The Skull Ring (47 page)

Where are we going?

WALTER

My mother's family owns a piece of the mountains over this way. We'll be safe there for a while.

FADE TO:

EXT. COUNTRY GAS STATION- SUNDOWN.

Walter pulls the Jeep into the gas station and parks by a pay phone.

WALTER

Last pay phone in America. I'll put in a call to the Sheriff's office. We should be able to tell pretty fast whether Snead's got to them yet.

JULIA

More people know you around here. I'm just a nobody. Let me make the call.

WALTER

If you see anything strange, get back here quick.

JULIA

Keep the motor running.

As Julia goes to the phone, a MAN IN OVERALLS comes out of the station, nods at her, and goes back inside.

Julia drops coins in the phone and dials.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

Sheriff's.

JULIA

(into phone)

Hello, I need to report some bones.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

Bones? Did you say "bones"? What kind of bones?

JULIA

I think they're human. They were under my house.

The man comes out of the gas station again and glares at Julia.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

Under your house? Are you Stone? The whore Judas Stone?

Julia goes pale and grips the receiver tightly.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

He owns you, whore, so give him what's his.

Julia lets the phone drop. The truck with the goat passes the gas station, slowing. The man in the green cap has been joined by A MEAN-LOOKING MAN in the passenger seat.

Julia fights for breath, pulls more change from her purse, feeds the pay phone. She dials a number from memory.

DR. FORREST

(before Julia can speak)

Where are you, Julia?

JULIA

I can't tell you.

DR. FORREST

You need help. You need my help.

JULIA

You lied about the pentagram drawing.

DR. FORREST

Julia, do you want to be healed?

Julia hammers her fist against the wall of the gas station.

JULIA

Healed of what? What do you want from me?

DR. FORREST

You've been such a very bad girl. So very difficult. He's not happy with you, Julia.

(beat)

We've all tried to help you. Lance, Lt. Snead, your father, everyone. That's all we ever wanted, for you to embrace him. For you to become the whore Judas Stone.

Walter is behind Julia now, and takes the phone from her.

WALTER

(into phone)

Go to hell. And save a spot for Wheatley.

He slams the phone into its cradle and embraces Julia.

WALTER

It's okay. They can't get you here.

The man from the gas station stares at them.

MAN IN OVERALLS

You folks okay?

WALTER

(to Julia)

Breathe. In and out.

(to man)

She's fine. Just had a dizzy spell.

The man nods dubiously and goes back inside.

WALTER

Listen, Julia. You're going to make it. Look way off, where the mountains meet the sky. Up there where the clouds are. Be a mountain. They can't break a mountain.

JULIA

He owns me.

WALTER

Nobody owns you, Dr. Forrest doesn't own you, and Wheatley's never going to get you. Not while I'm still alive.

Walter helps Julia into the Jeep and they roar off down the road.

CUT TO:

EXT. MOUNTAIN CABIN—NIGHT.

The Jeep headlights shine on the old mountain cabin. Julia, who has been drowsing, wakes up. Walter gets a backpack out of the back.

JULIA

Where are we?

WALTER

Ten miles past nowhere on Cracker Knob. We'll be safe here 'til we figure out our next move.

JULIA

I'm sorry to drag you into this mess.

WALTER

I was in this mess long before you come to town.

They get out of the Jeep. Walter shines his flashlight, opens the cabin door and steps inside.

WALTER

No boogiemen or creeps.

JULIA

What about handymen who keep showing up at the wrong time?

WALTER

You can sleep out here if you want. Me, I'm building a warm fire and resting.

He goes inside. Julia looks around at the dark forest. Thunder comes from the starless sky. She follows him inside.

CUT TO:

INT. CABIN.

A fire is roaring. Walter and Julia sit apart, warming their hands. Rain pounds off the roof. Walter rummages in his backpack and brings out two cans of food.

WALTER

Sardines or Vienna sausages?

Julia takes the sardines and begins eating. THUNDER O.S. and rain begins pelting the roof.

WALTER (CONT'D)

I didn't lie. That peeper really was climbing out of your window.

JULIA

I told you I trusted you. What more do you want?

WALTER

For you to quit looking at me like I'm one of the bad guys.

JULIA

Dr. Forrest said—

WALTER

Dr. Forrest? All that bitch did was turn my wife's head inside out and make her as crazy as her shrink. She started remembering things, things that never happened until that doctor told her.

JULIA

But you have to deal with the past before you can move forward.

WALTER

Yeah. That's what my wife used to say. Back before she moved forward off the face of the earth.

Walter dashes juice from his sausage can into the fire. The flames sputter.

WALTER (CONT'D)

Dr. Forrest can fry in hell, for all I care.

Walter goes to the dark corner and rummages in a closet. He comes back with a sleeping bag and blankets. He tosses the blankets to Julia and points to the loft.

WALTER

You can have the loft. I'll sleep down here and keep the fire going.

Julia stares into the fire, afraid to look at Walter.

JULIA

Tell me about your wife.

WALTER

(no longer angry)

Her name was Rita Lee. We married right out of high school. We were poor but had a little bit of land and figured other people had it a lot worse. She loved to keep up flowers. I always thought dirt ought to be used for vegetables, but I sure do miss the smell of those flowers now.

(beat)

I can still see her, bent over her marigolds and daffodils, hair tied back in a ponytail, the sun catching on it and making it shine. Then we got pregnant, she started to panic all the time, and...damn.

JULIA

I'm sorry.

WALTER

(wipes at his eyes)

Don't be. It's in the past. And the past can't hurt you none if you don't let it.

JULIA

It's hard to believe she just disappeared. My father disappeared like that, too.

WALTER

In the middle of the night, you said.

JULIA

He was a Satan worshipper. He was in Snead's little coven in Memphis.

WALTER

You sure?

Julia digs in her purse and pulls out the skull ring. She hands it to Walter, who examines it by the firelight.

JULIA

See the inscription inside the band? "Judas Stone."

WALTER

Was it your father's?

JULIA

No. I think it was mine.

The rain comes down harder now. Julia collects the blankets, climbs the wooden ladder to the loft and settles in.

WALTER

One thing's been bothering me. You say you were part of a Satanic ritual when you were four. Well, if Snead was in on it, and knows that you're starting to remember, why didn't he just kill you? Why go to the trouble of all these tricks? The clock and the pentagram drawing and the ring and all that.

JULIA

Because they want me to be crazy.

WALTER

You're not crazy. You're a mountain, damn it, and they can't break a mountain.

JULIA

(sleepy)

Walter?

WALTER

Yeah?

JULIA

Thanks. For everything.

WALTER

Thank me when it's over and we've both survived. Sweet dreams, now.

Stay on the fire fading, then—

CUT TO:

INT. CABIN LOFT- NIGHT.

From darkness, flickering red, white, and yellow images like  the opening scenes, along with a rhythmic heavy breathing. The BREATHING grows louder, wet and foul and disturbing.

Julia's eyes open in the darkness. The fire has faded and the cabin is nearly dark.

Something touches her, and there's a shape over her.

She tries to sit up, but the thing is on top of her. Two glowing red specks appear in the darkness inches from her face.

It is the face from the skull ring, only now it is a living, breathing creature in a robe.

She tries to scream but the thing has covered her mouth. She claws at the face, and it seems to pull away as if it's a rubber mask.

Then the thing wears the face of Douglas Stone, unshaven, cruel, leering. His tongue snakes in and out between rotted teeth.

She tugs on the hood and now the face is Mitchell's, laughing, his eyes yellow as fire.

She struggles under the blankets, trying to escape, but the thing is big, bigger than the dark, everywhere.

And now it is Snead over her, menacing, face red and hard.

SNEAD

He owns you, whore.

And now the face becomes the goat head, dripping blood from its neck, eyes big and black with red sparks inside.

GOAT'S HEAD

You're mine, Judas bitch. And I take what is mine.

The goat's long tongue dips near Julia's face. Julia struggles free and finally she can scream.

Now it is Walter above her. And, for a moment, Walter is evil, too, his face contorted.

WALTER