EXT. DEAD MAN’S POST CONTINUOUS
MAX, APRIL and DRAKE stand alongside the pirate ship as the royal ship stops in front of them. CAPTAIN JONES climbs out of the ship. He’s a young teen wearing oversized rome armor just like the rest of the guards.
MAX
What’s up fellas, you lost?
JONES
We’re looking for Max.
MAX
There’s so many Max’s, you should be more specific.
JONES
Are you Max?
MAX
I’m a Max.
JONES
The queen requests your immediate return to the royal court.
MAX
Sorry fellas, you came all this way, but you got the wrong Max, ’cause I was told personally by the queen never to step a single foot inside the city limits if I wanted to keep them attached to my body.
(Max begins to walk away.)
JONES
She said if you said something like that we were ordered to chop them off leave them but bring the rest of you.
(Max stops and turns back towards the royal ship. One of the guards pulls out a big axe. Max swallows hard.)
MAX
Now, now, there’s no reason to get technical, you seem to be in the right place.
(Max continues to head towards the old pirate ship.)
JONES
Where do you think your going?
MAX
I need to just grab a few things.
JONES
No, you must come with us now.
MAX
OK, OK, I know how the queen gets about waiting.
(Max walks over to the royal ship and is pulled on board by the guards.)
EXT. DESERT CONTINUOUS
(The royal ship glides over he sand. Guards stand alert and silent, the only one that seems to be relaxed is MAX.)
MAX
So how is the old queen these days?
(His question is only returned with a few stares.)
MAX (cont’d)
That bad huh? I tell you there are some things I miss and some I don’t.
JONES
Quiet down.
MAX
Hey, that’s no way to treat a guest of the queen.
JONES
Guest. Ha! I heard all about you, fly boy.
MAX
I just do the work nobody else wants to do—I should be coming home to a celebration. I managed to keep my head out of a noose this long—what’s one more trip to the palace.
JONES
You’re last.
(All the guards start to laugh but suddenly fall silent. Off in the distance the abandoned city known as The Jungles comes into view. The buildings are half buried in sand and covered in thick veins the city has a very ominous look to it; not even the desert sun can penetrate the dark shadows in between the sides of the building and it’s windows. MAX is the only one who stares directly at the city as they pass.)
EXT. OUTPOST DAY
(The ship pulls up to a outpost. Far off in the distance we can see the outline of a city craved into a mountain siting along in the middle of the desert. The ships are traded in for camels and they continue towards the city.)
EXT. CITY’S ENTRANCE DAY
(The guards and MAX enter a small but vibrant city known as Pueblo City. MAX looks around taking it all in with a small smile on his face. The caravan moves up toward the palace, located at the top.)
EXT.PALACE COURTYARD CONTINUOUS
(Inside the courtyard everyone dismounts and the camels are taken away.)
JONES
Come with me.
(MAX follows behind Captain JONES as he leads him inside the palace.)
MAX
Great, my own personal escort.
INT. OUTSIDE QUEENS CHAMBERS CONTINUOUS
The queen’s personal page MARTIN stands outside the door. MARTIN, 12-ish, skinny, and tall, looks very nervous. He spots MAX and his escort. The page quickly enters the queen’s chambers, followed by a quick exit. We hear something crash against the door as MARTIN closes it, followed by muffled yelling. The page heads over to MAX.
MARTIN
Are you Max?
(MAX looks at the door then back at the page and sighs.)
MAX
One of many.
MARTIN
Good.
(He grabs MAX by the arm, pulling him towards the queen’s chambers. JONES begins to follow but is waved off by MARTIN.)
MARTIN
That will be all.
(The page opens the door and pushes MAX in, slamming it shut behind him.)
INT.QUEEN’S CHAMBERS CONTINUOUS
(A pretty young girl rants loudly as she fixes her hair in the mirror, never turning are acknowledging MAX‘s presence. MAX surveys the room. Everything is tossed about. Ducking behind the only standing chair is CARMELIUS, a charming 13-ish looking boy dressed in elegant clothing. CARMELIOUS stands.)
CARMELIOUS
Now, Your Highness, don’t you think that’s a little harsh?
(The QUEEN turns and hurls the brush at him. He’s able to duck back behind the chair in time.)
QUEEN
Harsh! Harsh! You’re luck you’re not heading to the gallows to be hung!
MAX
(Mumbling)
I heard that before.
(The QUEEN turns her red-hot gaze on MAX, marches right up to him, and stares up into his face.)
QUEEN
And who told you to speak?
(He tries to take a step back but is block by the door.)
MAX
No one, Your Highness.
(A piece of her hair falls across her face, she takes a step back and calmly dignifies herself.)
QUEEN
Max, I will like you to meet Carmelious. He will be joining you at Dead Man’s Post.
(Carmelious stands as Max gives him the once over.)
MAX
You have to be kidding me. This guy? I don’t think he can even dress himself, let alone last five minutes on the outskirts.
QUEEN
That’s no longer my problem—it’s yours.
MAX
If you ask me, he is better off just heading to the gallows now to save everyone the trouble of him being eaten.
CARMELIOUS
I’m not a fan of either option.
QUEEN
Shut up, Carmelious. And no one asked your opinion, Max.
CARMELIOUS
And how long will this little exile last?
QUEEN
Until the city forgives your transgressions.
CARMELIOUS
That will never happen!
QUEEN
So be it.
CARMELIOUS
(Head down)
But Queenie, this is no way to treat your favorite cousin.
QUEEN
(Yelling)
And that’s the only thing keeping your head on your shoulders. That, and the fact that people would rather have you eaten then hung.
(CARMELIOUS is about to speak but is cut of by the queen.)
QUEEN (cont’d)
Now get out of my sight and prepare yourself for your journey, before I change my mind and be done with it all now.
(The queen turns her back on CARMELIOUS and he heads out the queen’s chambers. She heads out on the balcony overlooking the city, followed by MAX.)
MAX
If you care about him, the Dead Man’s post is no place for him. Some of the best scoopers and chasers don’t last long.
QUEEN
You and your ragtag team managed to outlive most.
MAX
Yeah barely…What did he do?
QUEEN
It’s of no importance to you, plus it doesn’t matter. I’ve been put in the position once again where I must put my feelings aside and act as queen.
(MAX moves a little closer to the queen.)
MAX
I’m sorry.
QUEEN
Sorry? What do you know of sorry? You never think how your actions will affect others. You two deserve each other. (Looks off into the distance.) With any luck you two will get each other killed and I won’t have to think of either of you any more. (She wraps her arms around herself like she’s cold, turns her head towards MAX, and looks him up and down.) You’re still the same old Max.
MAX
In some ways I am. In some ways I’m not. If you spend enough time out there it will change anybody.
(The queen turns back to him, staring off into the distance.)
QUEEN
People don’t change—they are who they are.
(MAX reaches over and rest a hand on her shoulder.)
MAX
Lily I…I—
(The queen raises her hand to silence him.)
QUEEN
You barely got out of here last time with your head, so don’t push it.
(MAX drops his hand from her shoulder. The queen heads off to a side door located inside her chambers. She stops before walking fully through it.)
QUEEN (cont’d)
Max, if I don’t ever see you again, it will be too soon.
(She quickly exits the room leaving MAX standing there alone.)
MAX
Yeah, it’s nice seeing you again too.
EXT. DEAD MAN’S POST NIGHT
(MAX, APRIL, DRAKE and CARMELIOUS sit around a campfire, deep in the middle of a conversation.)
APRIL
This is no place to baby-sit the queen’s cousin.
CARMELIOUS
I don’t need baby sitting. I’m pretty capable of taking care of myself, plus it can’t be as bad as they say it is out here.
APRIL
Oh, it’s much worse. This is the outskirts. Beyond us is the uncharted—a place where nobody ever returns.
(CARMELIOUS swats wildly at flies that buzz around his head.)
APRIL (cont’d)
We have to deal with endless heat, no water, sand storms that can rip the flesh off you skin…and if that doesn’t kill you, then the bullies, razors, are sand rays will. Not to forget the worms and creatures you never even heard of before.
(CARMELIOUS swats at more flies.)
CARMELIOUS
Plus these pesty sandflies.
(CARMEIOUS gets up and heads off in the direction of the old pirate ship, swatting at flies as he goes.)
DRAKE
That kid is as good as dead.
APRIL
Yeah, I’m surprised the sandflies haven’t annoyed him to death already.
(The trip shares a small laugh.)
DRAKE
Why do you think the queen made you go all the way out there, why not just drop him off?
MAX
Being the queen can be the most lonely job in the world sometimes and Carmelious was the closest person to her. (MAX stares deep into the camp fire as he talks.) Sending him out here most have been very hard for her. In her own way, she was asking for my help, and for her to do that, she must be very desperate.
DRAKE
How long do you think you can keep him alive out here?
MAX
I don’t know, but there have to be other options.
DRAKE
Like what?
MAX
Like—I don’t know—make him look favorable in the eyes of the city so they will forgive him.
(APRIL looks at MAX puzzlingly.)
APRIL
Make him look like some kinda hero?
DRAKE
There are no heroes out here, we just survive day to day and that’s getting harder. You’ve seen what happen to Bullet’s city.
CARMELIOUS
Who’s bullet and what city?
(CARMELIOUS returns to his spot around the campfire and stares at everyone waiting for answers.)
EXT.CAMP FIRE CONTINUOUS
(APRIL is standing while the rest of the group is still sitting down.)
APRIL
Sophia Bullet is probably the best chaser-scooper out there.
MAX
Wait—if you’re not counting me, she might be.
APRIL
I was counting you.
CARMELIOUS
You’re the best, Max?
MAX
Yes.
APRIL
If you’re not counting Bullet, then maybe.
MAX
I’m the best period.
DRAKE
Second-best.
MAX
I’m second to nobody.
CARMELIOUS
Theirs noting wrong with being second-best.
(April sits down and mumbles loud enough for everyone to hear.)
APRIL
Not if you’re Bullet there’s not.
(DRAKE grins. MAX is about to respond when CARMELIOUS jumps in.)
CARMELIOUS
I hate to sound lost, but what do chasers and scoopers do?
APRIL
Out there sometimes the worms travel in groups.
(MAX sits back using a small stick he plays with the fire.
Two or three big worms with a dozen are so baby ones—the big worms will hide under the sand, pop up, and eat whatever crosses their path, and they will go after anything that gets their attention.
MAX
The chaser’s job is to draw out the big worms so the scoopers can come in and collect the baby worms so we can remove their air bags.
DRAKE
Those are the bags we use to push are ships forward. We also trade them for food, water, and other supplies.
(CARMELIOUS looks around.)
CARMELIOUS
There’s no water around here?
DRAKE
No, and pretty much nothing else, so if we don’t trade bags with the city we would die.
APRIL
The bags are the only power source that doesn’t attract the worms.
DRAKE
But some people have to chase and scoop for themselves.
APRIL
And when it comes to that, no one is better then Bullet—she can pull in by herself what some teams pull in one day, some people say.
(MAX smiles).
CARMELIOUS
Wow! Who says that?
APRIL
Well, me mostly.
CARMELIOUS
Is it safe doing both jobs?
MAX
No, it can be suicide if you do it to much.
(MAX tosses the stick he was playing with into the fire.)
CARMELIOUS
Why does she do it?
APRIL
She wasn’t always like that. She use to be part of a team for her city’s outpost, but one night when she was away, her whole city was completely destroyed, leaving no survivors.
(CARMELIOUS looks shocked.)
CARMELIOUS
What could do something like that?
APRIL
No one knows. The people that weren’t there searched for answer, but to no avail.
CARMELIOUS
It wasn’t the bullies or the worms?
DRAKE
No, neither could destroy a city that size, that fast, and leave no clues.
APRIL
Every one has left and moved on but Bullet.
CARMELIOUS
Has she found anything?
MAX
No one knows; she works alone. Her city was the closest to the outskirts, and now her search is pushing her further and further into the uncharted.
(DRAKE lays back resting his arms behind his head.)
DRAKE
Worse still, she might find what she is looking for, or it might find her first.
(CARMELIOUS pipes up.)
CARMELIOUS
Maybe we can help her?
(MAX cuts his eyes at him.)
MAX
You think helping her will save your skin?
(CARMELIOUS looks down.)
CARMELIOUS
It wouldn’t hurt.
DRAKE
When it first happened, we all tried—even the queen sent a crew into the uncharted that never returned.
(APRIL goes and sits next to DRAKE.)
DRAKE (cont’d)
If I knew there’s something we could do besides get ourselves killed, I would be all for it, but right now that would be a waste of time.
APRIL
Maybe Bullet has more information if we work together—
(DRAKE sits back up and cuts her off.)
DRAKE
Right now we should be focus on training pretty boy here how to survive and scoop or chase.
CARMELIOUS
You mean out there, with the worms?
DRAKE
Yes.
(CARMELIOUS looks around to see if this is some kind of joke.)
DRAKE (cont’d)
We barely pull in enough bags for food, water, and supplies as it is and now another mouth means more bags, which means more runs and more risk.
APRIL
This gives us a chance not only to help Bullet—we might be able to at the least get him transferred somewhere safer.
CARMELIOUS
That’s the spirit, love.
DRAKE
That sounds very dangerous.
(MAX stands up and dusts himself off.)
MAX
It’s a long shot, but it might work.
(DRAKE also stands up.)
DRAKE
So let me get this straight: first we teach pretty boy here to fly and survive, then Bullet to let us help her, and then find some mysterious killer without it destroying us in the process?
MAX
Sounds simple enough. I’m in.
(APRIL stands up too.)
APRIL
I’m in too.
(CARMELIOUS also gets up and nods his head. Every one turns to look at DRAKE. DRAKE looks around.)
DRAKE
I guess I’m in too.