Fallen Legacy

By Daniel Slack

Preserved through a plague she inadvertently created, Dr. Clara Andrews wakes millions of years in the future to a hostile and evolved world she must now survive in.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Slack
• Release date: Oct 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370078370

Daniel Slack

I'm Daniel Slack, author of The DSU (Daniel Slack Universe). This is a collection of stories written in the form of screenplays - movies. These stories are all encompassed in science fiction, but incorporate a multitude of genres such as romance, horror, action, adventure, crime, drama, war and western. What brings this universe together is both spatial and thematic. Whilst the stories are connected, they are all individuals - at times, they may even seem like non-sequiturs. So, it is not likely you will be seeing many reoccurring plot-lines or characters. However, all of these stories interweave and support each other as to build a universe of my design, one that if you want to explore further, you'll have to investigate yourself.

Book preview

Introduction

This is apart of The DSU, a network of stories that support, expand and deepen each other across a complex, growing universe.

So, to explore further...

Join the DSU

Titles include:

1. Inaffection: The Absence

2. Virtue's Ploy

3. For Annabelle

4. Apologetic?

5. Receptacle Infinity

Contacts:

@DanielSlackDSU

[e-mail]

facebook.com/DanielSlack

Before we start...

This is a story told in the rough form of a screenplay - a movie.

This format works best with lower font sizes, especially on smaller devices.

If you've never read a screenplay, you'll need to know the following:

EXT - Exterior. Found in scene headers to indicate we are outside.

INT - Interior. Also found in scene headers, but to indicate we are inside.

(O.S) - Off screen. Found next to character names.

(V.O) - Voice over. Also found next to character names.

(CONT'D) - Continued. Used to indicate continued speech next to character names.

SUPER: - Superimpose. To indicate text is seen over images.

The rest should be self-explanatory.

Enjoy...

Chapters:

1. Dr. Andrews, Clara

2. Mrs. Porter

3. Breakthrough

4. Open Eyes On The New World

5. The Wolf

6. Big Cats

7. Apes Rise

8. Grasslands

9. A Following

10. A Fire Burns

11. Fog Descends

12. Wandering

13. The Ground Trembles

14. Tunnels

15. Prologue/Epilogue

FADE IN:

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY

Nurses, patients, visitors, doctors all walk by an office.

On the door, before the glass and drawn blinds, bold black letter read: DR. ANDREWS.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - MORNING

Same door, but the corridor is empty.

A woman, mid-thirties, walks in. Dr. Andrews - CLARA - quiet, reserved.

INT. CLARA'S OFFICE

She takes a seat in front of the pile of papers on her desk, taps a few keys on the keyboard then dives straight into work.

She reads through the papers, making notes whilst referencing the computer screen.

KNOCK-KNOCK

Clara looks up, but the door's already opening.

In walks an overweight, grumpy dinosaur. On his lab coat lapel is a silver name pin: DR. HOLDEN.

DR. HOLDEN

Clara.

CLARA

Morning.

Dr. Holden leans back on his heels.

DR. HOLDEN

Yes, well, I came to see how the work was going.

Picking up some papers, Clara drops her pen.

CLARA

(leaning down)

Oh, um, yes, it's going great. I should--

Dr. Holden waggles his finger at her and laughs.

DR. HOLDEN

No, no, it's me who tells you how work is going.

Clara sets the pen down on the table and sits up. She braces herself, holding back sighs of exasperation.

Dr. Holden saunters over and rests his hands on the desk, looking down at her, condescension imminent.

DR. HOLDEN

I want a full report tomorrow morning, all of your research and all of your long term patient's data. And I want it in paper. Understand? I only want hard working and dedicated doctors in this hospital. No one goes under my radar.

Clara nods.

DR. HOLDEN

You understand?

She nods again.

Dr. Holden taps the desk, frowns and then walks out. He leaves the door open.

Clara rubs her eyes and looks at the time on the monitor: 6:44.

She gets up and closes the door.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDORS - MORNING

Clara pushes coins into a public coffee vending machine in the corner of a near empty waiting room.

Two small girls meanwhile sit next to their mother who is glued to her phone.

The younger girl plays with a blue rubber ball, rolling it between her hands, concentrating hard on getting it close to the base of her palm with her fingertips.

Bored, her older sister tries to take the ball from her. The younger girl cries out, holding it to her chest.

MOTHER

Quiet.

The two cut it out.

The older sister sticks her tongue out at the younger.

She simply looks away.

Opportunity at hand, the older sister slaps the ball out of the younger's grip, sticking her tongue out at her again.

The girl huffs, leaning forward to get down off the chair. Her mother holds her back.

MOTHER

Stay still.

The girl does as her mother says.

Clara stops with her coffee, having watched the small scene, and turns back to pick up the girl's ball. She kneels down behind a line of chairs to fish it out.

The younger girl watches with curious smiles.

Clara hands the ball back.

LITTLE GIRL

Thank you.

She smiles back.

MOTHER

Thanks.

Clara nods then carries on down the corridor.

The mother goes back to her phone. The younger girl wrinkles her nose up at her sister then goes back to her game.

INT. PATIENT'S ROOM - MORNING

An elderly lady lies in the dimly lit room. She sleeps, hooked up to various machines that beep and blink.

Clara stands over her checking the numerous monitors, scanning her electronic information sheet. She shakes her head before slotting the sheet back into the holder on the bed.

Sympathetically, she watches the woman begin to stir a moment before leaving.

CLICK

The woman's eyes open.

She looks to the closed door and then the monitors.

INT. RESEARCH - DAY

Clara shuts the door to a container full of specimens.

She turns around to a young doctor, JOE, who hands her another specimen tube.

He smiles. She raises her eyebrows.

JOE

Forgot this one.

She opens the door and puts the tube in a rack amongst the dozens of others.

A nurse holding a clipboard stands in the doorway staring straight at Clara. Mid-way through talking over what she wants done next from Joe, Clara notices her.

Her contempt recognised, the nurse storms over and pushes the clipboard into her hands.

She looks her up and down, then storms back out.

JOE

I heard her boyfriend got hepatitis again.

CLARA

Don't.

He takes off his lab coat.

JOE

What? Everyone knows. I hear her husband found -

CLARA

That's enough.

Joe yawns, stretching as he walks toward the door.

JOE

I don't know how you put up with her.

CLARA

Where are you going?

JOE

(walking out the door)

To bed.

CLARA

Wait.

Joe pokes his head around the corner.

JOE

You've got patients. I've got to sleep. I'll be back at three.

CLARA

(sighs)

Fine.

Joe slips away.

Clara shakes her head, turning back to her notes. As she reads, she balls her hands into fists and releases a few times over, making her fingers and knuckles click.

INT. PATIENT'S ROOM - DAY

The elderly lady, JULIE, sits up eating mushy food. Clara enters.

CLARA

Ah. How are we feeling, Julie?

Julie nods, half ignoring her.

CLARA

I'm sorry, I caught you eating.

She just carries on, offering no response.

CLARA

Family come today?

JULIE

(sighs)

Are we doing the check-up now? Because I'm eating.

CLARA

I can come -

JULIE

Put the T.V on. I'll be done in a moment. It's too hard to get a doctor, and I'm too old for all this waiting.

Clara takes the chair by the bedside, picking up the remote. She looks to the open door. She gets up and closes it before sitting down again.

JULIE

Afraid to be caught sitting down on the job?

Clara laughs.

JULIE (CONT'D)

Because I see a lot of you doing that.

CLARA

You asked me to sit.

JULIE

Well, then I guess you're excused.

The T.V catches Julie attention.

CLARA

When do you -

JULIE

Shh.

Clara smiles, sits back in the chair and watches the T.V. Julie shovels food in her mouth, her hands shaking as she does.

EXT. OUTSIDE CLARA'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Clara pulls up in a small electric car, stopping in the driveway of a three bedroom house.

She steps out the car with papers in one hand and her lab coat in the other.

INT. CLARA'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Clara shuts the front door and drops her keys off in the nearby bowl. She kicks off her shoes and looks up the stairs.

The house is still, clean, almost untouched.

She walks through the main hall into:

INT. KITCHEN

On the floor lies a husky.

CLARA

Hey, Hooch.

The dog lazily looks up at her.

CLARA

Tired, eh?

Dropping her things on the counter, Clara opens up a cupboard