Two Winters Past

FADE IN

EXT. HIGHWAY OVERPASS. EARLY MORNING

Wide angle on a vast expanse of angry grey clouds. Pan down. The hills in the distance are brown, but as the trees come into view near us, we see buds on the branches.

RADDOCK and SHANNON are walking their bikes down a wide highway approaching a curve. The left side drops into a gorge and a forested hill beyond. On the right, apartment buildings are mounted on the hill.

SHANNON: Do you think I’m on a path to citizenship if I’m going out on patrols now?

RADDOCK: You want to stay now?

SHANNON sighs.

SHANNON: After walking all the way here from Berkeley, he School has been the best set of circumstances I’ve seen so far.

RADDOCK pats SHANNON on the back.

RADDOCK: I bet winter makes you wish you were still in California!

SHANNON: Berkley is cold, even in the summer.

RADDOCK: No shit.

SHANNON: I went to the beach in August once and saw snow. I had my winter coat on.

RADDOCK: All the shows I seen…

SHANNON: Were filmed in Los Angeles. , The world ended there a long time before it ended for the rest of us.

RADDOCK: You weren’t in the city, were you?  

SHANNON: A When the power went out, I was doing some pictures at a marine mammal rescue center across the bay. All these visitors pushing around me to get my shot with their cell phone, and all our shit goes down at once.  Most of us stayed there a couple weeks. I’m sorry to say that the marine mammals were sacrificed, but they were delicious, and they allowed me to be here today, back home in Parlor City. Yeah, I watched San Fran fall in on itself. Fucking crazy. I got out of California after that.

RADDOCK: I wish I got out of this city as soon as I saw the zombies on the news.

SHANNON: How did you see zombies on the news with no power?

RADDOCK: The zombies started a couple days before.

SHANNON: Bullshit.

RADDOCK: It was on the news! Had one right here. Homeless guy jumped up, bit some guy in the face! There was one in Georgia, there was one in Florida…

SHANNON: Shit like that happened every day in Florida.

RADDOCK: That’s exactly what I’m saying!

SHANNON: We went at least a week, AT LEAST, before anyone turned. A bunch of people left to walk across the Golden Gate, but that got blown up after a couple of days. One of the visitors turned, but we thought she went crazy. A scientist shot her after she killed another girl. One other person turned, but that was right before our camp broke up. Like, it was a shock, a big shock, when I got back to the mainland and saw what happened. Everyone I talked to though, they all agreed it was at least a week before the zombies arrived.

RADDOCK: I don’t know about anywhere else, but there were zombies here before the power went out.  

SHANNON: This place is probably the epicenter! Did you know it’s the real Twilight Zone?

RADDOCK: What’s that?

SHANNON: A TV show. Crazy show, from the 50’s.  This is where it started. My god, I never wanted to come back here again.

RADDOCK: Your god still answer you?

SHANNON: (laughs) You get philosophical on me, Raddock, and I won’t know who I’m talking to.

RADDOCK: If he’s up there, he thinks we’re the bad ones.

SHANNON: Or the very best.

RADDOCK: Maybe you.

SHANNON: (shrugs) I was a punk. I don’t give a shit what He thinks of me.

RADDOCK: Now we on the same page.

Around the curve, a city can be seen, mist rising from the tops of buildings. As they walk, pass under a traffic light that once guided cars onto the highway overpass. A sign reads, “PARLOR CITY,” with an arrow pointing ahead.