FADE IN:
EXT. BROOKHURST PROJECTS - LATE NIGHT - ESTABLISHING
GLEN BURNS, 30ish, dressed in a black hoodie, jeans and dirty tennis shoes along with his friend L.T. Mobbs, age 27 a two striker looking for number three exit the building and get into a black nova.
EXT. STORE MART 24/7, PARKING LOT - NIGHT
They arrive at an all-night convenience store, park and get out of the car.
L.T. MOBBS
You ready for this?
Glen, high on heroine waves his gun in the direction of the store.
L.T. MOBBS
Hey man put that away! Before someone out here sees us.
Glen tucks a.38 caliber pistol back into the front of his pants and covers it up with his hoodie. A shaky L.T. looks at Glen and then at the store.
L.T. MOBBS
Now remember, we go in there get the money and get the hell out of there, alright?
GLEN BURNS
Yeah..Yeah I got it.
L.T. MOBBS
Let's do this.
EXT. STORE MART 24/7, FRONT DOOR - NIGHT
The two men walk to the store's entrance and burst inside. L.T. pulls out a .45 caliber pistol and points it at the clerk standing behind the counter.
L.T. MOBBS
Alright, got damn it! You know what this is, nobody move, nobody gets hurt.
Glen moves in from the rear and leaps over the counter.
L.T. MOBBS
Open that damn cash register now! Before I blow your head off!
The clerk nervously fumbles at the register as he attempts to open it.
GLEN BURNS
Come on move it!
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye Glen sees movement coming from the storage room.
GLEN BURNS
What the hell is that?
Before he can react another male clerk stands in the doorway, pointing a shotgun at L.T's head.
GLEN BURNS
L.T! Look out!
One blast from the shotgun knocks L.T. back about 20 feet causing him to crash through the front store window.
The store clerk reloads, aims the shotgun and fires it at Glen who runs out the front door, escaping sure death. The loud commotion from the shotgun blast sets off car alarms all throughout the neighborhood. L.T's lifeless body lay strewn on the sidewalk covered in glass and blood.
CLOSE UP L.T'S BODY
EXT. DREW AVE, BACK ALLEY, LATE NIGHT
Glen runs into a dimly-lit alley, he finds a trash dumpster, stands next to it and throws up. He jumps inside of it and closes the lid, police sirens blare in the distance, seconds later Police cars enter the alley and pass by in a blur. Scared and high on Heroine Glen can do nothing but wait, exhausted, he passes out.
CONTINUED:
Three hours later he awakens slowly opens the lid and peeks out of the dumpster, he pushes the flap back, stands up, takes off his black hoodie and dumps it along with his gun into the dumpster. Glen climbs out of the trash bin and begins to navigate through the back Streets.
EXT. ABANDONED BUILDING, FIRST FLOOR - EARLY MORNING
Glen finds an abandoned, boarded up building, removes some of the boards on the window, enters, finds a clean spot on the floor and falls asleep.
INT. GLEN'S MIND'S EYE - DAY
Glen relives the death of his friend L.T. He sees the clerk emerge from the back of the store with a shotgun, fire but hit him instead. Glen wakes up sweating and panting, it takes a minute for him to realize it was only a dream, he takes a deep breath but it doesn't help.
CONTINUED:
GLEN BURNS
I.
(Panting)
..can't...I.. can't deal with
(short of breath)
This..I..I
He grabs his stomach in pain, his face, filled with lesions and sores, his skin dirty from sleeping on the streets and abandoned buildings, Glen turns to the side and throws up again. Feeling better, he gets up, leaves the building, stands in the doorway, checks out his surroundings and heads east.
EXT. DAWN AVE, MAIN STREET, PHONE BOOTH - EARLY EVENING
Glen digs into his left pocket and pulls out a handful of trash, heroine packages, strips of paper, he finds what he was looking for, a single, wrinkle, crumpled paper.
CONTINUED:
He drops the rest onto the ground and opens up a wrinkled piece of paper. He sees a name written in red ink that says Butch Reigns, underneath it is a phone number 323-423-3434.
Glen reaches into his right pocket and pulls out some change, two quarters, ten dimes and six nickels, Glen feeds them into the slot until he hears a dial tone and dials the number.
INT. MORELAND APARTMENTS, DAWN AVE, ROOM 509 - MOMENTS LATER
A man wearing a Diamond-Encrusted, 14 karat signet ring on his pinkie finger answers the phone.
BUTCH REIGNS
Your dime, my time..speak.
CONTINUED: ?
PHONE BOOTH
GLEN BURNS
I need that thunder.
APARTMENTS
BUTCH REIGNS
Long as you got the bread, I got what you need.
He hangs up the phone and makes his way down Dawn Ave.
INT. MORELAND APARTMENTS, DOORWAY - SAME TIME
Glen walks through the front door of some run down apartments and walks down a long, dark, dank hallway. To his left and right are rooms filled with people, some are lying on the floor, some are shooting Heroine into their veins.
In the left corner a man dressed in dirty jeans and a t-shirt stands up as a woman gets down on her knees and unzips his pants. Glen continues to walk down the hallway until he comes to a blue steel door sitting at the end of the hallway. He bangs on it three times, a slot opens up at eye level, a set of shifty eyes appears and looks him over.
VOICE FROM BEHIND THE DOOR
What the hell do you want?
GLEN BURNS
It's me Glen, I need to score.
VOICE FROM BEHIND THE DOOR
You got the bread?
CONTINUED:
Glen takes out a $20, $10, two $5s and pushes them through the second slot at waist level,
THE DEALER
This better be $40.
The dealer takes the money counts it and passes back a gram of Heroine sealed in a wax papered wrapper. Glen greedily takes the package and walks away.
MORELAND APARTMENTS - SIDEROOM - 10 MINUTES LATER
He enters one of the side rooms, finds an empty spot, sits down, one of the dealers gives him a spoon, a rubber tourniquet and a needle. Glen ties the tourniquet around his upper left arm and pours the contents in the paper into the spoon, heats it up from underneath with a lighter, the powder changes to liquid, he uses the needle to suck up the extract, and tightens the tourniquet with his teeth.
CONTINUED:
He taps the middle of his arm searching for a good vein then picks up the needle, sticks it into his left arm and injects the Heroine into his system. His body starts to shake, his eyes roll to the back of his head, he smiles in ecstasy as he collapses onto the floor.
GLEN BURNS
It wasn't always like this.. I had a life and a family.
FLASHBACK:
EXT. WHITE HOUSE, FRONT LAWN - DAY
Glen, 26, stands in front of a mirror dressed in blue slacks, blue shirt, and black shoes he tries to put on a tie. Standing next to him, his wife GLORIA BURNS, 22 stands by and watches, but then loses patience.
CONTINUED:
GLORIA BURNS
Now you know that you can't tie a tie, here let me help you?
Gloria stands in front of Glen and finishes what he couldn't.
GLEN BURNS
Ok, ok are the kids ready for school?
GLORIA BURNS
Yes, they are downstairs having breakfast. And speaking of that your eggs are getting cold.
GLEN BURNS
Oh, yeah well let 'em get cold, how about a quickie before I go?
Glen grabs his wife by the waist, pulls her in closer and kisses her on the lips, grabs her butt and squeezes, she playfully pulls away.
GLORIA BURNS
Glen, stop...now come on you're going to be late.
Gloria looks at Glen with an amorous looks and leaves the room, he pats her on her backside. She looks back and smiles as Glen checks out himself in the mirror and walks downstairs. He sits down at the breakfast table as his two little girls, MYRA, 10 and JOY, 14 eat their cereal.
Glen looks at his daughters.
GLEN BURNS
Well aren't you even going to say good morning to your father?
Joy looks up from her cell phone long enough to wave to her father, Myra does the same.
GLEN BURNS
That's better. I guess.
Glen takes a bite of his eggs and makes a sour face.
GLEN BURNS
Honey these eggs are cold.
Gloria stands in the doorway.
GLORIA BURNS
See...I told you to get down here earlier.
GLEN BURNS
If you had listened to me they would have been colder.
Glen gets up and puts his plate of food into the microwave oven.
GLEN BURNS
Listen honey I made a promise to my brother Sidney that we would go out tonight.
GLORIA BURNS
That's fine babe, I've got to work late at the office anyway.
GLEN BURNS
What about the girls?
GLORIA BURNS
My sister will watch them, since I'll probably get home before you will, I'll pick them up.
GLEN BURNS
Sounds good.
The bell rings on the microwave, Glen takes out the plate sits down and takes a few more bites of his eggs and toast along with a sip of coffee.
GLEN BURNS
Gotta go.
Glen kisses his wife and daughters, grabs his briefcase and runs out the door.
EXT. GLEN'S RESIDENCE, DRIVEWAY - MORNING
He gets into his car and allows it to warm up. He turns on the radio and listens to the news.
NEWS BROADCASTER
This just in the Midnight Mauler has struck again, at six o'clock this morning authorities found the bodies of Cynthia Gills and Ronnie Young in their beds apparently with their throats slit.
NEWS BROADCASTER
It was a gruesome scene, the next of kin have been notified, we'll have more on this late breaking story as it develops...in other news.
Glen turns off the radio, backs out of the driveway and drives away. Twenty minutes later Glen pulls into the parking lot of his employer.
EXT. J.C. & ASSOCIATES, PARKING LOT - EARLY MORNING
As Glen gets out of his car and walks up to the building, a tall burly man dressed in a black coat with a plain black hat draped over his face bumps into him causing Glen to drop his briefcase.
GLEN BURNS
Hey dude why don't watch where you're going, asshole!
The man ignores Glen who is able to get a quick look at his face before the man can run away. Glen shrugs it off and goes about his business, he enters the building.
INT. J.C. ASSOCIATES, PARKING LOT - EARLY MORNING
The office is buzzing with activity as Glen makes his way to his office cubicle.
OFFICE SECRETARY
Good morning, sir.
GLEN BURNS
Good morning.
GLEN'S ASSISTANT
Good morning, sir.
GLEN BURNS
Good morning.
Glen finds the cubicle with his name on it and sits down. Later on that afternoon, he gets a call from his wife.
GLEN BURNS
Hey, what's up?
GLORIA BURNS
Not too much, I just wanted to see if you could stop by the store later on this evening before you come home, we need some vegetables and cold cuts.
GLEN BURNS
Alright, I'll take care of it. Love you.
Glen hangs up the phone.
EXT. J.C. & ASSOCIATES, PARKING LOT - EARLY EVENING
The day finishes out, Glen leaves the office, gets into his car and drives off.
EXT. SUPERMART, PARKING LOT - SAME TIME
He pulls into a parking lot finds a parking spot near the store, goes inside, comes out with groceries.
GLEN BURNS
I'm always going out, but tonight I think that I will surprise my wife and come home early, besides I'm horny
Glen takes out his cell phone and calls his brother.
INT. SIDNEY'S RESIDENCE, KITCHEN - SAME TIME
SIDNEY BURNS, 34, a chain smoker and Glen's older brother answers the phone.
SIDNEY BURNS
Yeah.
GLEN'S CAR
GLEN BURNS
What's up big bro?
SIDNEY'S HOUSE
SIDNEY BURNS
Hey? Not too much. What's on your mind ill’s bro?
GLEN'S CAR
GLEN BURNS
I need to take a rain check tonight, romance is calling and I need to answer it.
SIDNEY'S HOUSE
SIDNEY BURNS
Ohh..I see wifey time hunh? I'm not mad at you, but you do owe me so let's get together next week, you make the call.
GLEN'S CAR
GLEN BURNS
Sounds like a plan my man...later.
Glen hangs up the phone, starts his car and begins the drive back to his house. As Glen pulls into his residence he notices the house is completely dark, even though her car is parked in the driveway.
GLEN BURNS
I thought Gloria would have been home by now but I guess not.
EXT. GLEN'S RESIDENCE, DRIVEWAY - EARLY EVENING
He parks in his driveway, gets out of the car, unlocks, opens the front door and walks inside.
INT. GLEN'S RESIDENCE, LIVING ROOM - SAME TIME
He turns on a lamp and looks around, the house is eerily quiet, so he walks upstairs.
HALLWAY
Upstairs there are three doors, one at the end of the hallway and two on either side of him that are slightly adjacent to one another Glen peeks inside the door to his left and sees his daughter Joy lying in the bed, underneath the covers.
He closes the door and walks about 2 feet, on his right he opens the door, peeks inside and sees what appears to be his other daughter Myra sleeping in her bed, he closes the door.
Glen walks to the end of the hallway and opens the door. The room is dark but he is able to see what appears to be a silhouette of his wife sleeping. As he moves toward the bed he sees movement on the bed and turns on the light.
He sees his wife Gloria being sexually assaulted by an unknown assailant, her screams muffled by duct tape secured firmly around her mouth. The masked assailant stops his assault, pulls up his pants, brandishes a knife and turns to face Glen.
GLEN BURNS
What the f&^$ is going on here!