING EHENA-MAERIE MAKE LOPSTER SOUP ON THE OVEN. OUTSIDE THE WINDOW, IT WAS RAINING. SQUIRRELS CLIMB THE TREES.
HEMATO Don’t you think that’s enough butter?
EHENA-MAERIE Dont be ridiculous, you can never have enough butter in your French cuisine.
HEMATO Pardon me.
EHENA-MAERIE C’est pardon moi pour toi!
The family is eating Lopster soup with so much butter in it as to make your pass out from its richness.
Caption Previously my family had gotten used to a calorie restricted diet.
Caption So they almost had a heart attack.
Hemato is sitting at lunch with Ehena-Maerie.
HEMATO Ehena, qoui habite et non pour toi?
EHENA-MAERIE I dont want you to meet my father. Me and him dont have the greatest relationship.
PAGE TWENTY THREE
ELSEWHERE, POLITICAL ACTIVIST HAVE COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER CHATTANOOGA. SOME CARRY SHOTGUNS, OTHERS GUILLOTINE GUNS.
NAMELESS WOMAN What do we want?
ACTIVIST GROUP La Francaise filles non en le Americana!
A LIMOZINE BY A WELL KNOWN POLITICIAN EXPLODES IN THE DISTANCE.
THE ACTIVISTS AS DEFENDANTS, ARE CHARGED BY AUTOMATION SYSTEMS IN A MOCK TRIAL, SENTENCING THEM ALL TO BEHEADING BY GUILLOTINE GUN.
THE MAIN ACTIVIST, WITH BLOND HAIR AND GLASSES, IS THE FIRST TO BE SHOT IN THE BACK OF THE NECK. SENDING HER HEAD FLYING.
PAGE TWENTY FOUR EHENA-MAERIE in silhouette, stabs her father in the neck in the living room.
EHENA-MAERIE C’est la vie!
PAGE TWENTY FIVE
MR. CLOCKTIME CARRIES AROUND A BLACK CANE. TRAVELING IN A HYPERCUBE, HE OBSERVES DIFFERENT POINTS IN EARTH HISTORY, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
MR. CLOCKTIME In this world I call my home, where time is lengthier than any tome, come with me to see another world.
MR. CLOCKTIME TAPS HIS BLACK CANE. THEN TWIRLS HIS BLACK TOP HAT, HOPPING INTO THE APOCALYPTIC FUTURE.
MR. CLOCKTIME ARRIVES IN A DRIED OUT LANDSCAPE. HE TAPS HIS BLACK CANE, AND SLOWLY A TREE RETURNS TO LIFE. IN THE DISTANCE IS A RUINED CITY THAT WAS ONCE CHATTANOOGA.
MR. CLOCKTIME You might wonder what I see in Hemato, Nadine, and Dantino. But believe me, all with me revealed from me in do time.
WITH A TAP OF HIS CANE, POPS BACK INTO THE HYPERCUBE. BUT NADINE I HAVE MORE HOPE IN. SHE HAS THE BLESSING OF MR. CLOCKTIME.
Caption Mr. Clocktime desires for himself a daughter to replace him. For this he places his bets on Nadine.
Caption Hemato is to far gone.
PAGE TWENTY SIX
HEMATO FANTASIZES ABOUT DINING ON THE BLOOD OF EHENA-MAERIE. EHENA IS LAYING ON A DISSECTION TABLE.
Caption For my Ehena-Maerie, her neck so thin and petite… Her neck caressed into mine, as I kiss her shoulders.
IN SCHOOL EHENA-MAERIE WOULD WEAR POODLE SKIRTS, BIRKENSTOCKS, AND CARRY A BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HYMNS. SHE WOULD HAVE HER NOSE IN IT DURING LUNCH.
Caption At the time I kept hidden my double life of executing prisoners… The women’s severed heads crawling the blood vent.
HEMATO IMAGINED HERSELF AND EHENA-MAERIE RIDING THE SUNSET, WITH A FLAMENCO GUITARIST ON THE NEXT HORSE OVER. HEMATO CARRYING A SAWN OFF SHOTGUN.
Caption I thought at the time dating Ehena-Maerie was worth a shot. But we richoted to seperate lives.
PAGE TWENTY SEVEN A CARGO SHIP REACHES THE GULF OF MEXICO.
Caption The French first invaded Mexico, carrying inactivated surveillance drones.
MEN IN DISCUISE KEPT WATCH OVER THE VESSLE.
THE FRENCH SECRET SERVICE RECIEVED INFORMATION ABOUT THE CURRENT BREAKING OF THE US UNION.
HANDLER Our target is the US president.
ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATION IS SENT THROUGH A SUPER COMPUTER.
PAGE TWENTY EIGHT
MONTHS LATER, THE FRENCH ROLLED THEIR CARRIERS INTO THE MEXICAN GULF. FLYING WINGS DROP ELECTRO MAGNETIC BIOLOGICAL WEAPONRY.
Caption For months on end the electricity went out. And all we could hear were shouts.
Caption This ended decades of US wars overseas, the old empire under US control.
PAGE TWENTY NINE
HEMATO BATHES IN THE BLOOD OF SEVERED STREET SAMURAI WOMEN’S NECKS.
Caption I bathe in the blood of virgins on this soil. The old bastille has fallen.
PAGE THIRTY
SPLIT PANEL. IN PARIS THEY HAVE THE UNIVERSITY OF FLOWERS.
IN NASHCHAT THEY HAVE CHATTANOOGA TECH.
Caption Technology changes over the ages… But one thing that doesn’t change is those whom use it.
HEMATO’S FATHER IS DRESSED AS A PRISON WARDEN. EHENA-MAERIE, DRESSED IN AN ORANGE JUMP SUIT IN ORANGE CROCS, STEPS ON A PRESSURE PLATE, WITH HER FACED TO THE WALL. A LUNETTE IS LOCKED AROUND HER NECK, FROM A GUILLOTINE GUN HELD BEHIND HER BY HEMATO’S FATHER.
Caption But some don’t have the chance of a proper education…
SFX: Fxxx!
HEMATO’S FATHER PULLS THE TRIGGER, AND AN ANGULAR BLADE SHOOTS THROUGH EHENA-MAERIE’S NECK. HER HEAD TUMBLES ONTO THE VENTILATION, BLOOD GUSHING FROM HER NECK.
Caption Ehena’s head was not traditionally beautiful… And yet I wanted to take her head home with me.
HEMATO Ehena! Ehena!
PAGE THIRTY ONE
HEMATO PLAYS FLAMENCO GUITAR IN A GOTHIC GRAVEYARD, WITH A MARIACHI BAND JOINING IN TUNE.
Caption I play a last song for my Ehena-Maerie… As we marry in death.
AN OLD FASHIONED 1876 MODEL GUILLOTINE IS ENHANCED WITH THUMB SCREWS FOR THE FIRST EXECUTION OF AN ANARCHIST.
Caption When the French secured territory, they wanted to extend the suffering… Of those scheduled to die by the diagonal blade.
A JAPANESE SPY IS CAPTURED BY DREAM-SCANNERS. THE SPY IS DISCUISSED AS A FRENCH ALLY.
Caption The French hated spies, despite using them to win the neo-colonial war.
PAGE THIRTY TWO
THE JAPANESE MILITARY CONVERGE ON HAWAII AND THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA.
Caption But a new revolution was brewing, and the Japanese wanted revenge for Nagasaki and Hiroshima. So many things changed after La Pen’s victory.
PAGE THIRTY TWO ( SIDE STORY )
CAFETERIA – VENDING MACHINE – FLASHBACK – HEMATO POPS IN A QUARTER TO RECIEVE A COPY OF YOUNG JUMP.
HEMATO Oh hey Ehena Maerie!
EHENA-MAERIE What did you get man?
HEMATO A magazine with a lot of girls getting their heads cut off.
EHENA-MAERIE Thats a bit weird dont you think?
HEMATO LOOKS DOWN ON THE FLOOR BELOW EHENA-MAERIE.
Caption Sometimes things are better left unsaid.
HEMATO You could say that.
PAGE THIRTY THREE ( Side Story Continued. ) DAWN - HEMATO VISITS THE GRAVEYARD AGAIN WHERE EHENA-MAERIE RESTS, BRINGING A VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET WITH HER. A RAVEN SITS ON A TREE TRUNK.
Caption The angels by my side probably werent expecting Poe to play first person shooters with the dead.
HEMATO I know you always found me weird… HEMATO But I brought a bouquet of flowers for you. HEMATO I even keep a flower petal, and neatly braid your blond hair! HEMATO Maybe we can be together soon.
HEMATO’S DEAD BODY IS LATER FOUND, OR RATHER HER TATTERED CLOTHES.
HEMATO Because we married in death.
PAGE THIRTY FOUR ( Main Plot )
Hemato plays a final song with her Alsatian French band:
HEMATO O the short girl walking up the stairs, Is turning grey, mixed with dirty blond hair, In her wooden clogs that abruptly come to a point, With her arms behind her back, she snokes one last joint. She dies beyond the scaffold stairs.
The scene switches to the accordionist:
ACCORDEONIST With a German dress she leans on the chopping block, Waiting, waiting for her head to drop, When the blade goes a lop, Tumbling blond hair goes down, She dies beyond the scaffold stairs.
PAGE THIRTY FIVE
BACK TO HEMATO:
HEMATO Here lies the broken thief, Who stole a coral reef / on a Fisherman’s boat, Before drowning in her own sorrows.
ACCORDEONIST AND HEMATO She dies beyond the scaffold stairs.
HEMATO IS ALMOST BEHEADED BY GUILLOTINE BY HER FATHER, BUT INSTEAD HER FATHER DOES HER JOB, AND BEHEADS EHENA-MAERIE.
HEMATO’S FATHER Cant we at least behead this one? Just slit her throat Hemato. A few seconds, its all over!
HEMATO IS HOLDING A DAGGER TO HER FATHER’S THROAT.
PAGE THIRTY SIX
HEMATO INHABITS EHENA’S MEMORIES WHEN SHE MURDERED HER FATHER.
EHENA-MAERIE Its ok papa, a few seconds. It will be over.
WE SWITCH BACK TO THE PRESENT:
HEMATO Two wrongs dont make a right!
EHENA-MAERIE Hemato, just let me go!
HEMATO FINISHES HER SONG WITH THE ACCORDEONIST:
EHENA-MAERIE It is ok if you hate me for killing him. But its you hacking off my severed head.
HEMATO I never hated you. I hate the world that produced us. Everything in it.
PAGE THIRTY SEVEN
HEMATO IMAGINES HERSELF WASHING IN THE BLOOD OF EHENA-MAERIE, AS SHE STABS HER FATHER.
HEMATO But if I must murder for justice, then I must murder everyone on this planet, one micro meter at a time. Until there is no organic component in their body. For we of nothing but meat robots.
HEMATO IS FLOATING IN A SEA OF LIME GREEN PIXELS, AS SHE IMAGINES A FANTASY GAME WORLD.
HEMATO And even in the catacombs of a future era, this game designer, for this deadly game, still longs for Ehena-Maerie.
EHENA AND HEMATO KISS IN A LAKE IN HEMATO’S HOME TOWN.
Caption. As you haunt my memories, In this deadly game.
EHENA-MAERIE Nevermore!
PAGE THIRTY EIGHT
HEMATO IMAGINES HERSELF ON A DATE WITH THE SEVERED HEAD OF EHENA-MAERIE. SHE GAVE IN, AND CONSUMED THE LAST BITS OF EHENA’S BLOOD.
HEMATO Why can’t you still be here?
SHE IMAGINES A FORM OF ELECTRONIC PARADICE IN HER MIND, WHERE HER AND EHENA-MAERIE ARE SKY DIVING IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE HEAVEN ALWAYS JUST OUT OF REACH, WITH CLOUD CONVERGING IN THE HORIZON.
HEMATO Before I leave you, please consider the value of murder.
Hemato has blood draining from her lips. She wipes it off with her black sleeve.
HEMATO My quirk was a mix of pleasure and misery.
HEMATO Do not hate the bad girls. For we are all children at heart.
HEMATO Perhaps someday we shall meet again, in artificial heaven. The reincarnation machine of a new era.
PAGE THIRTY NINE
EHENA-MAERIE’S SEVERED HEAD IS KEPT ALIVE IN A VAT.
Caption Sometines memories hold on forever… But sometimes the appeal system works.
EHENA-MAERIE, DRESSED IN A PEASANT DRESS AND WOODEN SHOES, HITCHES A RISE ON A MODERN BUS.
Caption And even the dead do rise, and take your hand… For the girl in the lopsided bow was to pure in heart for this world.
EHENA-MAERIE GOT IN TOUCH WITH LISA-MARIE, WHO GAVE HEMATO THE NEWS.
LISA-MARIE Hemato, someone is here to see you! Please by nice, for she is moot.
HEMATO TURNS AROUND, AND SEES EHENA’S WOODEN SHOES.
Caption She recognized the wooden shoes. It was Anna-Marie after all these years.
EHENA-MAERIE Hemato, I’m home.
PAGE FOURTY
HEMATO WOKE UP IN THE CLOCKWORK OF SIMULATED MADNESS INSIDE OF A CAVE AFTER THE WARS BETWEEN JAPANESE AND FRENCH AMERICAN TERRITORIES. OUTSIDE IS SCATTERED WAR DOG PARTS. AND FURTHER, THE POTATO DISTRICT. AN APOCALYPTIC WASTELAND OF MILITARY DEBRIS.
Caption But it was a dream within a dream.
PAGE FOURTY ONE
BLOODSHED IS ALL OVER A MARBLE FLOOR IN A COOLED SUPER COMPUTER CRAWLSPACE. THE ATMOSPHERE IS SMOKY AND FOGGY, LIKE THE SETTING OF A HAUNTED HOUSE NEAR A LAKE.
Caption Previously, the last great advanced happened in French colonial execution, built by a humble Headsman from France visitng the United States.
HEMATO FLICKERS OUT OF THE SUPER COMPUTER PANEL, BUT IS NOT BOUND BY IT. SHE IS SWATTING BUGS LIKE ANTS IN A STORM, THE MANY EMULATIONS OF THE BRAIN IN HER SKULL. THE WIRES ALONG THE MARBLED CRACKED FLOOR.
HEMATO The years of simulations of weddings with the dead.
BINARY MOUNTAIN, FLICKERING DARKWAVE LIGHTS. LAYERS OF COMPUTER CHIPS WITH DIFFERENT FRAGMENTARY THOUGHTS.
Caption. The binary mountains advance. Here lies the ants. Like layers of blood in the palms of my hands.
PARTY FOURTY TWO HEMATO BASKS IN A NETWORK OF MINDS, SIMULATIONS OF OLDER VERSIONS OF HERSELF ON THE NET. SHE WOKE UP IN A CAVERNS, FILLED WITH SCATTERED WAR DOG PARTS.
Caption Why have a hair net for those who lose their heads to my blade! Caption The transition to decentralized super sentient meta-human is complete.
HEMATO I love the taste of blood on my teeth.
HEMATO Humans, how they takes things for granted.
PART TWO
PAGE FOURTY THREE
SLEPHNER IS IN BED WITH HIS EX GIRLFRIEND, WHO IS POKING HIS NUDE BODY WITH TOOTH PICKS.
ELESSA Its ok Slephner, I know you don’t like me personally.
Caption. Slephner had been in an on and off relationship with his ex. He had never expected her to be suicidal.
SLEPHNER IS AT HIS EXES APARTMENT DOOR THE NEXT WEEK.
HE KNOCKS. NOBODY ANSWERS.
Caption. But things had been to quiet.
SLEPHNER KICKS HER DOOR DOWN. AND FINDS HER SILHOUETTE DANGLING FROM A NOOSE.
SLEPHNER Please dont tell me she’s…
SLEPHNER WAS TAKEN IN FOR QUESTIONING.
SLEPHNER I swear to you, I just found her hanging.
PAGE FOURTY FOUR
ON CONDITION OF HIS RELEASE, HE WAS CONSCRIPTED TO TEST A GAME.
HANDLER We need your skills to test this simulation.
SLEPHNER HID THIS FROM HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND ELLEN, WHO HE MET AT THE ARCADES.
SLEPHNER I got something to tell you Ellen.
ELLEN What is that.
SLEPHNER I feel like my body is degrading.
Caption The doctors didnt expect Slephner to live more than a year.
SLEPHNER Even with my prosthetic eyes, its just not quite the same.
SLEPHNER I want to dine with the Tsars.
PAGE FOURTY FIVE
AN APARTMENT IN DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA HAS CRACKS IN ITS WALLS. NEON LIGHT FROM THE MANY ADVERTISEMENTS FROM THE MEADOW OF GOLD REFLECT OFF THE SURFACE OF THE FLOOR OF THE RAILED ALLEYWAY OF THE SECOND FLOOR. A TRAIL OF SMOKE GIVES IT ATMOSPHERE.
ELLEN IS LOCKED INSIDE A HER ROOM. SHE IS SENDING AN EMAIL TO HER HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS FOR HELP.
Sfx: Bang bang!
FATHER Ellen, let me in! Let me in! I only went out for a couple of beers!
ELLEN I know exactly what will happen if I do as well!
ELLEN IS EXITING HER APARTMENT FLAT WITH EVERYTHING SHE CAN CARRY, BLOOD ON HER CLOTHES, AND THREE DAYS FOOD SUPPLIES. SHE IS WEARING A BLUE T SHIRT, BLUE JEAN CAPRIS, AND A PAIR OF BROWN ARIZONA BIRKENSTOCKS. SHE PACKED NO SOCKS, AS SHE NEEDED ROOM FOR HER MANY THUMB DRIVES.
SHE REACHES A DARK ALLEYWAY, AND SEES A DARK SILHOUETTE OF A BOY WITH SHOULDER LENGTH HAIR AND A MIDDLE PART. HE IS TONED, AND WEILDING A LUGER.
SLEPHNER Ellen look out!
ELLEN What?
PAGE FOURTY SIX
SLEPHNER FIRES TWO ROUNDS INTO A MALFUNCTIONING WAR DOG ROBOT.
SLEPHNER You ok?
ELLEN Yea thanks.
SLEPHNER You have a place to stay? You look like a mess.
Slephner stared at Ellen’s shirt with eyes of shock.
SLEPHNER Thats a lot of blood! What happened?
PAGE FOURTY SEVEN
SLEPHNER IS IN A SCRAPYARD, DIGGING OUT A 2048 MODEL, THE EARLIEST MODEL THERE IS.
Author note. A war dog is a specialzed battle robot canine. but sense the wars, and fallen into disuse. Broken down war dogs are repurposed by street gangs as implements of gambling.
SLEPHNER Man, look at that heap of scrap.
SLEPHNER I thought they no longer made these.
PAGE FOURTY SEVEN
THE WEB WAS A STRUCTURE OF MULTIPLE SMALLER SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION OF COMMUNITIES. NADINE, OUR PROTAGONIST IN THIS HALF, TALKS TO HERSELF.
Caption In the old days, what you said on the web… Had a greater shelf life than radioactive substances.
NADINE I thought I could get away from some of these pricks.
NADINE Yet now encounter them even when I walk to the store.
NADINE, A 5’5 PRE HRT ADULT TRANS FEMALE, WHO OTHERWISE PASSES AS IF SHE HAD BEEN ON IT FOR THREE YEARS. SHE HAS SHOULDER LENGTH NEON HAIR, AND HAS SEVERAL BINARY TATTOOS. SHE CARRIES AROUND A ROPE TO HANG HERSELF.
Caption Nadine stopped dreaming of building robot dogs. Or dreaming of fairy girls in wooden clogs.
NADINE Most of the time when you do have something to say, most misrepresent it anyway.
PAGE FOURTY EIGHT
THE US HAS THE LATEST DESCENDENT OF MARINE LA PEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE. SHE IS TALKING TO TANNER, A DREAM-SCANNER HANDLER, ON A NEXT GENERATION SMART PHONE. TANNER IS A HAIR SIDE SWEPT CLEAN CUT MAN, WEARING ALL BLACK OFFICE CLOTHES, AND A PAIR OF SUNGLASSES.
Caption Tanner gloats about the murder of his sister Rassie.
LA PEN Is she dead Tanner?
TANNER Yes, the rogue dream-scanner is dead. But she has supporters.
LA PEN Kill them!
A CURLY BLOND FAIRY GIRL, WITH 3D PRINTED TPE FLESH OVER A TITANIUN ENDO SKELETON, OVERLOOKS CHATTANOOGA FROM A HOTEL WINDOW.
MILLIE I dont know where Nadine has been these days.
NADINE PICKS UP HER SMART PHONE. IT IS DANTINO.
NADINE I dont you never to contact me again.
DANTINO I can give you the power that you seek.
NADINE You dont know what I want.
DANTINO I know the blood that you lust after.
NADINE Didnt you already try that Devil’s bargain?
PAGE FOURTY NINE
NADINE IS RECLINING ON HER JAPANESE FUTON IN A COFFIN HOTEL. SHE REMEMBERS THAT LAST CONVERSATION BETWEEN HER AND MALCOLM.
MALCOLM Where have you been? We miss your exhausting negativeness.
NADINE That guy that I told never to contact me again called me last night.
MALCOLM I thought he died in the game?
NADINE I did too.
Caption What Dantino proposed was more than just survival in this game of dogs eating each other in a game of chess.
PAGE FOURTY EIGHT
NADINE TAKES A KNIFE, AND CARVES A HAMMER AND SICKLE ON HER HAND. THE MIDNIGHT ECLIPSED.
Caption He promised immunity; the ability to weild the world at her shoulders.
Caption To be able to behead 27 of her wives, and place their heads on a military fence on her whim.
Caption But Nadine was past that. She won victory over her darkest desires.
PAGE FOURTY NINE
NADINE IS HOLDING HER OLD COMIC BOOKS AND MANGA.
Caption She thought of her relationship with things she grew up reading. So many under the idea that good always triuphed over evil.
CAPTION Instead she exists, bluring the realities edge.
NADINE Super heroes are worse than clowns, clowns never catch a break.
IN THE CHATROOM. HER LAST CONVERSATION WITH MALCOLM.
NADINE Hey, have you ever wanted to time travel?
MALCOLM Thats not possible Nadine.
NADINE No seriously, you kind of do. The paint on these comics must be a century out of print.
MALCOLM Man, I always wondered about that paint job.
PAGE FIFTY
THE TEACHER IS A MASS OF INHUMAN PIXELS. IT PRINTS OUT TARDY SLIPS, ORATES THE ANTHEM, AND TRACKS THOSE WHO DONT SING ITS TUNE.
Author note: The rest of the plot builds up to the point of page FOURTY NINE.
Caption The autonomous text generating and naturl language promptor. Its words the words of digital gods.
NADINE IS SLEEPING AT HER DESK. HER CLASSMATE BRITTNEY TAPS HER ON THE SHOULDER TO TRY TO GET HER ATTENTION.
BRITTNEY Nadine, Nadine!
NADINE Not now I’m thinking.
NADINE IS DREAMING OF BUILDING HER ROBOTIC DOG. TOP RACE MODEL. MODIFIED WITH EXTRA SHARP TEETH.
Caption Nadine wants to build robots, but instead hasnt built her life.
(sfx) beep beep!
PAGE FIFTY ONE
THE AUTOPROMPTOR PRINTED OUT A CLASS SLEEPING SLIP.
COMPUTER In class sleeping again Nadine?
BRITTNEY Told you Nadine.
NADINE Fuck you.
STUDENTS RUSHED OUT THE CLASSROOM AT THE BELL. AS NADINE TRIED TO LEAVE CLASS, BRITTNEY GENTLY TUGGED ON HER ARM.
BRITTNEY Hey wait up!
NADINE You were the one saying I was sleeping. Enjoy your tardiness.
PAGE FIFTY TWO
NADINE IS TENDING TO HER ROBOTIC DOG WHEN SHE RECIEVED ANOTHER PHONE CALL.
JULINE Hey Nadine, I’ll be home in a few hours. I hope you didnt eat the can of soup, that was intended for the Tuna Cassarole.
NADINE Nope still where you left it.
NADINE ( tht ) Oh shit, hope mom doesnt find out.
NADINE THEN HANGS UP THE PHONE. A FEW HOURS GOES BY AND MOM STILL HASNT CALLED BACK TO CHECK ON HER.
Nadine calls back later. and there is no answer.
PAGE FIFTY THREE
THE NEXT MORNING, NADINE CARD TO GET ON THE FLYING WING SCHOOL BUS WAS DECLINED.
NADINE Shit, I knew I shouldnt have eaten the mushroom soup!
NADINE I guess its another walk.
IN THE SCHOOL OFFICE, NADINE IS SITTING IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL PRINCIPLE, WHO IS ALSO A SUPER COMPUTER LIKE HER HOME ROOM TEACHER.
PRINCIPLE BEEP BOP I know your mom didnt return home last night, so you will now be under the care of the state.
PRINCIPLE BEEP BOP You will be transfered to a new school close to the cities edge. This is a special school where you self learn. Also we made a cake for you to celebrate your fourteenth birthday.
PAGE FIFTY FOUR
BESIDE NADINE WERE TWO ARMED GUARDS, AS THEY FLEW IN A BLACK FLYING WING TO THE NEW BOARDING SCHOOL.
AFTER THE PLANE LANDS, SHE IS SENT TO THE ADMISSIONS PODIUM IN THE FRONT OF THE SCHOOL.
EVALUATOR It says here that you have focus issues, but have a special interest in building robotic dogs.
EVALUATOR Dont worry, we will train that out of you.
Author: JROTC reference.
PAGE FIFTY FIVE
THE ONLY LIGHT NEAR HER IN THE DORM, WAS A SMALL LAMP ON HER DESK. THE ROOM IS A MODIFIED ASYLUM CELL BLOCK, WITH WALLS COVERED WHITE PAINT TO WASH AWAY THE BLOOD OF A NOW SEEMINGLY DISTANT ERA. NOW THE TWO RESTED IN AN OLD ASYLUM, THE REMNANTS OF AN OLD DECAYING EMPIRE. THE GLOW OF NEON LIGHTS IN THE WINDOWS WERE LIKE GRAINS OF SAND.
SFX: Door knock!
MICHAEL It’s me Michael!
NADINE Come on in.
MICHAEL OPENED THE DOOR, THEN GAVE A SALUTE TO NADINE.
MICHAEL Place sure seems depressing doesn’t it? But you will grow to love it…or fall through the cracks.
PAGE FIFTY SIX
THE US IS SPLIT BY TWO INVASIONS; THE FIRST INVASION WAS BY THE EUROPEAN UNION. THE SECOND ONE WAS BY THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.
Caption The guillotined evolved into a specialized fire arm shot in the back of a victim’s neck, used for extrajudicial executions and as melee weaponry.
NADINE AND MICHAEL SLEEP IN BED TOGETHER SNUGGLING.
MICHAEL I lost my father in the wars.
NADINE What was he like?
MICHAEL It was so long ago I barely remember him.
PAGE FIFTY SEVEN
Nadine remembered the last conversation with her mom in the living room.
NADINE Why do I need a baby sitter? I’m thirteen!
JULINE I know that, but you’re immature for your age.
PAGE FIFTY EIGHT
NADINE IS FALLING OFF OF THE LEDGE ON THE CITY IN THE SKY. BRITTNEY TRIES TO CATCH HER, BUT NADINE’S HAND SLIPS.
Caption Even after all these months, Brittney still remembered Nadine.
NADINE SLIPS WITHOUT A TRACE.
NADINE WAKES UP ON A HOSPITAL BED, TENDED DO BY AN UNDERCITY SURGEON.
DOCTOR You were lucky girl, that dead tree broke your fall. Dont worry, its on me.
DOCTOR Just dont think of going back to that city.
NADINE WAS TENDED TO BY A YOUNG DRUG DEALER IN A RUN DOWN MOTEL ROOM, COMPLETE WITH A KITCHENETTE.
BIANCA You think she will be OK?
MALCOLM This girl survived hitting a tree with just a couple of TPE prosthetics.
MALCOLM She will be fine.
MALCOLM But she may need pain killers for a while.
PAGE FIFTY NINE
NADINE BODY WAS A MESS OF PUNCTURED LIMBS, AS SHE WALKED WITH A LIMB FROM KITCHEN TO COUCH CONSTANTLY GULPING PAIN POWDERS LEFT HANDED, BUT HAD TO ADAPT TO USING BOTH TO STABLIZE THE GRIP SHE HAD ON EVERY DAY ITEMS LIKE TOOTHBRUSHES AND GLASSES.
Caption A few months ago Nadine had run away from the boarding school. From people she thought were her friends.
Caption Yet now she rots as a hunk of metal popping pain killers.
Caption The “Meadow Of Gold” that covered the under city was like a movie theater you could never leave.
Caption A theater that promised false dreams.
Author note: The meadow of gold is a giant projector is on each skyscraper. Reruns of old science fantasy sitcoms.
PAGE SIXTY
NADINE CARRIED AROUND A TABLET, WHICH SHE TOOK EVERYWHERE SHE WENT. SHE WOULD SHOP FOR OPEN SOURCE ROBOT DOG PARTS ON THE OPEN WEB, HOPING SOMEDAY TO GO BACK TO THE CITY IN THE SKY.
NADINE FOUND SPARKPLUG, HER ROBOTIC DOG, IN AN OLD SCRAPYARD. IT WAS A PLACE EVERYONE HER AGE WOULD VISIT AT LEAST ONCE TO GAMBLE ON A POOCH FOR A DOG FIGHT.
NADINE SLEEPS ON THE YOUNG COUPLE’S COUCH. NEAR HER IS BLANCI, A SPANISH GIRL RAISED BY ITALIAN PARENTS.
NADINE Blanci, why is your head on my eggplant?
BLANCI I thought you might like it as an alternative to all the pain powders you been popping.
PAGE SIXTY ONE
NADINE IS HUNTING GIANT COCKROACHES WITH BLANCI, TRADING AMMO AS CURRENCY FOR THE KILL.
Caption A few years ago, the invasion by Japan was concluded, and France and Japan ended their final war with a truce.
Caption They gave the bible belt to Paris, and the East coast over to Japan.
Caption Purgatory Road is a small slice of new Paris, in the Chattanooga district.
NADINE ( Speaking To Reader ) My family had worked as some of the top CEOs of the Chattanooga district.
NADINE I dreamed of rolling soccer balls, but the only thing down here that rolls is the severed heads of street samurai.
IN NADINE’S HANDS IS A BOOK OF SATANIC VERSES.
NADINE Dead men’s lullabies dot reality like grains of sand.
PAGE SIXTY TWO NADINE REMEMBERED WHEN SHE AND BRITTNEY USED TO VISIT EACH OTHERS HOUSES TO PLAY SCHOOL. BRITTNEY WAS THE SENSEI, AND NADINE THE STUDENT. BACK THEN NADINE HAD BEEN A HEAD TALLER THAN BRITTNEY, BUT THIS WAS MASKED BY BRITTNEYS LARGE BRUNETTE HAIR.
BRITTNEY Pay attention Nadine, this is important!
NADINE BLUSHES, UNSURE HOW TO REACT. SHE IS BROUGHT BACK TO THE PRESENT WHEN BLANCI IS NEARLY ATTACKED BY A LARGE COCKROACH. NADINE FIRES SEVEN ROUNDS.
NADINE Eat charcoal, wretch!
IN HIGH SCHOOL BRITTNEY WORE AN ANARCHO-CAPITALIST TEE SHIRT, WHILE NADINE PAINTED HER FACE BLACK AND GREEN. BRITTNEY FOCUSED ON SELLING GOLD AND JEWELRY IN THE CAFETERIA.
Caption Nadine worked for herself as a tinkerer of broken war dogs.
Caption Brittney was the right hand, Nadine was the left hand path.
NADINE OPENING A BOOK OF SATANIC VERSES.
Caption And now with this book of Satanic verses, it no longer mattered. This continued even when they went out to eat to Thai and Indian restaurants.
PAGE SIXTY THREE
NADINE’S HOLODECK WOULD BE TAKEN EVERY WHERE SHE WENT.
NADINE I still remember when I used to quote Alex Jones.
BRITTNEY Remember when he was still relevant?
NADINE IMAGINED THEIR RELATIONSHIP SCATTERING LIKE GLASS ON A RESTAURANT TABLE.
PAGE SIXTY FOUR
SCATTERED BITS OF OLD DAIRIES ARE ON THE FLOOR, BEING PREPARED FOR BEING STACKED IN CARDBOARD BOXES.
Caption Back then I consumed yellow journalism… The rush of liberty politics better than night time news.
A YOUNG FRENCH PEASANT GIRL IS PROJECTED ON THE TELEVISION SET IN HER MOTHERS OLD APARTMENT.
Caption Now I masturbate to girls in wooden shoes.
BLOOD IS SPILLED ON THE STRAW COVERED STRAW OF THE MOVIE, SET IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
Caption Dreaming of severed necks and blood on the floor. But I couldnt be open about my sexuality.
BLOOD FLOWED FROM WOMEN’S NECKS IN THIS MOVIES. FLOWING LIKE MYSTERIOUS FLAMENCO SONGS.
Caption And in my dreams was the image of a young woman with black hair in executioners garb.
HEMATO Nadine, Nadine…
HEMATO Dont you like the flow of blood?
PAGE SIXTY FIVE
NADINE WOKE UP ON THE COUCH IN A PANIC, RUNNING OUT OF BREATH. SHE SAW A SHADOW OF THE EXECUTIONER ON THE DELIBATED WALL.
NADINE Begone dark angel!
PAGE SIXTY SIX
THE BEDROOM WAS LITTLE MORE THAN A MOTEL ROOM, SEPERATED PRIMARILY BY A JAPANESE PORTABLE WALL THAT GAVE A SMALL AMOUNT OF PRIVACY BETWEEN THOSE SLEEPING, AND THOSE WHO COOKED BREAKFAST IN THE KITCHENETTE. THE LIGHT BLED THROUGH THE OPENINGS IN THE YELLOWED CURTAIN.
NADINE WOKE UP SLEEPING BESIDE BLANCI, PLACING HER HAND ON HER FACE AND MAKING A GROWLING NOISE:
BLANCI Richy, you said this would be the last powder.
NADINE My name is not Richy, for one thing. NADINE: The other thing is that I have a bad headache… NADINE: that hasn’t gone away since I have gotten here.
BLANCI Join the club!
NADINE SLOWLY GOT OUT OF BED.
NADINE I need some more bullets, so I can pay for this shit.
BLANCI But we need to save the bullets we have for groceries.
NADINE What good are groceries, if my head’s going to explode?
PAGE SIXTY SEVEN
NADINE IMAGINED HERSELF DROPPED IN FROM A CIA BLACK HELICOPTOR, WITH HER AIMING HER HANDGUN TOWARD THE FINISH LINE–THE BACK OF THE HEAD OF THE PERSON SHE WAS LIVING WITH IN THIS APARTMENT, AS THEY STOOD ON TOP OF THE SKY SCRAPER. SUDDENLY, NADINE WAS BROUGHT BACK INTO REALITY:
BLANCI: Why do you look at me like that? Sometimes you have these stares… Like you think I’m out to get you.
NADINE It’s not you… I’ve always had this problem.
NADINE SMASHED HER ROBOTIC FIST INTO HER ALARM CLOCK, WITH ALL OF ITS MECHANICAL PARTS GOING IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
BLANCI Hey, we don’t have much to buy a new one!
NADINE Then lets find a way to pay for it.
PAGE SIXTY EIGHT
NADINE CARRIES HER PURSE, AND GETS READY TO WALK OUT OF THE STUDIO DOOR, IN ORDER TO GO SHOPPING FOR THE MORNING. OUTSIDE THE DOOR, IT SUGGESTS THAT THE REAL LIGHT IS FROM THE ADVERTISEMENTS, AND IN FACT IT IS ARTIFICIALLY ALWAYS NIGHT TIME, DO TO THE CITY BEING UNDERGROUND.
NADINE Look, you don’t have to understand my condition. But at least don’t be a dick about it. Also call me Nadine, we’ve been over this.
BLANCI exits the door.
BLANCI Women have vages, we can’t be dicks.
NADINE Women can have dicks too.
PAGE SIXTY NINE
BLANCI REMEMBERED BACK WHEN SHE STILL LIVED WITH HER STEPFATHER. SHE HAD RAN AWAY FROM HOME, AS SHE WOULD RATHER LIVE ON THE STREET, THAN BE HIS MAID. BLANCI EVENTUALLY FIND MALCOLM SITTING IN A DINER.
MALCOM Hey I know you from school.
BLANCI We have met face to face, but not personally.
MALCOLM What are you doing out so late?
BLANCI I could ask the same thing.
BLANCI DRESSED AS A MAID, TENDING TO THE GODFATHER’S NEED FOR TEA AND MEALS.
BLANCI WAS BORN INTO THE ITALIAN MOB, BUT DO TO HER PARENTS BEING MURDERED BY THE SPANISH GODFATHER. NOT BEING ABLE TO MAKE HIMSELF MURDER HER, HE ADOPTED HER AS ONE OF HIS OWN.
SHE VISITS THE HER STEPFATHER IN HIS OFFICE:
BLANCI You called for me father.
STEPFATHER The tea this evening, it is cold.
PAGE SEVENTY
NADINE IS IN A SCRAPYARD IN THE CITY, SEARCHING FOR ROBOTIC DOG PARTS.
IN A PART OF HER MIND, THE MEMORY OF THE ROBOTIC DOG THAT SHE HAD WANTED TO BUILD WAS STILL ON HER MIND.
SFX: Bark bark
NADINE LOOKED AHEAD OF HER, AND THERE THE ROBOTIC DOG SHE HAD ONCE TRIED BUILDING WAS MISSING ONE OF ITS EARS, LAYING IN THE SCRAP HEAP.
NADINE Is that really you? Come here.
THE ROBOTIC DOG HOPPED INTO NADINE’S ARMS, AND THEN LICKED HER FACE.
NADINE: It has been so long.
PART THREE
PAGE SEVENTY ONE
THE APARTMENT WAS A STUDIO SMACK DAB ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CHATTANOOGA. YOU CAN SEE THE REPLICA OF THE EIFFEL TOWER SITUATED AT WHAT WAS ONCE THE PARK INSIDE THE WINDOW. THE LIGHT IN THE OVERHEAD LAMP FLICKERED IN AND OUT. SLEPHNER IS PRODDED WITH TOOTHPICKS BY HIS GIRLFRIEND WHILE THEY SNUGGLE IN BED. SLEPHNER WAKES UP THE NEXT MORNING, FINDING THAT HIS GIRLFRIEND HUNG HERSELF.
Caption: It was just us two in arms. Caption: At night we snuggled long.
SLEPHNER WAS AT THE POLICE HEAD QUARTERS BEING INTERROGATED. THEY SENT HIM OUT THE DOOR, BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING ON HIM.
Caption: The morning was dreary.
Slephner reenters his apartment door. You can see the city lights outside of the hall window. It was one of those apartments that required a card key.
Caption: And the city lights beaming. The light clutters.
He swipes the card, and lets himself through the door.
Caption: The light becomes darkness. Caption: Home sweet home.
PAGE SEVENTY TWO
SLEPHNER IS PLAYING HIS FAVORITE FIRST PERSON SHOOTER AT A PIZZA ARCADE. ELLEN IN SITTING AT A TABLE, MUNCHING ON A SLICE OF PIZZA. THE CHEESE IS MELTING OFF THE CRUST. THE COLORS OF THE ROOM IS NEON LIGHTS.
Caption: I coped with the arcades, Caption: I was King of blades.
INSIDE THE ARCADE GAME ITSELF, SLEPHNER NARROWS IN ON TARGET ON A GIANT COCKROACH. A BULLET HOLE SPEWS GREEN BLOOD WHILE THE ROACH COLLAPSES.
Caption: Slashing with my stiletto. Caption: I coped with the arcades,
SLEPHNER HAS HIS ARMS WRAPPED AROUND ELLEN AS THEY DEPART FOR THE NIGHT, CAREFULLY HOLDING HIS STILETTO BLADE SO AS NOT TO UNINTENTIONALLY PUNCTURE HER WITH IT. THE BLADE ITSELF IS FRESHLY SHARPENED, WITH A FINE POLISH.
Caption: With stilettos. Caption: At night I chill with Ellen,
SLEPHNER GRABS HIMSELF A GLASS OF HIGH GRAVITY BEER, AND THEN EXITS THE ARCADE TO GO AND SIT ON THE BENCH OUTSIDE WHILE WAITING FOR THE BUS.
Caption: Longing for no pain. Caption: Nothing for my gain,
SLEPHNER DREAMS OF GENTLY KISSING ELLEN’S NECK, WHILE THE MIDNIGHT NEON SIGN BUZZES IN AND OUT. THE WALL OF THE ARCADE IS STARTING TO SHOW CRACKS DO TO LACK OF MAINTENANCE. SOME OF THE STREET SIGNS ARE SNAPPED IN HALF.
Caption: At night I chill with Ellen, Caption: Caressing her.
PAGE SEVENTY THREE
SLEPHNER IS PLUGGED INTO A VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET, WHERE HE IS ABLE TO MAKE A FANTASY WORLD IN HIS OWN IMAGE. THE ROOM IS CARVED OUT OF AN OLD MILITARY BASE, LEFT OVER FROM THE THIRD CIVIL WAR BEFORE THE JAPANESE AND FRENCH HAD A TRUCE. THE ROOM IS DIMLY LIT, WITH MANY OF THE LIGHTS IN THE OLD INSTALLATION NO LONGER FUNCTIONING.
Caption: Slephner was plugged in to it, Caption: this prototype play.
SLEPHNER’S HAND USES THE AIRWAVES LIKE IT’S A NEW FANGLED GAME CONTROLLER, BUT WITHOUT EVEN THE TOUCH SCREEN THAT WAS ONE PRESENT ON OLD CELL PHONES. HE IS HAVING A MIXTURE OF SLEEP AIDS AND HALLUCINOGENS INJECTED INTO HIS HEAD, THAT HAS BEEN SHAVED BALD FOR THE OCCASION. HIS HEAD HAS STUBBLE FROM WHEN HE HAD BLACK HAIR WITH A MIDDLE PART.
Caption: Without a joystick, Caption: It was like another midnight. Caption: With arcades.
HE IS WANDERING IN A MIDNIGHT FOREST, A LANDSCAPE COVERED IN SNOW. THE SKY IS ILLUMINATED BY THE GLOW OF A THE FULL MOON, THAT IS SHADED WITH LIME GREEN. HE IS LAYING BACK FIRST IN THE SNOW.
Caption: Systems malfunctioning, the net Caption: like wires of cut flesh.
PAGE SEVENTY FOUR
SLEPHNER PUSHES HIMSELF OUT OF THE SNOW, THAT IS COVERED IN LARGE PORTION, WITH RADIOACTIVE PURPLE SLIME.
Caption: And like rotting flesh, Caption: The wires are infecting Caption: His unclean filth.
SPLIT PANEL. SLEPHNER COUGHS UP SOME OF THE PURPLE RADIOACTIVE SLIME. IN THE OTHER HAND, HE IS SQUIRMING IN HIS CHAIR, THE STRAPS HOLDING HIM IN PLACE BARELY HOLDING HIM DOWN.
Caption: Left in degenerating form,
SLEPHNER FLOATS IN A SLUDGE OF HIS OWN FILTH AND RADIOACTIVE SLIME.
Caption: Body wire hanging Caption: From the sky, him hanging
HE EXITS THE GAME, UNSURE OF WHAT TO TELL ELLEN.
Caption: Onto life as it went by, Caption: Single thread.
PAGE SEVENTY FIVE
SLEPHNER, ELLEN, BLANCI, MALCOLM, AND NADINE ARE ALL SITTING TOGETHER IN AN OLD FASHIONED SODA FOUNTAIN IN DOWNTOWN CHATTANOOGA. THE MENU CUSTOMERS ORDER FROM ALSO INCLUDES ITALIAN ICE AND GREEN TEA ICE CREAM. IT WAS A CROSS BETWEEN A SODA FOUNTAIN AND A PIZZA PARLOR, WITH OLD ARCADE MODELS LEFT OVER FROM BEFORE THE WARS.
ELLEN: Are you ready to order? SLEPHNER: Yea, just a minute.
ELLEN AND SLEPHNER LEAVE THE COUNTER, AND NADINE GOES TO ORDER. THE CASHIER AT THE COUNTER STAIRS AT HER DYED NEON HAIR.
NADINE: Yea, I’ll take a coffee flavor.
NADINE WALKS OUT OF THE SHOP WITH A DRINK, AND SITS ON A BENCH OUTSIDE AWAY FROM THE OTHERS. HER ROBOTIC ARM WAS DOING THE HERKY JERKY MOTION, WITH HER STILL HAVING TO GET USED TO ITS MOTION SINCE HER FALL FROM THE CITY IN THE SKY. THE SKY IS CLOUDY, BUT NOT YET RAINING.
THE CITY WAS FILLED WITH OLD CARS RETROFITTED WITH UP TO DATE PRIVACY FEATURES, SOME OF WHICH HAD THE VEHICULAR EQUIVALENT TO BIG GUNS, SIMILAR TO WHAT BATTLE SHIPS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR WOULD BE OUTFITTED WITH.
CAPTION: A long way off from old Chattanooga.
PAGE SEVENTY SIX
NADINE HOLDS OUT HER HAND TO BROWSE A SCREEN IMPLANT EMBEDDED IN HER CONTACT LENSES. THE SCREEN IS TRANSLUCENT BLUE, HOVERING OVER A SKY OF PURPLE STATIC. THE COMBINED COLOR GIVES THE PURPLE A SLIGHT BLUISH TINT.
Caption: Nadine saw so many ads, Caption: It made her puke.
AN OLD RANSOM WARE WEB PAGE REDIRECTED TO A LOCAL HOST PORT ON THE USER’S COMPUTER, WITH A SERVER BOOTED WITHOUT THE COMPUTER USER’S KNOWLEDGE. THE LIGHT FROM THIS COMPUTER IS THE ONLY LIGHT IN THE ROOM.
Caption: All that old malware, Caption: Something that she rebuked,
NADINE USES HER FINGERS TO PUSH THE SCREEN OUTSIDE HER VISION. THE SCREEN IT SELF MELT OUTSIDE OF HER VISION.
SFX: Smashing screen.
PAGE SEVENTY SEVEN
BLANCI TRIES TO TUG ON NADINE’S ARM TO GET HER TO COME BACK HOME WITH HER. NADINE IS STEADFAST IN NOT MOVING IN HER DIRECTION.
Caption: Outside, Blanci waits. Caption: Nadine ignored. Caption: She wanted to snore.
NADINE WALKED IN THE OTHER DIRECTION, AFTER FORCING HER ARM, THE ONLY ORGANIC ONE THAT SHE STILL HAS, OUTSIDE OF HER GRASP.
BLANCI: I want you. BLANCI: I know that you need me.
NADINE: I need you not!
BLANCI: Right now, don’t be a snot!
PAGE SEVENTY EIGHT
THE SUN MAKES WAY FOR THE MOON IN THE SKY.
CAPTION: It was such a cold evening, CAPTION: Hot in the day.
NADINE WAKES UP SUDDENLY BACK IN THE APARTMENT SHE LIVES IN WITH BLANCI AND MALCOLM,
SFX: Cell phone alarm.
BLANCI: How was your sleep?
PAGE SEVENTY NINE
NADINE TOOK HER IMMUNE-SUPPRESSANT PILLS TO SUBDUE THE PHYSICAL PAIN FROM THE ROBOTIC LIMBS. HER ROBOTIC LIMB WAS DOING A HERKY JERKY MOTION.
NADINE: At some point man, NADINE: you need to buy your own Malcolm.
MALCOLM RAISED ONE OF HIS EYEBROWS AT THE WAITRESS, WHO PLACED HIS HAMBURGER PLATE DOWN ON THE TABLE.
BLANCI chokes down a head ache powder.
BLANCI: I will have a soda, make it a large.
BLANCI SPEWED POWDER ON HER SHIRT, CAUSING MALCOLM TO GROWL AT HER.
MALCOLM: You know how rarely we buy new detergent!
BLANCI PUCKERED HER LIPS MOCKINGLY AT MALCOLM, WHO SMILED WITH A GRIMACE.
PAGE EIGHTY
BLANCI PUSHED MALCOLM AWAY GRABBING THE SODA FROM THE WAITRESSES HANDS HE HAD ORDERED.
MALCOLM QUICKLY GRABBED IT FROM HER, AFTER SHE TRIED TAKING A SIP. THIS SPEWS SODA ALSO ALL OVER HER TEE SHIRT.
NADINE ( Thought ): You guys just can’t get along can you?
PAGE EIGHTY ONE
OUTSIDE THE DINER, ELLEN AND SLEPHNER WALKED INSIDE THROUGH THE SLIDING GLASS DOORS.
TO THE TABLE RIGHT BEHIND THEM THEY SAT.
THE PURGATORY DWELLERS TRIED NOT TO PAY ANY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE DANGERVILLES.
SLEPHNER Just eat quietly, then leave.
SLEPHNER EYE-BALLED NADINE’S FAMILLE WITH HIS GRILL. MALCOLM DID NOT REALLY SEEM TO NOTICE OR CARE.
Caption Nadine did not really understand how anyone could get used to it, with that tension that was boiling under the surface.
PAGE EIGHTY TWO
RASSIE SITS IN HER OFFICE, SCANNING DIFFERENT FORMS OF DATA ABOUT CRIME REPORT IN THE POTATO DISTRICT USING HER CELL PHONE. THE OFFICE IS FILLED WITH DIFFERENT PAPER WORK, AND OLD ANALOG DEVICES.
RASSIE: Ah yes, I see. So there is a large crowd at the “barbershop.” RASSIE: Can I have your phone number, so I can call you back?
The barbershop was actually a front. Behind the section where employees did their cuts, was a mini-stadium, populated by different “War Dog” models. Nadine visited the place from time to time, after gaining trust from Malcolm.
MALCOLM: So you’re telling me, MALCOLM: so haven’t heard of war dogs?
NADINE: Not exactly, I have always wanted NADINE: to make robot dogs, but only in the NADINE: context of having a pet.
MALCOLM: What are you wanting exactly, a video MALCOLM: game tutorial?
NADINE: Nah, a run down of how these war dogs work.
PAGE EIGHTY THREE
SLEPHNER’S DOG ATTACKS MALCOLM’S DOG.
MALCOLM’S DOG LOSES ONE OF ITS EARS, BUT STILL HAS SOME FIGHT LEFT.
MALCOLM: Lost technology, nobody knows exactly MALCOLM: how they were built. And the military MALCOLM: wont say anything.
NADINE: That sucks man!
MALCOLM: I know right?
MILITARIZED OFFICER TANKS FILL THE PARKING LOT TILL IT COULD BE FILLED NO MORE. RASSIE, A DREAM-SCANNER, APPROACHES THE DOOR OF THE BARBERSHOP. THE BARBERSHOP WALLS ARE CRACKING.
PAGE EIGHTY FOUR
SHE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR, NOT EXPECTING AN ANSWER.
THE EYE HOLE OPENS.
MALCOLM: What’s the pass phrase doc?
RASSIE: Isn’t that a bit overkill?
MALCOLM: Why use a pass word, when you can use a pass phrase?
RASSIE: Let us in, and I’m calling your parents.
PAGE EIGHTY FIVE
NADINE LIMPED. THE MILITARIZED COPS TO RAID THE BARBERSHOP. ELLEN HELPED NADINE STAND UP.
NADINE: What happened to Malcolm and Slephner?
ELLEN: Don’t worry, we’re going to be fine. ELLEN: What did Rassie mean by your mother was waiting for you?
NADINE: It’s a long story, but in short, NADINE: I came from the city in the sky. NADINE: You might think I’d want to go back home. NADINE: But you’d be wrong. … I’d rather rot.
ELLEN: But can you trust us, especially me? NADINE: It looks like I have no other choice.
PAGE EIGHTY SIX
RASSIE IS DRESSED IN A SCHOOLGIRL OUTFIT. A SIMILAR GET UP AS SEEN ON SLICE OF LIFE ANIME. SHE WALKED OUT OF THE FLYING WING SCHOOL BUS AFTER IT HAS LANDED. THE SKY ABOVE THE SCHOOL BUS IS A RADIOACTIVE GREEN, WITH RESIDUAL CLOUDS OF LIME COLORED VAPOUR. THE SIDEWALK IS LITTERED WITH CRACKS. THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN CHATTANOOGA TAKES IN ALL THIS FILTH.
SHE KNOCKS ON HER PARENTS DOOR, HOLDING HER BACK PACK. IT STUFFED WITH SO MANY TEXTBOOKS AND HOMEPAGE, THE ZIPPER ON HER BAG THREATENS TO TEAR ITSELF APART.
RASSIE: Mom, I’m home from school!
THIS PANEL IS BLACK. FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE WAY MANGA TELLS TIME, A BLACK PANEL IS GENERALLY USED TO MEAN TIME PASSING.
Caption: It was years ago, the knife Caption: Of Tanner, o so sharp Caption: Purged her black eye.
RASSIE IS HOLDING HER HAND OVER THE SOCKET THAT ONCE CONTAINED THE EYE THAT WAS GIVING HER PROBLEMS EARLIER.
TANNER: Don’t worry mom… TANNER: I’ll make sure Rassie never has… TANNER: Eye problems again.
SFX: Rassie’s scream.
PAGE EIGHTY SEVEN
THIS PANEL SHOWS HER SEVERED EYEBALL WRAPPED IN A TOWEL, AND THROWN INTO THE GARBAGE SHOOT. SHE IS POINTED TO HER PARENTS.
RASSIE: I need to go to the hospital.
Caption: It was covered in a tarp Caption: Bloody and wet.
CUT TO THE PRESENT DAY, SHE IS WEARS A TUXEDO WHILE CROUCHED ON TOP OF A SKY SCRAPER, AND HAS A NETWORK EYEBALL, THAT SENDS BACK DATA BACK TO HER HANDLER. SHE IS NOW ROUGHLY A HEAD TALLER, AND HER HAIR HAS GROWN JUST PAST HER SHOULDERS. SHE CARRIES AROUND MORNING STARS.
RASSIE: Just wait till I have the chance Tanner. RASSIE: I promise I will be rid of you.
Caption: Now Rassie has metal for Caption: her missing black eye.
PAGE EIGHTY EIGHT
RASSIE HOPS FROM THE SKYSCRAPER, DEPLOYING HER SPECIALTY PARACHUTE. SHE GLIDES DOWN TO THE CITY BELOW. BELOW HER BLACK SWEDISH CLOGS, IS THE GRAVEYARD, WITH MANY MORE GRAVESTONES LEFT OVER FROM THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. THIS GRAVEYARD BLEEDS INTO PARTS OF DOWNTOWN, WHEN IT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN AT ONLY THE FURTHEST EDGES OF THE DIRTIEST CITY IN TENNESSEE.
Caption: She could see ads Caption: All over the bright midnight sky. Caption: Only ads for junk.
SHE LANDS IN A CROUCHING POSITION TOWARD THE GATE.
RASSIE THEN CLIMBS THE FENCE.
PAGE EIGHTY NINE
NADINE STEPS ONTO THE “RUNE PLATFORM”, AN ANCIENT RELIC FROM AN OLDER PERIOD FROM THE HISTORY OF THIS GAME SIMULATION. THE SKY IS PURPLE, AND THERE ARE GIANT EYE SHAPED VIEWING LENSES THAT PROJECT, BEEMING DATA GAME STATISTIC DATA BACK TO HQ FOR THE SCANNERS COLLECTION.
Caption: They collect all data, a session of misery, decay is the beasts today. The beasts of Yetis and goats. And spiderpigs.
CUT TO NADINE CHATTING WITH MALCOLM ON AN INSTANT MESSAGE PLATFORM, TYPING AWAY ON HER KEYBOARD. THE ROOM IS DARKENED, WITH THE ONLY GLOW COMING FROM A LAMP. THE ROOM IS SPARSE, AS IF FRESHLY CLEANED.
Caption: Nadine without robot dog, waits for sleep. Silence, no peeps. Only dreams, nostalgia for distant days.
IN THE GAME, SHE VISITS AN FAIRY VILLAGE. THE VILLAGE IS SIMILAR TO MEDIEVAL FRANCE AND SPANISH HOUSING. IN THE DISTANCE, IS SHIPYARD BY A CHURCH. THE SNOW IS MORE PURE THAN THE SNOW ON THE OUTSIDE, DO TO CONSTANT UPKEEP BY THOSE PAYED TO HOLD BACK THE PURPLE SLIME.
Caption: She wanted to eat horse, none were found. Only a dime for two, And none for a pound, go hungry beast.
MILLIE HAD FOUND NADINE, AND GAVE HER DIRECTIONS TO HER HOME. NADINE KNOCKS ON THE DOOR OF THEIR ECOLOGICAL DOME SHAPED HOUSE, THE HOUSE SUPPORT FORMS OF PLANT LIFE THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE CONSIDERED RARE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT.
Caption: Millie, once a princess And now a peasant. She wanted to rule like a Queen, a princess of Wooden shoes.
MILLIE: It took you long enough. MILLIE: Let me bring my servants to wash you.
SPIDERPIG EGGS COOK IN THE FRYING PAN.
PAGE NINETY
NADINE IS SLIPPING ON A MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR IN MILLIE’S PEASANT COTTAGE. THE WALLS ARE CRACKED, THE CANDLES ARE PUT OUT. THE MIDNIGHT WOLVES HOWL AT THE MOON.
Caption: In the darkness she seeks the quietest night, yet there is a sound of a fragile voice, winged princess.
MILLIE: Brother I think I now found– ALDIEL: Is that girl around?
ALDIEL IS SUFFOCATING IN HIS CELL, IN THE TOWN’S DUNGEON.
Caption: Aldiel’s fragile Breath, as he slowly dies Of longing thirst.
ALDIEL: Don’t tell me you found it!
Caption: Longing for a hero to return them to thrown, to fall a dark knight on chair, his new crowning.
NADINE IS SITTING AT THE FUTURE DINER WITH RASSIE.
NADINE: I wanted to see if I could break the game. RASSIE: Well you broke the game alright.
PAGE NINETY ONE
THE SCENERY WAS A WIRE MESH OF FANTASY NATURALISM: THE ONLY MOVEMENT LUCID FLUIDITY, THE CREATURES FLITTED ABOUT LIKE DEAD BUTTERFLY WINGS. A WORLD OF PURPLE MATRIX SNOW. THE VILLAGE WAS REMINISCENT OF SOME OF THE FANTASY VILLAGES FOUND IN DIFFERENT TROPE SPECIFIC SIMULATIONS, EXCEPT THE STRAW THAT MADE THE HOUSES WERE WIRE FRAMED AND TRANSLUCENT. A SIMULATION OF A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE.
CAPTION: Nadine, Malcolm, and Nadine restart the game of Voreth’s Promise.
NADINE: Can you imagine yourself trying to live in one of these? RASSIE: I wouldn’t even be in this simulation, without your morse trans-coder. MALCOLM: I’ve played it, no doubt. But while my lasted, it manifested very differently.
DIALOGUE CONTINUATION.
NADINE: How so? MALCOLM: My forests were lushly green, and other things you might label to be utopic. NADINE: Sounds boring. MALCOLM: Yes, but it’s good boring to you. I can even converse with Bianca after she left this world.
DELAPIDATED VILLAGE LONGHOUSE – MILLIE’S VILLAGE - A FEW MONTHS EARLIER
Caption: Millie used to live as a princess in the castle. Caption: After the dark knight Dantino killed her parents, she lived on the edge of society.
MILLIE: You can’t be serious Elena, and Aldiel is in on this too? ELENA: Well you want to eat better food right, and not have peasants flirt with you. MILLIE: Well that’s true, but doesn’t that mean I have to suck the dick of anyone that rescues me from my execution?
ELENA GENTLY BRUSHES AWAY MILLIE’S TEARS.
ELENA: Well who said you were going to be executed anyway. I know the death of our parents was hard on you, it was also hard on me as well.
ELENA POINTS TO THE SKY, IMPLYING THE CASTLE CITY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND NATION.
ELENA: But we must do what it takes to secure our throne. MILLIE: Ah, somebody is at the door. I’ll go and answer it.
PAGE NINETY TWO
DINING ROOM – DINNER TIME
NADINE WAS REACQUAINTED WITH MILLIE AFTER HER AND HER SISTER RETURNED FROM ALDIEL’S CELL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VILLAGE.
Caption: Millie and Elena had known of Dantino’s invasion in advance.
LIVING ROOM AREA - THEY ARE SITTING IN THE LIVING ROOM. MILLIE IS PARALYZED. NADINE IS ALOOF, WHILE SMOKING A JOINT.
MILLIE: You see, that’s why my sister puts me in this position. Sometimes I wonder if she really wants my throne. Though it doesn’t matter now, as we’re both peasant girls.
NADINE IS FACING IN MALCOLM’S DIRECTION.
NADINE: Say Malcolm. MALCOLM: Yea, what’s of Nadine. NADINE: That’s one hell of a smart chat bot isn’t it? MALCOLM: I know right!
RASSIE HUGS AND COMFORTS MILLIE. RASSIE IS UNAWARE HER PROSTHETIC EYE IS RECORDING THE CONVERSATION FOR THE DREAM-SCANNERS.
RASSIE: Don’t listen to them Millie, they’re just addicted gamers. We can do what we can to help you.
PAGE NINETY THREE
Millie is brushing her long curly blond locks, while Elena converses with Aldiel about the nature of their visitors.
ELENA: Don’t you think something seems a little off about them? I don’t mean in the “hero” sense, but … well you tell him Millie.
MILLIE: I feel like I’ve met the red haired girl before, … I can’t recognize that tomboy appearance before. It feels as if I died once before, and she’s there to greet me on the other side.
ALDIEL: You musn’t think to much about it. The important thing is Dantino’s army will arrive here in the morning.
NADINE’S ROOM.
MALCOLM: I didn’t know there was that side of you Nadine. I mean, in all the years I’ve lived in the slums.
NADINE: Well would you talk about your fetishes to people?
MALCOLM: I get it, but you also used your fetish to get us stuck inside this game world.
RASSIE: The point is, if we want to return home, we need to protect Millie.
PAGE NINETY FOUR
NADINE remembered when she first broke the game.
Caption. Nadine didn’t know saving the princess was some kind of sadistic cliche requirement.
MILLIE PLACED HER NECK UPON THE BLOCK, MAKING HER FINAL SPEECH TO THE CROWD.
Caption: Dantino would have rather kept Millie alive, because he had at one point wanted to marry her. But she knew that it would secure his right to be King.
CUT TO A REPLY OF THE EXECUTION SCENE, WITH MILLIE WALKING UP THE HEADMAN’S SCAFFOLD. RASSIE AND MALCOLM ARE SUBDUED BY GUARDS. NADINE SNICKERED IN THE CROWD, FEELING A CHILL DOWN HER SPINE, RESISTING AT LEAST ONE TEAR THAT DAY.
NADINE: What is this feeling I feel?
THE AX SWINGS DOWN, CUTTING THROUGH THE FLESH AND BONE OF MILLIE’S THIN NECK.
HER SEVERED HEAD FELL INTO THE WICKER BASKET.
THE EXECUTION HELD UP HER BLEEDING NECK TO THE CROWD. MILLIE’S EYE STARE AT MILLIE WHILE SLOWLY FADING OUT.
DANTINO: Now I shall be your King.
PAGE NINETY FIVE
YET NOW NADINE WAKES UP SCREAMING.
NADINE: Hey Rassie, are we really stuck here? RASSIE: Should have thought of that before letting Millie die the first time you played. MALCOLM: What happened, I heard a yell. NADINE: Da rien.
NADINE, TALKING WITH MILLIE IN HER DREAM:
NADINE ( tht ) I had originally hated you. You represented everything about princesses I despised. Everything in cis gendered women. Those luscious lips. That beautiful smile. The illusion of childish innocence. I need to return home.