Underground Wrestling Alliance by William Taylor, Phd a Dissertation

Home , Atlantis (wrestler), Boston crab, Brainbuster, Drone (wrestler), Jason Rumble, King of DDT Tournament

Underground Wrestling Alliance

William Taylor, PhD

A Dissertation

English

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Approved

Dr. Jill Patterson Chair of Committee

Dr. Yuan Shu

Marcus Burke

Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am eternally grateful for the attention and support of Dr. Jill Patterson, my committee chair and dissertation Sherpa, who helped guide me through this large and all-consuming project. Also huge thanks to Dr. Yuan Shu, Marcus Burke, and Ghi Fremaux for lending their assistance and expertise during these massively difficult times. Lastly, I wouldn’t have been able to complete any of this without the love and support of Katie Cortese, nor without the inspiration of our two wonderful sons, Milo and Jonah, who make the future worth fighting for.

ii Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments...... ii

Critical Introduction ...... 1

Chapter 1 ...... 41

Chapter 2 ...... 70

Chapter 3 ...... 103

Chapter 4 ...... 132

Chapter 5 ...... 156

Chapter 6 ...... 190

Chapter 7 ...... 226

Chapter 8 ...... 256

iii Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Wave Effect ...... 28

2. Symbolism ...... 30

3. Visual Exposition ...... 31

iv Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION

“Fantasy is reality in the day today.” – George Clinton

“Under the mask, the people.” – Janina Mobiüs

American presidents have long played fast and loose with the truth, from the lead up to the Mexican War to the Invasion of Iraq, but on January 21st, 2017, newly elected

Donald Trump took “truthiness”—the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true—to a new level. It was the first day of his administration, and unflattering photos of his inauguration crowd were beginning to proliferate across social media. One viral tweet, which juxtaposed aerial photos of the National Mall in 2017 with aerial photos of the National Mall in 2009, had especially enraged Trump and his aides.

The two photos showed the obvious discrepancies. The first photo, from 2017, showed empty space, while the second photo, from 2009, did not. It was undeniable that Barrack

Obama had the larger inauguration crowd. The New York Times would later confirm, estimating that two-thirds more people had attended in 2009.

In order to mollify their deranged boss, press secretary Sean Spicer was sent before the White House press corps to correct the record, photographic evidence be damned.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” Spicer yelled, red-faced, jabbing his finger into the podium. “Even

The New York Times printed a photograph showing a misrepresentation of the crowd in the original Tweet in their paper, which showed the full extent of the support, depth in crowd, and intensity that existed. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the

1 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 inauguration are shameful and wrong” (“Transcript of White House press secretary”).

The press corps sat before him, stunned. It was the first day of the Trump presidency, and his administration was choosing to focus on them, the news media. The press briefing had become metafictional. The issue wasn’t the actual photograph; it was the way the photograph was being framed. It was the commentary that was the real substance, not the event itself.

Sean Spicer would conclude his remarks without taking questions, a fitting end to the

Trump administration’s first press briefing. He would go on to be mocked relentlessly for his performance, of course, from viral Facebook memes to Melissa McCarthy’s brutal parody of him on Saturday Night Live, which lampooned him for his buffoonish, angry insistence that something very obviously false was actually true. But the press briefing was also the start of something far more sinister: the Trump administration’s war against objective reality. Cast as villains were the press, or, as the president would soon label them, the “Enemy of the People,” a term reminiscent of the fascist, totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. This simple, manufactured binary—Donald Trump as Mythological

Hero, the News Media as Archvillain—would prove to be effective at insulating his base from any semblance of truth. What resulted would be a mass delusion of sorts, an alternate universe in which a venal, deranged game show host is considered America’s greatest president since literally George Washington.

Though this type of epistemic closure doesn’t explain everything about his supporters’ fanatical devotion, or how otherwise rational people could believe in irrational narratives (such as Trump being a Champion of the “working class”), its similarity to the group dynamics of a cult is telling. In a cult, control is often maintained

2 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 through an “us vs. them” framework, and by blurring the distinction between “real” and

“fake.” It is similar, as well, to the way a totalitarian system maintains control. As George

Orwell writes in 1984, “The past was always alterable. The past never had been altered.

Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

Oceania is a fictional setting, of course, but Orwell used it as a way to show the tactics of

Stalinism, how easy it is for a government to manipulate large sums of people by narrowing language and distorting information.

This kind of epistemic warfare is familiar to America, too, of course. Administrations have long spun the truth in a way that’s favorable to their objectives, or created “truth” wholesale entirely. As an aide for the George W. Bush administration once said to a reporter, “We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do” (Suskind).

Surprisingly, these words come not from a Thomas Pynchon novel, but Karl Rove,

George W. Bush’s chief of staff. It was as if he was dropping his mask of good manners, just for a moment, and allowing the public to see behind the curtain. Coming from someone operating from the world’s highest level of power, his words were refreshingly honest. Finally, an admission that history is determined by the a handful of elites, all truth subjective. For them, language is nothing but a tool, or a means to an end. It rationalizes.

It obfuscates. It is capable of doing anything, even create reality itself.

In America, the distinction between what’s real and what’s fake has long been disputed. What distinguishes the Trump administration’s efforts is the crudeness of their

3 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 lies and deceptions, the lack of finesse, as well as by their heightened, violent rhetoric towards journalists, scientists, and scholars. Anyone could look and see the difference between the two inauguration photographs. In one, the National Mall is packed with bodies. In the other, it’s not. Yet Sean Spicer stood behind the podium anyway, insisting that less was more, that two plus two equaled five, that ignorance was strength. His performance was Orwellian, certainly, but it was also reminiscent of the theatrics of professional wrestling: the loud voice, the hand gestures, the obvious fakery, the heated vindictiveness. Considering how pro wrestling, too, blurs the distinction between what’s real and what’s fake, it’s fitting.

Like Donald Trump at one of his rallies, Sean Spicer wasn’t just briefing the press, he was cutting a “promo,” which, in wrestling parlance, means that he was acting out a monologue (or interview), one meant to both promote an upcoming show and advance the storyline. Typically, a promo involves one wrestler calling out another, and can take place either in the ring or backstage. The promo Spicer gave took place behind a podium, and though clearly absurd from start to finish, he would manage to stay in “kayfabe” for its entirety. Kayfabe, in the world of wrestling, means to keep in character while pretending that staged events are authentic. Kayfabe plays an integral part in maintaining the crowd’s suspension of disbelief, and serves as part of the fourth wall between wrestler and audience. As Nick Rogers writes in The New York Times, “[F]or at least 50 years

‘kayfabe’ has referred to the unspoken contract between wrestlers and spectators: We’ll present you something clearly fake under the insistence that it’s real, and you will experience genuine emotion. Neither party acknowledges the bargain, or else the magic is ruined.”

4 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

For decades, keeping kayfabe was the wrestler’s sacred duty, even when away from the arena. Babyfaces were not allowed to ride with the heels when traveling to and from shows. They had to take separate vehicles, because if the fans were to see two feuding wrestlers being friendly to each other, the illusion would be ruined, giving less of a reason for the fans to come to the next show. Wrestlers were expected to protect the business at all times. If they were out in public, and a heckler told them that wrestling was fake, then it was the wrestler’s honor-bound duty to beat the heckler up. By protecting the illusion, the wrestlers protect the bottom line. Paradoxically, after Vince

McMahon admitted in front of the New Jersey State Senate that wrestling was entertainment and not a sport, and thus dropping the façade, pro wrestling’s popularity only increased. It turned out that whether wrestling was real or not wasn’t the point, only that the fans still chose to believe it was. The artifice of it was as obvious as ever, yet it only attracted more fans.

Perhaps Roland Barthes predicted this in his seminal essay, “The World of

Wrestling.” In it, Barthes explores the semiotics of wrestling, how imbedded within the physical performance onstage are a system of signs and signifiers that communicates with the audience on a deeper, symbolic level, eliciting an emotional response. For Barthers, this is what ultimately binds together the spectator and performer. “[A]t this pitch,”

Barthes writes, “it no longer matters whether or not the passion being expressed is authentic. What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself. There is no more a problem of truth in wrestling than in theater” (7). Barthes sees wrestling’s overabundance of gestures and images as what makes wrestling such a powerful spectacle. Wrestling is “a sort of diacritical writing,” he writes, which the wrestler aids

5 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 the reading of “by certain gestures, certain attitudes, certain mimicries which afford the intention its utmost meaning” (6). Wrestling, then, becomes its own form of language, operating without words and communicating through the corporeal being of the performers. The performance has its own logic, fulfilling the spectator’s need for ritual by tapping into ancient archetypes. “The spectator,” Barthes continues, “is not interested in the development of a prowess, he is awaiting the momentary image of certain passions” (4). Later, he writes, “What is thus given to the public is the great spectacle of

Suffering, of Defeat, and of Justice” (8).

Barthes’ analysis is helpful in understanding the resiliency of pro wrestling’s popularity, but it’s also helpful in understanding how such an obvious fake as Donald

Trump could become a mythological hero for broad segment of America’s population, and how literally no action he could take would cause him to lose their support. For his followers, it doesn’t matter if Trump is a phony, or if Obama had a bigger inauguration crowd, or if the swamp is drained. It only matters that his followers keep choosing to believe that the image of Donald Trump is the real Donald Trump, however obvious the façade. The artifice feels true to them because they helped cultivate it; the chants, the shirts, the memes, the fan art, the conspiracy theories. They are as much a part of

“Trump” as Donald Trump himself.

Thus the relationship between Donald Trump and his audience is a symbiotic one.

Trump gives the audience what they need—hope, righteous anger, a sense of justice— while the audience confers to Trump his power, his status as World Champion. Thus,

“Trump” largely becomes a symbol, one that represents to his supporters their own values. They find “Trump” to be true because they find their own values to be true. He

6 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 supports the narrative they feel they are a part of, one of Suffering, Defeat, and Justice.

“The public couldn’t care less that the fight is or isn’t fixed,” Barthes writes, “and rightly so; the public confines itself to a spectacle’s primary virtue, which is to abolish all motives and all consequences: what matters to this public is not what it believes but what it sees” (4). What Trump’s followers see in Donald Trump is an avatar for them to project their wants and needs, a champion who fights on their behalf, who unites them against a common enemy, who will right the wrongs and restore order to the world. They see this in him, despite the preponderance of evidence that he works against their interests. Like

Sean Spicer, his followers refuse to drop kayfabe. They are rigid and unyielding because they’ve made a contract. Their “reality” feels true, even if everything shows it to be staged. The contradictions simply don’t matter.

This relationship between the spectator and the performer is analogous to the relationship between a cult leader and their followers in several ways. The reason a cult leader is able to maintain such a tight hold of their flock is because they have both insulated their followers from reality, and replaced “reality” with a kind of kayfabe. Any attempt to use rational thought or logic to break the hold is useless, as it is the intense feelings the cult leader inspires that forms the basis of their belief.

This kind of power dynamic is a familiar trope of dystopic literature, as I alluded to earlier, and is helpful in illuminating dystopic literature’s connection with post- modernism. In literary terms, a dystopia is “an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, [and] fearful lives” (“dystopia”). This dehumanization is usually inflicted by way of an oppressive, totalitarian state. Mass-surveillance, demagoguery, suppression of the press, and euphemistic language are all used to maintain

7 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 control of the society. There is often some form of environmental degradation or human grotesquery, while the world’s dystopic nature is brought about by megalomaniac’s intention of building a perfect society.

What connects dystopic literature to post-modern literature is a familiar theme: a fictional state controlling its subjects by blurring the distinction between what’s real and what’s fake. It’s through this distortion that the masses play their roles, believing the artifice. There may be a character or two who is able to consciously separate what’s real from what’s fake, spurring the narrative action, but for the most part, nearly everyone goes along with the lie. They are subdued by the metanarrative, which operates on them on a subconscious level, informing their concept of how the world should be. Whether they see the world as dystopian or utopian largely depends upon their own personal values. If they value order above everything else—such as the trains running on time, life being efficient, or strict adherence to the rules—then the more likely they’ll be tolerant

(accommodating even) of authoritarianism. Staying in kayfabe is easy for this part of society because it protects the power structure which, reciprocally, protects what they cherish.

For example, in Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, the residents of San Lorenzo remain devout followers of Bokononism, despite Bokonon, the religion’s founder, admitting in his sacred texts that the religion is all shambolic, or foma, which are harmless untruths meant to give human beings peace and comfort. In the very first sentence of The Book of Bokonon, Bokonon announces, “All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies” (5) Immediately, he acknowledges kayfabe’s role, creating the contract that binds himself and his followers, which gives the people of San Lorenzo

8 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 a sense of hope and purpose. In Bokononism, just because something is unreal doesn’t mean it can’t be useful. In this specific instance, kayfabe gives the people San Lorenzo a sense of hope and purpose.

This theme of artifice is further illustrated by the fact that “Bokonon” isn’t even

Bokonon’s real name. It’s Lionel Lloyd Johnson. Furthermore, the grand tale of Bokonon at war with Edward McCabe, San Lorenzo’s co-founder, was just a story the two had made up. Order was fragile on San Lorenzo, and meaning lacking, so they needed to give people a reason to persist.

“[W]hen it became evident that no governmental or economic reform was going to make the people much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope.

Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies.” (172)

In order to give the religion “more zest, more tang,” Bokonon asked McCabe to outlaw Bokononism entirely, which McCabe did. Bokonon was then exiled into the jungle and regularly hunted, though he always got away. The conflict was entirely performative, though it was accepted by everyone as real. Eventually, Bokonon and

McCabe would become driven insane by the roles they played, unable to distinguish between what was true and what was fake. Still, McCabe only feigned at catching

Bokonon, because “without the holy man to war against, he himself would become meaningless” (175). Though McCabe fully believed his own narrative, he was still cognizant enough to realize that the conflict gave the people of the island happiness and purpose. Bokonon gave them someone to identify with, a story that made the world

9 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 coherent. “As the living legend of the cruel tyrant in the city grew, so, too, did the happiness of the people grow. They were all employed full times as actors in a play they understood, that any human being anywhere could understand and applaud” (175). In other words, the people of San Lorenzo stayed in kayfabe because it pleased them.

Besides, everything was kayfabe: Bokononism, the Hundred Martyrs to Democracy, the hook, Christianity. Though performative, kayfabe served a necessity by giving purpose and meaning where none otherwise existed. As Bokonon writes, “Midget, midget, midget, how he struts and/ winks,/ for he knows a man’s as big as what he hopes and thinks!” (284) In Cat’s Cradle, perception is reality, maybe even more so than reality itself.

A similar dynamic can be seen in Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. The novel presents a dystopian world that has, thanks to genetic engineering, subverted God and nature. Everything is artificial, and nothing is authentic. Anyone with enough money could get surgery at a company like Anooyoo and be made to look decades younger. If they’re in need of an organ transplant, they could clone a version of themselves for “spare parts,” or go to an “illegal baby orchard” (23) and pick up a new kidney. If they were to die, they could simply have their body cryogenically frozen until a new medical breakthrough was discovered. In the world of Oryx and Crake, technology has made a version of immortality possible, but in achieving it, humanity has lost not only its sense of ethics and responsibility, but its sense of emotion and sentimentality as well, the substances that make a person human.

Another feature of this dystopian world is that society has been divided into two parts; a kind of climate apartheid. The majority of the population—the lower class,

10 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 coincidentally—lives in what’s known as the pleeblands, where life is dangerous and unpredictable. There is high pollution, violent crime, and a lack of centralized order. The ruling class, meanwhile, live in the compounds, where the environment is clean and prosperous, and people live well. The downside is that none of their human experience is authentic.

“Outside the OrganInc walls and gates and searchlights, things were unpredictable.

Inside, they were the way it used to be when Jimmy’s father was a kid, before things got so serious, or that’s what Jimmy’s father said. Jimmy’s mother said it was all artificial, it was just a theme park and you could never bring the old ways back” (27).

Just like in Cat’s Cradle, nothing is as it seems, which has a deleterious effect on society. If nothing is authentic, and everything is just a product of technology, then the more society loses touch with the natural world, themselves, and each other. In this world, the past has no value, and romantic love no purpose beyond instant gratification.

The only things with value are money and sex. As Jimmy/Snowman laments in the apocalyptic wasteland,

“When did the body first set out on its own adventures?...after having ditched its old travelling companions, the mind and the soul, for whom it had once been considered a mere corrupt vessel or else a puppet acting out their dramas for them, or else bad company, leading the other two astray…and it had dumped culture along with them: music and painting and poetry and plays. Sublimation, all of it; nothing but sublimation, according to the body. Why not cut to the chase?”

11 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

In Freudian terms, sublimation is “the diversion of the energy of a sexual or other biological impulse from its immediate goal to one of a more acceptable social, moral, or aesthetic nature or use” (“sublimation”). From Snowman’s perspective, sublimation serves as a form of kayfabe. All art, romance, and beauty are nothing but a useful artifice to give cover to humankind’s most base desires, or a sense of order to chaos. But as the world grew colder and more cynical, kayfabe was abandoned. People started “cutting to the chase,” which left less of a need for morality, norms, and civilization. In this world, it was the material that mattered most. The immaterial was merely superfluous.

This cynical view of the human condition is best exemplified by Crake, Jimmy’s best friend from childhood. About falling in love, Crake argued, “although it resulted in altered body chemistry and was therefore real, was a hormonally induced delusional state” (193). In other words, though love might be real in a technical sense, because it feels real, romance is nothing but a lie that human beings tell each other in order to make our biological imperatives seem more noble than they actually are. Crake has no need for kayfabe, because kayfabe is inefficient and imperfect. “Any objections to the process were purely aesthetic,” Crake says in response to Jimmy’s revulsion toward the Crakers eating caecotrophs (159). For Crake, eating caecotrophs was an elegant concept—and therefore good—because it makes maximum use out of food’s nutrients. The taste and appearance of food is irrelevant, because pleasure is beside the point, and merely a mechanism of biological drive.

Crake’s attitude toward life is thus antithetical to kayfabe in many ways. In pro wrestling, Crake would be known as a “smark,” or “smart mark;” a fan who is fully aware that the sport is choreographed, and who knows all the backstage, insider secrets,

12 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 while still appreciating the sport on both an analytic and aesthetic level. In a way, he is what Don DeLillo would describe as the “exemplary spectator.” Crake, who is characterized as a sociopath and genius, understands that the universe, which is largely made up of signs and symbols, is performative, and uses this secret knowledge as a way to manipulate others.

As I mentioned to before, this theme of reality versus artifice is a familiar trope of post-modern literature. Because of this, post-modern novels often exemplify the dystopic, and vice versa. This is illustrated not only in the theme of artifice being used to conceal reality, but in the theme of determinism versus free will. In a similar vein, post-modern literature and dystopic literature are both often concerned with humankind’s double- edged relationship with technology, which forms the conundrum of modern life. Just like in Oryx and Crake, technology has made everything possible (at least for those who can afford it). Humans live longer lives. They have all of the world’s knowledge at their fingertips, and there is never a lack of food or entertainment. Nor is there a hindrance upon space. A person could travel from one side of the world to the other in under a day.

Thus, modern life has become a virtual utopia—but with one glaring catch: because technology has become so thoroughly integrated into every aspect of society, humans can no longer survive without it. Instead of technology being the servant, it has become the master, removing all human agency.

In Cat’s Cradle, this theme of determinism starts with the narrator, Jonah, who, like his biblical namesake, gets tangled up in forces far beyond his control. After setting out to write a book about the day the United States dropped the atomic bomb on

Hiroshima, the narrator finds himself being pulled farther and farther away from home,

13 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

“compelled to be certain places at certain times” (1). At first, the quest appears to be of the narrator’s own design, but the further he gets in his journey, the less sure he becomes of his own free will. He eventually finds himself on the island of San Lorenzo, which is ruled over by President “Papa” Monzano, a brutal dictator who has acquired ice-nine, a doomsday weapon that turns water molecules frozen solid upon touch. It was invented by

Felix Hoenikker, one of the inventors of the atomic bomb. By the mysterious powers of zah-mah-ki-bo, or fate, it had fallen into the possession of “Papa” Monzano.

Though Felix Hoenikker never intended for ice-nine to become a destructive force, he also never considered the unintended consequences of his own creation. He thought he had control over his idea, and that his idea wouldn’t be coopted and turned against its creator, but this was just an illusion. It is a common sentiment in the West that all human beings have free will, and that every choice they make is a matter of personal agency, but, as Jonah discovered with the help of Bokonon, this is a delusion, or another instance of foma. But instead of a useful lie, this one is harmful. By keeping people from seeing the world as it really is, by concealing its true chaotic nature, it makes them reckless, or stuppas. It is in this way that Cat’s Cradle is exemplary of both post-modern and dystopic literature, with the illusion of free will being the common denominator.

In Oryx and Crake, this theme is best illustrated by the character of Crake. As the novel’s most cynical and most perceptive character, Crake is able to see through the performance of daily life and understand how value signs motivate people. Attributing any form of behavior to anything other than biological impulse is just a story that people tell each other in order to feel honorable and civilized. As Crake describes on page 120,

14 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

“Men can imagine their own deaths, they can see them coming, and the mere thought of impending death acts like an aphrodisiac….Take birds—in a lean season they cut down on the eggs, or they won't mate at all. They put their energy into staying alive themselves until times get better. But human beings hope they can stick their souls into someone else, some new version of themselves, and live on forever.”

In other words, it is self-preservation that is life’s core motive. But humans get things mixed up. By putting their faith in the myth of eternal return, they end up dooming themselves. To Crake, this demonstrates that there is free will. Humans are destined to destroy themselves. It’s all a matter of biological impulse, not logic, that determines a person’s best interests. Ironically, it is Crake who finally destroys humanity, by unleashing a plague that wipes out the population. It is a self-fulfilled prophecy of sorts.

While Crake was able to see through the kayfabe, he was not exempt from biological impulses. He was still driven by his own base desires; they just manifested differently. It was his ego that drove him to bring about a utopia—one, incidentally, that didn’t include human beings. He was a compulsive megalomaniac who wanted to win the game and solve the puzzle. Crake believed he saw through the delusions of life, though in reality, he was as programmed as anyone, which is appropriate for a character so often described as a computer.

In post-modernism, the inability to distinguish between what’s real and what’s unreal is sometimes known as hyperreality. In Simulacra and Simulations, Jean

Baudrillard writes,

15 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

“The objective profile of the United States, then, may be traced throughout Disneyland…

Disneyland is there to conceal the fact that it is the ‘real’ country, all of ‘real’ America, which is Disneyland…Disneyland is presented imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, when in fact all of Los Angeles and the America surrounding it are no longer real, but of the order of the hyperreal and of simulation. It is no longer a question of a false representation of reality (ideology), but of concealing the fact that the real is no longer real, and thus of saving the reality principle.” (370)

That is to say, by acknowledging its own artifice, Disneyland is obscuring the fact that reality isn’t “real” (or even “unreal”), which, in turn, gives reality its “realness.” It’s also interesting to note the relationship to ideology, which, too, is like a form of artifice or kayfabe. For instance, in the United States, people are not equal. But American ideology steps in and reaffirms the idea that they are. Because of this, Americans often consider the United States as being the freest country in the world. In fact, it is a fundamental tenant of American ideology. In reality the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the war on crime make the country considerably less free. Ideology masks reality, but hyperreality conceals the unreality of reality, or its simulation quality.

One example of hyperreality in fiction is Underworld, by Don DeLillo, which is best known as a work of post-modernism. At a subtextual level, it also evokes a profound sense of the dystopian. The novel is set in New York City, and like Thomas Pynchon’s

Bleeding Edge, it is about the way in which technological forces, namely the internet, transforms the way in which reality is experienced. This theme becomes perhaps most explicit in the last four pages of the book, when the point of view of the narrative shifts to an omniscient third-person perspective, one that inhabits the hive-like consciousness of 16 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 an Internet search engine. “There is no space or time out here, or in here…There are only connections. Everything is connected. All human knowledge gathered and linked, hyperlinked, this site leading to that, this fact referenced to that, a keystroke, a mouse- click, a password—world without end, amen” (825). Here, the narrator is alluding to the internet’s fractal-like structure design, but also the intertextuality and discursiveness that occurs within the novel. The novel juggles several different points of view and narratives at once, and not all of them progress linearly. Some narratives move both forward and backward, through multiple levels of time. The structure of it distorts the reader’s temporal experience, and creates a fourth dimension of sorts, in which several differing timelines merge into a single point, and form another abstract plane of meaning.

“Because everything connects in the end, or only seems to, or seems to only because it does” (465). In Underworld, there is a plot, but it becomes warped and difficult to recognize. Instead of relying on the cause and effect of plot, DeLillo relies on the lateral associations between objects and images to hold the discursive narrative in place and give it coherence.

For instance, the color orange is a major motif of the novel, appearing throughout in various forms. In one section, it appears as agent orange. In another, as an advertisement for orange juice. On page 465, Matt Shay wonders, “How can you tell the difference between orange juice and agent orange if the same massive system connects them at levels outside your comprehension?” Here he is showing an awareness of the imperceptible, complex forces that lay outside an individual’s control. In one sense, the passage is alluding to the system of late-capitalism, and how, within this system, human beings lack free will. Ultimately, their choices are determined by the forces of Them. In

17 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 another sense, this passage represents another example of meta commentary. What Matt

Shay is also alluding to is the invisible system of signs and symbols that gives order to the text, that unifies disparate part. He is pointing at the artifice that connects everything beneath the text—in the “underworld,” so to speak.

On a third level, this passage is alluding to the mandala-like form of hypertext, and how the internet, by further blurring the distinction between what is real (IRL) and what is simulation, has complicated the ways in which human beings experience the world. Toward the end of the novel, the omniscient narrator wonders, “Is cyberspace a thing within the world or is it the other way around? Which contains the other, and how can you tell for sure?” (826) This is once again alluding to the novel’s own structure. In terms of narrative plot, there is no single vanishing point, no totem to ground the reader’s perspective. Instead, the multiple narrative lenses operate like a tesseract, or a Russian nesting doll, making it impossible to tell where the center is. Like the internet,

“everything is connected in the end.”

Another novel that can be considered both a work of dystopian literature and post- modern literature is Octavia Butler’s Dawn. Not only does is its focus the theme of simulation versus reality, but also the theme of determinism versus free will. In the novel, a nuclear holocaust has devastated Earth, and a race of ancient extraterrestrial beings, called the Oankali, have rescued the humans who survived and brought them aboard their ship. The Oankali, who abhor violence and destruction, seek to protect all life, as well as to “trade” their genetic traits with the humans in order to diversify their species so that they will become more resilient and adaptable in the future. As one Oankali explains to

Lilith, the story’s protagonist and unwilling leader of the survivors, “We do what you

18 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 would call genetic engineering…We do it naturally. We must do it. It renews us, enables us to survive as an evolving species instead of specializing ourselves into extinction or stagnation” (39). The Oankali see such a trade as something that will ultimately benefit both sides, like mutual symbiosis. The humans get to live while the Oankali get to evolve.

It’s a win-win.

Moreover, while over-specialization is good for the individual, it’s bad for the species. In other words, the Oankali value collective wellbeing over individual wellbeing, which is different than what humans value. Humans are driven by ego and emotional impulse, and because of that they self-destruct. The Oankali’s view of life is much less myopic. They seek adaptability over the mere fulfillment of a function. They are still motivated by biological drives, but they act with an acute awareness of how their DNA has programmed them to be. They take an extremely long view on self-preservation, which is a logical approach. While the Oankali’s motives for saving the humans are not exactly altruistic, they are still benevolent creatures. They still value life in all of its forms.

From the humans’ perspective, this trade in genetics comes with a huge catch, one that ultimately thrusts the book into the realm of the dystopic. If the humans want to return to Earth, then they must interbreed with the Oankali and create a new hybrid species. So while the humans get to survive, the survival of humanity is left much more in doubt. Will the offspring between Oankali and humans still be human? And how much will the difference matter? As the Oankali see it, any objection to the trade is just ego. To them, they are offering the humans a chance at a utopia, to free themselves of their primitive attachment to hierarchy.

19 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

In reality, the humans are given almost no choice in the matter. They can either cooperate with the Oankali (by reproducing with them on Earth), or they can stay aboard the ship and become an Oankali family’s drugged-up pet. Or, as a last resort, they can be put back into a deep slumber. Either way, the humans are given virtually no freedom aboard the ship, not even Lilith, who the Oankali have chosen to lead the human survivors upon Earth. Lilith is allowed to roam the ship, but her travel is restricted to only certain parts. “She would fashion her extra jacket into a bag and put her lunch into it, then wander alone, eating and thinking. There was no real comfort in being alone with her thoughts, her memories, but somehow the illusion of freedom lessened her despair” (62).

The arrangement gives Lilith just enough hope to persist, even though she knows that it isn’t real. The kayfabe is enough.

Thus, Lilith, a supremely keen and self-aware character, is conscious of two things: that her perceived freedom is illusionary, and that the illusion comforts her psyche. Her freedom is fake, but the ability to make “choices,” even if an illusion, allows her to experience what it’s like to be human again as opposed to a caged animal. She gets to feel like an individual, if only momentarily. The Oankali, meanwhile, are fully aware of this human need, how humans turn violent without it. The Oankali give Lilith the feeling of control, but it’s only the simulation of control. Still, it’s enough to earn her cooperation.

Simulations are apparent throughout Dawn. For instance, the food aboard the ship appears to be the food from planet Earth, when in actuality, it has been replicated by the made of living, organic material. Meanwhile, the “training floor,” where the humans prepare for their trip to Earth, appears to be an authentic Amazonian jungle, but in reality,

20 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 it is just another replication produced by the ship. The jungle smells like a jungle, feels like a jungle, and sounds like a jungle, but it has been created through artificial means.

When Nikanj, a young Oankali, gives Lilith the opportunity to kill herself, she feels as though she makes her own choice, but in actuality, Nikanj knew what she would choose all along. The Oankali have copious amounts of information about her, including her

DNA. They knew Lilith had a strong will to live and was a survivor. They knew there was virtually no chance she would kill herself.

But while the Oankali are correct in their assessment that humans need to feel control in order to survive, they assume incorrectly that the simulation aboard the ship will pacify the humans forever. As Lilith says to Nikanj about the other humans, “Illusion doesn’t comfort them for long. It just confuses them, helps them make dangerous mistakes. I had begun to wonder myself where we really were” (235). She knows that her fellow human captives long for something of genuine substance, something that is real and which they can understand. They need to make sense of what doesn’t make sense

(such as living aboard an alien ship and being coerced into creating a new hybrid species). She also knows, because the Oankali have told her, that the need for hierarchy is encoded in human DNA. So while the Oankali are able to pacify the humans for a time, the artifice doesn’t last, and eventually the humans react with primitive violence.

In regards to my creative dissertation, titled Underground Wrestling Alliance, these themes found in dystopic literature and post-modern literature are relevant in several ways. Since the book is about pro wrestling in the dystopic age, kayfabe is an important concept both literally and thematically. In pro wrestling, the tension between the real and the fake is what immerses the viewer in the spectacle. The wrestling is

21 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 choreographed (fake), but it is also painful on the bodies and requires genuine skill to pull off on a convincing level (real). Matches are predetermined (fake), but their individual spots are improvised (real). Wrestlers have personas (fake), but their personas are composites of their own personalities (real). They cut scripted promos (fake), but much of their material is drawn from their actual lives (real). They know the championship belt doesn’t actually mean anything (fake), but they want them around their waists anyway

(real). The audience knows that the matches are predetermined (fake), but are still surprised by the outcome (real). And so on. It is this friction between fantasy and reality that is at the heart of performance, forming the bond between wrestler and spectator alike.

More specifically, Underground Wrestling Alliance is about a group of teenage friends who start their own wrestling promotion in a dystopic, post-apocalyptic universe, becoming hugely popular in the process. The story takes place in a world ravaged by climate change, where most of the Earth’s surviving population has migrated to the

“Sarcos,” a network of metropolis-sized domes that have been constructed across the northern hemisphere. Made out of a dense, fungal material, the Sarcos have been cellularly engineered to provide shelter from the hostile environment, trap carbon, and extract water from the air. The protagonists, meanwhile, live in the underground city of

Atlantis, which was built shortly before the Sarcos. Feeling disconnected from the rest of the world, and aware that nothing they experience is authentic, the kids grow obsessed with recreating an old and forgotten art form that they’ve recently discovered on an old computer: pro wrestling.

At first, the friends work blindly, trying to imitate what they’ve seen in the videos. But when Ultimo Hombre, a 140-year-old wrestler long thought to be dead,

22 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 suddenly appears in their lives, everything changes. He begins mentoring the teens, giving them the knowledge and expertise they need to become serious practitioners of the art. He teaches them about the code of wrestling, about the importance of kayfabe and workmanship. With his help, the teens begin putting on wrestling shows, which brings out people from all over Atlantis. Eventually, the friends learn how to record their shows, and later how to transmit them to the above-ground world, making them famous in places they know nothing about. Eventually, they learn how to transmit their videos to the

Sarcos, too (though it’s unclear how they’re received since no one has communicated with the Sarcos in over a hundred years).

Obviously, the work of Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and Kurt Vonnegut helped shape these ideas in many ways. In Butler’s Dawn, I was inspired by the role of genetic engineering, how it was incorporated as both a plot device and subject. The

Oankali use biotechnology because it’s an efficient means of production. Their ship, for instance, is made out of a type of living material that can be manipulated to perform specific tasks. When Lilith asks Jdhaya if it’s intelligent, Jdhaya answers, “It can be. That part is dormant now. But even so, the ship can be chemically induced to perform more functions than you would have the patience to listen to…There is an affinity [between us], but it’s biological—a strong, symbiotic relationship” (33).

In Underground Wrestling Alliance, the people of Atlantis and the city in which they live have a similar relationship. Atlantis helps the residents survive by sheltering them from the devastation of the above-ground world, while the residents keep Atlantis functioning by performing the specific jobs and roles that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Some residents are charged with tending the modified algae

23 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 that provides the city’s oxygen, while others are charged with documenting the city’s historical record. The residents benefit from Atlantis, while Atlantis benefits from its residents.

And though Atlantis isn’t alive in the same way that the Sarcos are, it still provides the important function of simulating reality. For instance, a solar simulator at

Center Circle provides artificial sunlight in order to boost serotonin levels. Most of the food is made from a type of seaweed that is grown hydroponically. Meanwhile, residents are encouraged to find meaning in the roles that Atlantis’ founder has assigned them to play. Since they have no connection to the natural world above, their only points of reference come from the books and computers that have miraculously been maintained and preserved (or brought down by scavengers). In the underground world of Atlantis, the above-ground world exists only in words and symbols, making it as artificial as

Atlantis itself. As in Oryx and Crake, their subterranean lives become nothing more than a simulation of a long lost past.

For the protagonists of the Underground Wrestling Alliance, this is not enough.

They search for meaning in other ways, and ultimately find it in pro wrestling. By involving the audience in the performance of the spectacle, pro wrestling unifies the people of Atlantis and, in the process, reshapes their collective identities. As Janina

Möbius writes about lucha libra fandom in Mexico City, which has traditionally comprised of the working class since the 1940s, “In a city of more than twenty-two million inhabitants, marked by insecurity and violence, lucha libre may serve as a ritual and a collective catharsis, able to channel the aggressions accumulated in a complicated, unfair and fragile life, making them visible and defusing them through the application of

24 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 rules” (73). In this way, pro wrestling has the capacity to act as a mirror for the audience, reflecting back an image of themselves in conflict with the world. Though the image is fake, it represents something greater, something mythological and heroic. It is through this form of kayfabe that the protagonists of Underground Wrestling Alliance discover something true and authentic. By putting on large, thrilling wrestling shows, they give

Atlantis both a sense of self and history. There becomes a greater sense of purpose than just survival.

Thus, pro wrestling is fitting subject matter for the dystopian genre, since it inherently involves power struggle. There is the power struggle that takes place in the arena, and the power struggle that takes place backstage in the writer’s room. There are also the power struggles that take place away from the shows, in the real lives of the performers, which are complicated and messy. Thus it was my intention to give the universe of Underground Wrestling Alliance a vast cast of characters, even if they only show up in these pages briefly. Like a post-modern tomb, pro wrestling emphasizes plurality. They feature large casts, and involve many people in the show’s production.

There are stage crews, managers for the wrestlers backstage. There are ticket-takers and referees. There are the families of the performers, some relegated to the margins, others who become a part of the show. A wrestling promotion is never about one man or woman, though there is always a champion who lords over the rest. Still, it lacks any single protagonist, since there will always be new champions.

Though I admire several of the novels on my book list that juggle a large number of perspectives, such as Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead, Roberto Bolaño’s

2666, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, I feel that graphic literature is the best

25 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 way to efficiently convey large amounts of information to the reader, as well as to keep the reader located within a complex world. The form feels appropriate for the narrative shape, but it also feels appropriate for the subject matter. Pro wrestling is a visually appealing art form. There is gracefulness and artistry in the moves, something pleasing about the physics and geometry: the arc of a moonsault, the symmetry of a Boston crab, the angle of a bridge. A wrestling show is also bright and vivid, like any spectacle.

Wrestlers wear colorful masks and costumes, and walkout from behind the curtains to fireworks and lasers. Wrestlers wear symbols to identify themselves, and make use of physical gestures in order to signal action and reinforce character. This can be conveyed through a written narrative, of course, but images make a stronger and more lasting impression upon the senses. An image, when observed, travels directly to the central nervous system, unlike written language which does so via an intermediary. Images impress upon the viewer on an unconscious level; something that propagandists and advertisers have long understood.

In pro wrestling, the image controls everything. Through unspoken acts of language, fans are emotionally manipulated into jeering the heel or cheering the babyface. A skilled wrestler thus understands how crowd psychology operates and uses it to their advantage. They know what the crowd wants, even when the crowd doesn’t. For those who watch at home, there is an added layer of interpretation—or another text—in how the announcers frame what’s happening in the ring. They provide commentary, skewing the viewers judgement. I believe the form of graphic literature—which is the conscious arrangement of text and imagery—is the best means of capturing the dynamic interplay of pro wrestling.

26 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

What further makes graphic literature an appropriate form is its capacity for reflecting the interior lives of characters, which gives the genre part of its literariness. In a written narrative, a sense of emotional and psychological depth is achieved through the combination of tone and point of view, as well as by the movement between the external and internal, which typically goes unnoticed by the reader. Such emotional depth can be conveyed on an intimate level or from a distance, but it is present nonetheless, charging the events of the page with meaning and significance. In graphic literature, this type of depth is achieved through different but related means. A language to itself, graphic literature is comprised of two parts: the artwork and the text. Each piece of work goes about interiority in its own way, but it usually involves some aspect of juxtaposition and arrangement.

In Scott McCloud’s seminal work, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, he writes, “Writing and drawing are seen as separate disciplines, writers and artists as separate breeds—and ‘good’ comics as those in which the combination of these very different forms of expression is thought to be harmonious. But just how ‘different’ are they? Words, pictures and other icons are the vocabulary of the language comics” (47).

From McCloud’s point of view, the work of the artist and writer is similar in that both use language as the medium. The artist just happens to represent language pictorially, as pictures are words. Charles Burns demonstrates this well in Black Hole, a graphic novel that does a superb job of conveying the interior lives of its characters. One way it does this is through the use of dialogue and the voice of the narrator. Another way is through the artwork itself, namely by skewing the lines of the ink, avoiding color, and symbolism.

27 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

The book is about a small town where a sexually transmitted disease is causing teens to physically mutate. The townspeople refer to it as “the Bug,” and those who contract are ostracized and forced to live in the forest. Meanwhile, those who have not contracted it are inflicted with boredom and malaise, and spend much of their free time partying. Characters experience internal turmoil throughout the graphic novel, which the artist conveys through the careful arrangement of words and artwork. This can be clearly seen in the opening scene of the book, when Keith, the story’s protagonist, passes out in biology class while dissecting a frog.

Figure 1. Wave Effect

28 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

What is most striking about this page is the wave effect that is created by the lines of the shadows. It isn’t exactly an optical illusion, but it gives movement. As Scott

McCloud argues, “The idea that a picture can evoke an emotional or sensual response in the viewer is vital to the art of comics” (121). The lines give a sense of energy and menace to the page. Without reading the captions, the viewer is able to conclude that the sight of the split open frog has disturbed Keith, who is looking down over it. In the background of the bottom panel, the gridded lines of the ceiling tiles make the moment even more fraught. Resembling the bars of a cage, they evoke a feeling of isolation and oppressiveness. The waves move, but the bars do not, creating an emotional contrast.

The captions work to convey the narrator’s internal thoughts, though the narrator is looking back from the future, and relaying this information from a distance. He tells the story from a time after the incident, giving the moment an added sense of perspective.

The narrator describes the feeling of a “premonition,” as though he “was looking into the future.” Juxtaposed against the gridded lines, it conveys the sense that the narrator knows this moment is something he cannot escape from. The shadows on his face seem to radiate, his expression grim. Whatever Keith is internally feeling in these panels, or experiencing, the imagery seems to suggest that it is someway related to his adolescent desires. Subtext is made by way of juxtaposition. It expresses what can’t be merely expressed by words.

This thematic technique is at work all the way throughout the novel. On one hand, it gives the novel cohesion and unity. On the other hand, it creates subtext and emotional resonance.

29 Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Figure 2. Symbolism

These three pages, taken from different parts of the book, feature the same visual pattern: a manifestation of a slit, which again evokes sex. The first two of these pages depict a dream that the protagonist has. The reader is able to tell this because the lines of the gutters (the space between the panels) are wavy, which is consistent with the lines of the shadow. This gives access to the character’s unconscious mind, informing the reader in a way that the characters can’t consciously express. What is happening to this narrator internally is something existential. In the panel on the very right, the character is depicted as having a tear in her skin. This takes place in the “real” world of the narrative, which the artist signals by drawing the lines of the straight. The sheets, meanwhile, are drawn with the same wavy lines that create movement within the page. The black and white color, which is consistent throughout the novel, creates a mood of bleakness and forebodingness. 30

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

There is also the realism of the artwork to consider, how it conveys information to the reader directly, as opposed to having them interpret abstract symbols. As Scott

McCloud writes, “When pictures are more abstracted from ‘reality,’ they require greater levels of perception, more like words. When words are bolder, more direct, they require lower levels of perception and are received faster, more like pictures” (49). Thus the artwork of Black Hole imparts a dense level information, as the details of the page are rendered much more specific, especially when compared to a graphic novel like Jimmy

Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. This is especially seen in the artwork at the beginning of part two:

Figure 3. Visual Exposition

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

There are no words on this page, but the artwork renders a high degree of verisimilitude, which allows the author to impart a lot of information about the narrative moment, the setting, and the subject’s emotional state, all in a short amount of space The first thing to notice is the expression on her face. She’s asleep, but there a slight look of anguish. She’s curled up in a bed that’s too small, and from the flaps at the top of the page, it appears that she’s sleeping inside of a tent. She isn’t camping though. One could tell that from all the books she has with her, or the wooden boxes she’s using as furniture.

Whatever is going on with her, she has been living in this tent for a long time. There is an ashtray full of cigarette butts, which indicates boredom or anxiety. There is also a gun right next to her, signaling that she feels threatened or is in danger. Meanwhile, the lines of the shadows produce waves, while the S’s at the top of the page hiss. It all work together to produce a highly ominous image, one that conveys what can’t be seen, namely the emotional and psychological state of the subject.

Obviously, in terms of my creative dissertation, I am merely the writer, or plotter.

I compose the dialogue, arrange the events, sequence the hypothetical images, envision the action, but I am in no way capable of rendering the actual images and events themselves. Which is a problem. I can only give a sense of my vision through words. In order to signal the emotional and psychological state of my characters, I have to either imply it through dialogue (as one would in fiction or playwriting) or describe it explicitly it in the panel descriptions. While writing my script, I never felt as though I were writing images, but rather descriptions of potential images. Or a set of blueprints that no one would ever read except for the potential artist (and my committee, of course). Thus, it made for a different set of priorities in my writing process. What I aimed to do was to

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 establish a language—or a set of rules—that would communicate my vision to the artist in the most effective way possible, while also allowing for flexibility. One way I attempted to do this was by being as plainspoken as possible, and by avoiding ambiguity and figurative language. Another way was by incorporating the language of cinematography, so that the artist can better understand how I imagine the vantage point.

Some of the cinematographic terms I borrowed include: the full shot, the medium shot, the low angle shot, the high angle shot, and the close-up. The full shot (also known as the far shot or wide shot) is when the subject of the scene is shot fully, from head to toe (“Acting Tips”). This kind of shot has more space in it, which gives the writer/director an opportunity to include more details about the setting or peripheral action. A medium shot is when the subject is shot from the waist up. It is also known as a medium close-up, and is a useful way to convey facial expressions and body language during scenes of dialogue. An aerial shot, as the name suggests, is shot from the air, and like the establishing shot, helps establish setting and location. A low angle shot is shot from a low point and is angled up at the characters, while a high angle shot is shot from a high point and is angled down at the characters. I used these terms intuitively while writing my dissertation, in accordance with the way I saw the scenes unfolding in my head. I also aimed to create enough variety and rhythm so that the viewer (or even visual artist) wouldn’t get bored. The more I wrote, the more I started to understand the particular advantages of each shot, though there is still much more to learn in terms of visual perspective.

This move to cinematographic language was partly inspired by the first volume of

Saga, which helpfully includes a section of the script that Brian K. Vaughn wrote for the

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 first issue. “Cut to this close-up of THE WILL, being his usual stoic and unsmiling self,” he writes, describing how he imagines the first panel of the page. Of the second panel, he writes, “Pull out to the largest panel of the page for a big establishing shot, so we can see that The Will is standing next to LYING CAT in front of the hostesses and their large

‘entry hole’ to the planet. We don’t need to see anyone else on this stretch of the planet’s smooth surface” (467). What Vaughn is signaling to the artist, Fiona Staples, is the movement of the “camera lens.” In the first panel, the camera starts out close to The

Will’s face, the sole subject of the frame. In panel two, the camera pulls out to a far distance, creating what’s known as an “establishing shot,” which, according to Jason

Hellerman, is a “wide shot that helps the viewer gain knowledge over the time and location of a scene,” which “work[s] as a shorthand for filmmakers to communicate ideas to the audience without confusing them” (3). What Vaughn is signaling is what the perspective should be, both literally—in the sense that he’s describing the direction point of the image—and figuratively—in the sense that he’s describing how much information to give the reader. The first panel locates the main subject of the scene and gives him a sense of his character, while the second panel informs the reader about the settings and narrative expectations.

Not all of Vaughn’s script is quite this prescriptive, however. For the description of the third panel, he writes, “And this is a nice shot of The Will scratching the back of

Lying Cat’s neck.” Obviously, “a nice shot” is quite vague, which shows the writer’s confidence and familiarity with his collaborator. In the interview that accompanies the script, Vaughn says about the labor of the visual artist, “Every page of comic script represents at least a day of an artist’s life, so I try to make sure that each page has at least

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 one large ‘anchor image’ that will hopefully be interesting to slave over for a bit. I like to give Fiona as much information about what I’m imagining, but also the complete freedom to deviate from my descriptions anytime” (465). Clearly, my own circumstances are different, as I don’t yet have a visual artist to work with. Collaboration is purely hypothetical, so my strategy has been to impart as much of my vision as possible, without assuming that a visual artist will simply step in and create a “nice shot.” At the same time, I believe it’s a good idea to be flexible in terms of a script.

One example of this would be in the first pages of chapter two, where I try to impart as much information about the time period as possible. The time period precedes the Sarcos and Atlantis, and is set before the climate crisis has reached its tipping point and before the mass migration begins. In giving the reader this information, I’m narrating a story visually, which helps the reader make implicit connections about what happened in between the specific time period of this chapter and the current story of the main narrative which is 50 years later. At the same time, I was trying to center pro wrestling as the book’s main subject early on. I also wanted to give the reader enough information to be able to later infer that Z’s grandfather is the boy who travels to downtown Phoenix to see his father (The Survivor) wrestle.

For example, in panel three, page thirty-four, I write:

“Zoom out again. Establishing shot. The bed is empty. The sheets are a mess. A clock on the bedside table reads 2:35 p.m. It is dark in the room. There is wrestling memorabilia scattered everywhere. In the corner sits a desk and computer. On the floor are several pro wrestler action figures, a miniature wrestling ring, and a bop bag with Ultimo Hombre’s

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 likeness on it. On a bookshelf are wrestling trophies. It should be clear to the reader that this bedroom belongs to a wrestling fanatic.”

The first thing I signal to the artist is the framing of the shot. The camera is moving away from the poster on the wall that depicts The Survivor and Ultimo Hombre, two characters who have a large presence throughout the narrative. The wide lens is meant to give the artist room to include several different objects, each of them serving a different purpose. The alarm clock is to show that it’s the afternoon, which adds mystery as to why the apartment is dark. The wrestling paraphernalia, as the panel suggests, is to indicate the fanatical nature of the occupant, while foreshadowing, or echoing, what is to come later in the main narrative.

In the next panel description, it states, “Next: a short sequence of panels that depicts the other rooms in the house: a mother asleep in her bed, a little girl asleep in hers, a dog in its crate.” This description is spare, but its purpose is to signal that it’s not just dark in the apartment, but that they’ve turned the day into the night. This is to help define the setting, that the world has become so hot that people only going outside at night.

On the next page, it reads:

“Cut to the boy, standing in front of the refrigerator with a backpack open. The camera is to his left; a side shot. The boy is to the left of the panel, while the refrigerator is to the right. The boy looks 13 years-old; a tween. He has a thin frame and pale skin. He is wearing a luminescent, all-white suit. The fabric covers him from the chin down, its material both porous and reflective. A white mask and a pair of goggles sit on the floor

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 next to him. The light from the fridge is bright, reflecting off of his suit. He is filling his backpack with small canisters of water” (35).

This description does a few things. It signals to the reader that the boy is getting ready to leave the house, setting expectations for what’s to come, and creating a sense of urgency. It also gives more information about the rules of the fictional universe. It is so hot outside that the boy can’t leave the apartment without a full-body, reflective suit.

Moreover, the imagery signals that the boy is traveling somewhere far away since he’s packing supplies. It’s also clear that he’s leaving without his mother or sister’s knowledge, signaling danger.

Obviously, my panel descriptions are hardly maximalist, and leave a lot of room for the artist’s own interpretation. I can’t possibly describe every single detail in every single panel, as one would be able to in narrative prose, without making the script cumbersome and difficult to read. I see my role as providing the narrative blueprints, rather than being the sole visionary. If the visual artist has a good idea about how to render the underground city of Atlantis, or the fungal-like walls of the Sarcos, or how to create a better point of view for the shot, than I’m willing to incorporate it into the project. Whoever I work with, I hope that the process is collaborative. I embrace that part of the endeavor; loosening my ego and inviting collective judgement about what’s best for the project.

Lastly, there are important decisions for me to make about the style of the artwork, or the level of realism that it will depict. Should the characters be rendered in cartoonishly? If so, how would that change the mood of the narrative? Would it undermine the book’s seriousness? Or could it help make for a faster production process? 37

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

On the other hand, is a high-degree of verisimilitude more appropriate? Especially for a story about people in search of tangible meaning? Realism could help make the action of the script more thrilling and engaging, and help catch the reader’s attention.

However, when looking at today’s political landscape, and world’s absurdity, it’s hard not to feel that caricature and the grotesque are more appropriate ways to go.

America is currently led by a game-show-host-turned-cult-leader, while mainstream media conglomerates are able to convince well-meaning people that it is a handful of arsonists who are responsible for lighting fire to the entire continent of Australia. To represent the world of the Underground Wrestling Alliance as “realistic” would, to me, be representing the dystopian in an inauthentic way. Like pro wrestling, there is a layer of unreality to the dystopian, something exaggerated and imposing, which in turn gives it its realness. To depict it as real, or as having a high degree of verisimilitude, might be giving it a medium that didn’t reflect the content. It might resemble the world of our own, but it would not accurately capture the moment of our time.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Works Cited

“Acting Tips: 12 Camera Shots Every Actor Should Know.” New York Film Academy, 5 Mar 2015, https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/12-most-popular-camera- shots-actors-should-know. Accessed 20 February 2020. Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Doubleday, 2003.

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Hill and Wang, 2012.

Baudrillard, Jean. “Simulacra and Simulations.” Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivken. Ryan. Blackwell Publishing, 1998, pp. 365-377. Burns, Charles. Black Hole. New York, Pantheon Books, 2005.

Butler, Octavia. Dawn. New York, Warner Books, 1987.

DeLillo, Don. Underworld. New York, Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1997.

“dystopia.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam Webster, 2020, https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/dystopia. Accessed 24 February 2020. Fitzpatrick, David. “Moving the Border.” Manzanillo Sun, 1 Dec. 2011, https://www.manzanillosun.com/moving-the-borders-part-2/#. Accessed 20 February 2020. “Full text of Dick Cheney’s speech.” The Guardian, 27 Apr. 2002, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/27/usa.iraq. Accessed 20 February 2020. McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York, William Morrow, 1993. Mobiüs, Janina. “Wrestling for Their Lives.” Artes de Mexico, no. 119, 2015, pp. 72-74. Orwell, George. 1984. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Rogers, Nick. “How Wrestling Explains Alex Jones and Donald Trump.” The New York Times, 25 Apr. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/opinion/wrestling- explains-alex-jones-and-donald-trump.html. Accessed 20 February 2020. Rosenberg, Matthew and Julie Hirschfeld Davis. “With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift.” The New York Times, 21 Jan. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing- inauguration-crowd-size.html. Accessed 20 February 2020. “sublimation.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2020, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sublimation?s=t. Accessed 24 February 2020.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Suskind, Ron. “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush.” The New York Times, 17 Oct. 2004, https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/faith- certainty-and-the-presidency-of-george-w-bush.html. Accessed 20 February 2020. “Transcript of White House press secretary statement to the media.” Politico, 21 Jan. 2017, https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/transcript-press-secretary-sean- spicer-media-233979. Accessed 20 February 2020. Vaugh, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga. Berkeley, Image Comics, Inc., 2014. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle. Dial Press, 1963.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

UNDERGROUND WRESTLING ALLIANCE

Chapter 1

Home Defense (2084)

Page One

1. Splash page: an establishing shot of the desolate Texas plains. The light is a dark orange, giving the dirt a reddish tint. High above blazes a fiery, yellow sun. Off on the horizon are the GeoCombs (known colloquially as the Sarcos), one of the domed cities that millions migrated to decades before. The GeoCombs are made entirely from an organic, sponge-like material, and look something like a gigantic, amorphous blob of congealed fungi. The GeoCombs span hundreds of miles, though from the perspective of this panel, it’s not as yet apparent. In the panel’s foreground, the silhouette of a large, hulking man is walking away from them, across the plains, toward the viewer. His head slouches forward, and he looks ready to collapse.

2. Zoom in on the hulking man. A side shot, with his wrestling boots being the focus of the panel. They are worn and ragged, but laced up tightly. There is a bent to his knees, his posture sagging.

3. Zoom out. A medium shot from a high angle. The light has darkened, but the viewer can still see the vague outline of his mask, which is purple and green, with black trim around the eyes and mouth. He is Ultimo Hombre, and he’s over one-hundred years old.

4. Zoom in again. A close shot that centers the hulking man’s lower torso. He takes two more steps, leaning forward.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

5. Zoom in. A wide shot. The panel should be narrow and the width of the page, in order to capture his collapse into the dirt.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Zoom out. A high, aerial shot. The sun has disappeared. The sky is dark. The man is still lying in the dirt, motionless.

2. Zoom in. A large, deformed rattlesnake slithers by and brushes up against his mask.

3. Zoom in again. A close-up of his face. His eyelids are closed.

4. The camera begins to move downward, while still keeping level with the ground. The top of the panel depicts Ultimo Hombre lying in the dirt, while the middle and bottom half begin to depict the many layers of the earth underneath. This is to indicate that we’re starting to go down below the earth.

5. Another panel of the layered earth, indicating movement.

6. The top half of this panel depicts the earth, while the bottom of the panel depicts the ceiling of a wide tunnel.

7. The camera has fully descended to the underground city below. It is a full shot of the tunnel. On the horizon sits the curve of a wall bending to the right. The walls are smooth, and are made of small subsections of reinforced fibercrete, creating grid lines. In large, yellow letters, it reads ATLANTIS.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Zoom out. The end of the tunnel grows smaller, with the height and length of the walls becoming more apparent. A row of LED lights flicker overhead, while two smaller rows, on the left and right sides of the wall, lead all the way down to the end.

2. Zoom in. There is a person running down the tunnel. It is a close-up of their shoes, which are ragged and barely holding together. He is not wearing socks and has scabby knees.

3. Zoom out. An establishing shot that takes up at least half of the page. The boy running past is a teenager, and he’s leading a group of children down the tunnel. The angle of the shot is from his side, with the children trailing close behind him. The boy in the front is a little older than the rest, sixteen or so. For now, we will refer to him as The Leader. The rest of the children look to be around twelve to fifteen-years of age. There are seven in all. Their clothes are ragged. Their clothes are too big. The girls have matted, wild hair.

All of them are thin. They have fierce eyes that defy their age. The children are armed, too. One girl carries a sock loaded with a cue ball, while a boy toward the front clutches a shiv. Another, toward the middle, has a baseball bat. The smallest boy, who trails farthest toward the back, wields a broken hockey stick. They look ready to rumble.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. Zoom in. A close-up of a puddle on the ground. The water reflects the word ATLANTIS,

which appears backwards.

2. Same perspective. A drip of water lands on the puddle, creating a ripple.

3. Same perspective. The Leader’s ragged shoes splashes the puddle.

4. Zoom out. In the foreground: an over-the-shoulder shot of The Leader peeking around a

corner. In the background: the tunnels run perpendicular, like a T.

5. The camera cuts to a shot of The Leader from the front. The children are crowded behind

him.

6. Zoom out. A mid-aerial shot. The Leader has walked out into the tunnel, and is waving

for the children to follow.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. Zoom out. The shot is from behind the children, as they make their way down the tunnel.

2. Cut to another aerial shot. This one is angled to show the tunnel’s depth. This part of the tunnel is only partially lit. Many of the LEDs having burned out. The end is shrouded in darkness. The boy towards the back is looking behind him.

3. Zoom out. It’s the exact same image, but transposed onto a computer screen.

VOICE [off panel]: They’re getting close, boss.

4. Cut to Sarid sitting in front of the computer, mouse in hand. The shot is from the front, as if Sarid is looking at the viewer. Dreng stands behind him to his left, while Z stands to his right. They are all teenagers. Dreng is tall and powerfully built. He stands with his arms crossed, which shows off the muscles in his forearms. He wears a tank top and has close-cropped hair, as if in the military. The look on his face is sober and serious. Sarid, on the other hand, is slender, his muscles taut and wiry. His skin is dark and he has large puffy bags under his eyes. He has curly black hair and a thin, barely visible mustache.

“Z” is short for Zacharia. He’s shorter than Dreng, and leaner. He has wiry muscles, similar to Sarid. He has short hair, though not as short as Dreng’s. His skin is pale.

SARID: Almost to the thoroughfare.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. Zoom out again. An establishing shot of the room, up from a high angle. The panel should take up a majority of the page. Near the top left corner of the panel are Sarid,

Dreng, and Z. Behind them, toward the center of the panel, is the rest of the Home

Defense team. They are all from Quad 3 (a specific quadrant of Atlantis), and are preparing for the oncoming assault in different ways: Ava is stretching by the wall, while her brother Reece is putting on body armor. Her other brother, Alfonso, a giant of a boy, is on the wrestling mat, being flipped over by Penny, who is only half his size. The walls of the room are a dark maroon. The room looks like it may have once been an office. The interior design is modern, standing in contrast to the industrial design of the tunnels.

Z: Just look at them. They’re ready to hurt us. They’re ready to bring pain.

SARID: Fifteen minutes until arrival.

2. Cut back to the three boys by the computer terminal. It is an over-the-shoulder shot, from behind them. There are several computers screens, each with a different camera feed.

DRENG: They’re just kids.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Medium shot of Z. He is lifting up his arm, showing an old injury.

Z: Yeah. Feral kids. Who bite like hell. And now they’re bringing weapons? I don’t get where they keep coming from.

2. Zoom out. Medium shot of Sarid and Z. Z rubs his arm.

SARID: I think they’re coming from Camelot.

Z: That’s…impossibly north.

DRENG: But how? Lost contact with them years ago. I think they’re sneaking in.

3. Zoom out. Same angle, but with Dreng having turned around to gauge the room.

Z: Above Grounders? It can’t be. Can it? Then again, just look how scary they look…

DRENG: They look hungry, actually. Starving even.

SARID: We’ll be fine as long as we stick to the training.

4. Close-up of Z.

Z: But what happens after they grow up? What then? You think they’ll let us live?

5. Zoom out. Dreng has stood up from his chair to address the room, but not before stopping to glare at Z, who is looking at the computer.

DRENG: Attention people! Is everyone ready?

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. Over the shoulder shot from behind Sarid. Penny has Alfonso in a tight chinlock. She wears a tank top and is tattooed all over. Alfonso is flailing his arms, trying to break free.

PENNY: Absofuckinglutely!

2. Z turns his head and looks at Dreng, who is looking adoringly at Penny. Z recognizes it and frowns.

3. Full shot of Alfonso slapping the map, with Penny on top of him, grinning maliciously.

ALFONSO: [in a font that indicates his voice is croaky] Get the fuck…off me…

4. Penny lets go and shoves his head on the mat dismissively.

PENNY: Can only speak for myself, though. Al’s looking a little slower than usual.

Might be a liability.

5. Alfonso is on his knees and clutching his throat.

ALFONSO: [croaky font] bitch…

6. Penny, walking away from him, steps on his fingers.

7. Alfonso collapses to the mat, clutching his hand.

ALFONSO: AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Cut back to the boys by the computer. Dreng is looking around the room, his hands on his hips. Z leans over Sarid’s shoulder to get a better look at the computer monitor.

SARID: We need to start moving. Ferals are almost to the gate.

DRENG: Al? You all right over there?

ALFONSO: [off panel] Nnnggggghhhh…

2. Zoom in. Z squints his eyes and points.

Z: This shit will never end, will it? We’ll stretch them out, beat them back, and then in a few months they’ll just come back again. It’s just so damn predictable. I hate it.

3. Zoom out. Dreng looks back at Z.

DRENG: It’s what we train for every day.

Z: Exactly. Every day.

4. Full shot of them looking at the computer screen, with the camera behind them. Sarid sits in the center, with Dreng to his right and Z to his left. The terminal has twelve computer screens in all, with the largest at the bottom. Each shows a different area of the tunnels.

DRENG: We don’t have a choice. No telling anymore, never mind Quad 8.

Z: They scrap and talk shit. They don’t care about Home Defense. They’re just stupid.

There aren’t any parents in their quad anymore.

DRENG: They’re poisoning the residents. I don’t like it.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Zoom in. Full shot of Z and Dreng. Z holds up his hands and shrugs.

Z: So…are we?

DRENG: Not the same. Our products are made with natural materials. They don’t.

Telling you, Quad 8 is dangerous.

Z: Maybe they’re not?

DRENG: Have you talked to them? Have you ever actually interacted?

2. Zoom in. Medium shot of Sarid at the computer. The camera is to his side. He is pointing at a screen high up.

SARID: Shut up, both of you. Look, they’re closing in on the pantry. Won’t be long.

3. Zoom out. Penny has walked up behind them. She’s taping up her hands and wrists with black tape.

PENNY: What’s going on? What are they doing?

4. Z and Dreng both turn around. Penny is looking at her wrists.

Z: Hey, looking sharp out there.

PENNY: Ha! Please. Alfonso’s a total joke. Moves like a slug.

5. Zoom in. Medium shot of Dreng and Penny.

DRENG: You be careful out there, okay? One of them brought a shiv.

PENNY: Weapons of deadly force? Great! I could use the challenge…

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Zoom out. Dreng, Penny, and Z stand next to each other.

Z: That’s what I’ve been saying!

DRENG: What? You were just complaining about being bit.

2. Zoom in on Dreng and Z. Z looks annoyed.

Z: I’m bored! I want something different!

DRENG: You’re just scared.

3. Close-up of Z. He points his finger at Dreng, angrily.

Z: I am not scared. I just want it to mean something if I get hurt. And right now it doesn’t mean anything.

4. Zoom out. Dreng, Z, and Penny are all in the panel again. Dreng is pointing a finger back at Z. Penny is holding her hands up.

PENNY: Children, c’mon. Focus.

DRENG: Home Defense doesn’t mean anything? Really, Z? Really? How many times do we have to go through this? If you want to quit, just quit!

Z: I’m just saying that life could be a little better.

DRENG: When was last time you’ve been to Center Circle? Huh? Maybe life isn’t miraculous down here, but it’s not bad either. It’s certainly better than what it was like after the seal broke. At least our people aren’t afraid anymore. That’s meaningful.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Medium shot of Penny pointing up at the screen.

PENNY: Shut the fuck up. The ferals are getting close. We let them go any longer and they’ll be in our food supplies.

2. Dreng walks over to the rest of group. It is a low-angle shot. To the left of the frame is the back of Dreng’s calf and leg. In the background, the group is finishing preparing for battle. Gage is sitting on a bench toward the back of the room, rubbing his neck. All of them are looking at Dreng.

DRENG: Ok, folks. It’s time. Grab your things and get ready to move. Remember, these are just children. Let me speak to them before you do anything. Do not injure anybody.

Just make them feel you. Make them hurt. But don’t make it last. They’re armed, but that doesn’t give you license to be cruel. We’re Quad 3. We’re civilized in our parts. So act like it. Honor Atlantis. Honor each other. Do that and we’ll be okay.

3. Cut to Dreng. The camera is in front of him, a medium shot. Z is standing behind

Dreng, to the left of the frame. Dreng looks irritated by what Z is saying.

Z: And try not to get bit! It’s pretty much the most painful thing you can experience.

Trust me. And don’t get me started on how much bacteria lives in the mouth. Your wound could get infected, easily. You could lose a finger. An appendage even.

DRENG: Just stick to your training and no one’ll get bit. Work as a team. Remember, you have a responsibility to each other. Speak up if you get in trouble. Don’t be like Z and do stupid shit.

4. Close-up of Z. His face darkens.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: I was just trying something different.

5. Zoom out to a full shot of Dreng. He stands in front of Z, and is turning his head back.

DRENG: Yes, yes, we know. You were wrasslin. Now, everyone get behind me. No one do anything until I speak. Trust each other. Work fast. Waste no movement. Perfect efficiency is what we’re after.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. Cut to the feral children sprinting down the tunnels. The angle is of them in profile, and the shot is wide. In the background are the gridded lines of the tunnels.

2. Cut to a high-angle shot of the children running.

3. Same image, but from a low angel, the camera in front of them. They look like an angry mob of villagers.

4. A full shot of the oldest boy, The Leader. He stops and grimaces, holds a hand up. The children behind him look worried.

DRENG: [off-panel] STOP RIGHT THERE.

5. Zoom in on the boy next to him, the one with the baseball bat. He sneers and tightens his grip. His knuckles turn white.

DRENG: [off-panel] That’s enough. Don’t go any farther. You’ll scare our people. And we can’t let that happen. Because then they’ll do stupid things.

6. The children begin moving forward. The shot is from behind them; a wide, low angle.

At the end of the tunnel stands Dreng. He appears as a silhouette.

DRENG: It’ll put too much stress on the city. Things are hard enough as it is. Our

Growers work non-stop to provide the food and oxygen we need to survive. It’s a difficult balance, and we can’t let you disrupt it.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. A medium shot of the children. The camera is at their side. They still appear angry, but their look is now mixed with fear. Beads of sweat line their foreheads.

DRENG: [off panel] Just listen though. It doesn’t have to be like this. We have space for you. We have water. We can grow more food. Our offer still stands. We welcome you to join us. To become a part of Atlantis.

2. Zoom in on one of the children. He is pulling a sharpened potato peeler out of his pocket.

DRENG: [off panel] We don’t know where you’re from, but we know you’ve been running. We don’t want to fight you. We really don’t. It brings us no joy, no satisfaction.

I know you understand what I’m saying. I know you can talk. Listen, we can help you.

We can get you cleaned up and feed you.

3. Zoom in on the Leader squinting, a skeptical look on his face. Underneath his nose is a thin line of pubescent facial hair.

DRENG: [off panel] You just have to put down your weapons…

4. Zoom out. A full shot of the leader as he’s handed the baseball bat.

DRENG: [off panel] …and stop fighting us.

5. Zoom in a little. The Leader looks at the bat.

DRENG: [off panel] That’s it. That’s all you have to do.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Zoom out. The leader holds up the baseball bat.

DRENG: [off panel] You know how this goes if you don’t. You know what happens.

2. Close-up of The Leader. He has acne and hardened eyes that make him look much older than he is. An eye twitches.

DRENG: [off panel] You still have a choice. You don’t have to fight us.

3. Zoom out. Full shot, with the camera in front. The Leader points his bat and screams.

DRENG: [off panel] You don’t have to make us hurt you.

LEADER: AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

4. The panel is long and wide. The camera is to their side. The children charge. On the tunnel wall, in the background, is the word ATLANTIS in yellow block letters.

5. Cut to Dreng. A medium full shot. The camera is at a low angle and to his side. In the background are the gridded walls of the tunnel. The light is dim.

DRENG: Well then. They made their choice.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. An establishing shot of Home Defense, high angled and from the front. They are standing behind Dreng, who is to the center of the frame. To his left are Reece and

Alfonso. Alfonso sneers like a goon, while Reece cracks his knuckles. To their right stands Z. He scratches his head with an eyebrow raised, looking unenthused. To the right of Dreng, and a few steps in front of him, is Penny. She smiles wickedly, ready to lead their pack into battle. Her cropped, black hair that is nearly as short as Dreng’s. Ava stands just behind her, to her right. Her hair is braided in a chignon. Sarid and his brother,

Levi, stand furthest to the right. Sarid looks cool and composed, unbothered, holding up his fists in a “combat posture.” Levi has thick sideburns and a goatee. His skin is dark like his brother’s. His expression is slightly goofy.

2. Zoom in. A medium shot of Dreng. He stands with his large shoulders hunched forward, an aggressive posture. His veins stick out of his arms. Half of his face is cast in shadow. He points at the children down the tunnel.

DRENG: All right, team. Speak your language. Stretch them out, make them feel it.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. Zoom out. An over-the-shoulder from behind Dreng. In front of him, Reece and Penny are walking forward, toward the feral children, who are charging up the tunnel.

DRENG: Show them the futility.

2. Medium shot of Dreng and Z as they stand back and watch, the camera at their side.

Z: They’ve gotten bigger.

DRENG: So have we.

3. Full wide shot of the children. The small girl twirls her sock like a helicopter. One boy runs with his broken hockey stick, wielding it like a bayonet. Another boy’s shiv glints menacingly. The Leader stands at the back, waving them forward.

4. A full shot of Penny, from the front. She approaches the boy with the sharpened potato peeler.

PENNY: Drop it now, and you get to walk tomorrow.

5. Zoom in. An over the shoulder shot, from behind Penny, of the boy advancing with his potato peeler.

PENNY: C’mon, kid. Let’s be friends. You’ll like me. I’m fun.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. The boy lunges with the shiv, but Penny effortlessly dodges it.

2. She responds with a palm thrust to the side of the boy’s head.

PENNY: I can show you how to defend yourself…

3. She blocks his arm and then sweeps his legs. The potato peeler goes flying.

PENNY: …from people like me.

4. Cut to the girl swinging a sock over her head, a medium shot. Her lips are pressed tightly.

5. Zoom out. Aerial shot as she charges Sarid. Behind him comes Levi.

6. Zoom in. Sarid sidesteps her.

7. Zoom in again. He puts her in a triangle chokehold, her arm bent at an awkward angle.

8. Zoom out. She flails her arms, trying to hit him with the loaded sock.

SARID: That’s enough, now. Please. Stop.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Zoom in. Sarid cinches the hold and the sock falls out of her hand.

2. Zoom in on the sock. It drops to the floor. The eight ball rolls out.

3. Cut to Alfonso spear tackling the boy wielding the hockey stick.

4. Zoom in as Alfonso grinds his face with a forearm.

ALFONSO: When you little bastards gonna learn, huh? You don’t wanna mess with us!

5. Zoom out. Another of the feral boys tries to intervene, but Reece strikes him in the face with an open palm thrust, causing the boy’s head to whip back violently.

6. Reece then flips him over.

7. He puts him in a full nelson, while kneeing on his lower back.

REECE: You might not understand, but you’re lucky we found you…

BOY: Ugh…

8. Close-up of the boy’s grimacing face.

BOY: Please…stop…

REECE: …before someone else.

BOY: aggghhhh…

9. Cut to the boy with the shiv charging Levi. There are lines to help indicate his speed.

10. Levi grabs the boy’s arm, forcing him to drop the shiv.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Zoom out. Levi puts the boy in a simple chokehold.

2. He then lays him down, almost gently.

LEVI: Now, now. Time to relax, my friend.

3. Full shot of Dreng walking toward their leader. He glares meanly.

4. Cut to an over the shoulder shot, from behind the leader. He is trailed by the girl with the brass knuckles. Behind Dreng stands Z. They are surrounded by chaos.

5. Zoom in. A medium full shot of Dreng and Z, with Z now in a combat posture. Z is looking over at Dreng with a wry look on his face.

Z: Really? You’re going to make me do this again?

DRENG: Just restrain her.

Z: She bites!

6. Zoom out. An aerial shot. The Leader charges Dreng.

7. Dreng catches him in a headlock.

8. And takes him down to the ground, wrapping his legs around him in a guillotine.

9. Zoom in as Dreng arches back.

THE LEADER: AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. Cut to Z, who carefully approaches the girl wielding brass knuckles. Z holds up his hands, pleadingly.

Z: We don’t have to fight, okay? We can just wait this out.

2. Zoom in on the girl swinging a brass-knuckled punch.

GIRL #2: AAAAYYYYYYEEEEEEE!!!

Z: Ah shit…

3. Z blocks the blow and shoves her to the side.

Z: Honestly, I have no interest in fighting you again! I really, really don’t.

4. Zoom in. A low-angle shot. The girl is kneeling down and gathering herself, her hair dangling before her face. Z stands in the background.

Z: Where are you from? Where are your parents? How did you get here?

5. Zoom in as the girl reaches into her pocket.

Z: [off panel] Look, I’m an orphan, too. I know what it’s like to be abandoned. But we can’t help you if…

6. Zoom out. The girl springs up and throws a handful of pepper in Z’s face.

Z: AAACCCKKK…*cough* *cough*

7. Then she cracks him in the ribs with her brass knuckles.

Z: OOOOOOOF!

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. Cut to Penny. The boy swings a punch at her, but she catches it, and swiftly applies a wristlock.

2. Zoom in as the boy’s wrist bends backwards at a grotesque angle.

BOY: HHHHUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH…

PENNY: Don’t make me do it. Don’t make me really hurt you. Please. You seem sweet.

3. Cut to Levi. He lets go of the boy, who drops to the floor unconscious, like a sack of potatoes.

LEVI: [in a small font to indicate a whisper] Aleikhem shalom…

4. Cut to Alfonso. He has the boy’s arms pinned beneath his knees. He is sitting on his chest.

BOY: Can’t breathe…uunnnggghhh…

ALFONSO: Please. Talk to your friends. Reason with them. Dreng is a good dude. A good leader. We’re not monsters over here.

5. Zoom in on Alfonso looking down at the boy.

ALFONSO: Not like some people.

6. Zoom out. Full shot. Alfonso stands hulking over the boy. In the background, Z is stumbling backwards, his hands clutching his face.

ALFONSO: Living down here has a way of making people crazy, you know? Maybe you do. Maybe it happened to your parents. There’s no telling what people will do down here.

But not us. We’re the good guys. We keep it straight.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Four

1. Medium close-up of Z. He is holding up his hand, his eyes closed and watery.

Z: Please…stop…we can help you…

2. Zoom in. The girl jumps on Z and takes a deep bite into his shoulder.

Z: *bloodcurdling shriek*

3. Zoom out. Z spins around, trying to dislodge her.

Z: SOMEONE HELP!... [smaller font] ah, fuck…

4. Z grabs her by the arm and leg.

5. He then falls backwards, suplexing her. The girl thuds against the floor.

GIRL: Ugghh…

6. Cut back to Dreng. He still has their leader in a guillotine.

LEADER: ggggnnnnhhh….OK!...OK!..I…I…I QUUUUIIIIT!

7. Zoom in on The Leader. Dreng loosens the hold.

LEADER: …*gurgles* Please…please…let me go…

8. Cut to Z. A full shot. He is on his knees and holding his shoulder.

Z: Bloody fucking hell…bloody fucking hell.

9. The girl climbs to her feet, her eyes locked on Z, who is in the background. She looks ready to strike again.

Z: It huuuuurrrts…God it hurts…

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Five

1. Zoom in on the girl brushing the hair out of her face.

2. Dreng comes up from behind her and puts her in a simple bear-hug. She kicks at him, screaming.

DRENG: That’s enough! Please. Stop.

3. An over-the-shoulder from behind Dreng as he bear-hugs the girl. The feral children scatter in the distance.

DRENG: Look. Your friends are leaving. Go with them. Run.

4. Medium shot of Dreng. He lets go of the girl.

5. High angle shot. She looks up at him, unhappy, as if she may attack him again.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Six

1. Zoom out a distance. An over the shoulder shot. The girl turns and runs away down the dark tunnel. The members of Home Defense stands in the foreground, watching. Penny dusts off her hands. Alfonso laughs.

2. A full shot of the team. Penny and Alfonso stand in front.

PENNY: Bunch of sweet kids. Hope they come back.

ALFONSO: What? I thought you needed a challenge?

PENNY: There are other ways to grow.

3. Zoom in on Z and Dreng. Z holds his shoulder, while Dreng looks at him, angrily.

DRENG: What the hell were you doing?

Z: I didn’t expect pepper. Sorry but I didn’t.

DRENG: I’m not talking about that.

4. Zoom in on Z. His eyes are red and watery.

Z: You mean that suplex? Just a little Greco-Roman.

DRENG: That wasn’t Greco-Roman.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Seven

1. Zoom out. The two turn and face each other.

Z: What do you know? You’re all jujitsu. One-dimensional.

DRENG: It was stupid of you to do that. You could have broken her neck.

Z: She was fine! Just took the wind out.

2. Full shot of Dreng as he walks away from Z and shakes his head. Z holds his hands up, as if pleading a point.

DRENG: We’ll talk about this later.

3. Medium shot. Penny comes up to Z.

PENNY: It’s okay, Z. Don’t worry about him. He’s just feeling a lot of pressure. All he thinks about is keeping our quad safe. Literally does nothing else.

Z: I’m just so bored with everything. I need something more. I don’t want to become like my dad…I don’t want to go crazy…

4. Penny puts her hand on his shoulder.

PENNY: You’re not going crazy, Z. You’re just intelligent. If you liked it down here, I’d be worried.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Twenty-Eight

1. Zoom out. Semi-aerial shot. Penny walks away, toward the rest of the group. They’re heading back to the residential zone.

PENNY: But at least we’re alive, right?

2. Zoom out. Z stands in the tunnel alone.

PENNY: [off panel] Doesn’t that count for something?

3. Zoom out again. Aerial shot. The panel should take up the bottom half of the page.

PENNY: At least for today?

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 2

The Last Wrestling Show (2044)

Page One

1. Splash page. We open with a medium shot of The Survivor, world famous pro wrestler. He stands akimbo, puffing out his large chest, with a championship belt slung over his shoulder. He wears camo pants and a black tank top, and is inked with tattoos: barbed wire wraps around his biceps, his stomach reads RIOT. An anarchy logo is branded into his skin above his right shoulder. Underneath his right eye is a scar, wavy like a ~. His black, greasy hair is slicked back, and he has a dark beard that is scruffy and unkempt. He scowls menacingly.

TEXT: CITIZEN INTERVIEW #506: XANDER HAYES (2065); PRE-ATLANTIAN

RECORD

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. The camera zooms out, bringing the image into focus: it is a poster. In large letters at the top, it reads The Survivor.

NARRATOR: You want me to talk about my father?

2. Zoom out again. The poster is revealed in full. To the left of The Survivor is a masked wrestler. He is holding up his fist as though offering a knuckle sandwich. His mask is purple and green, with black trim around the eyes and mouth. Above the two wrestlers, it reads: Ultimo Hombre vs. The Survivor @ WrestleClysm XXXV. Beneath them: LIVE in

Houston, TX. LAST MAN STANDING. In the bottom right corner, a bedpost is peaking through. The wall is covered with wrestling posters. There are several of the Survivor.

NARRATOR: Before the world went to shit? I have no fucking idea, man. To me he was just The Survivor.

3. Zoom out again. Establishing shot. The bed is empty. The sheets are a mess. A clock on the bedside table reads 2:35 p.m. It is dark in the room. There is wrestling memorabilia scattered everywhere. In the corner sits a desk and computer. On the floor are several pro wrestler action figures, a miniature wrestling ring, and a bop bag with

Ultimo Hombre’s likeness on it. On a bookshelf are wrestling trophies. It should be clear to the reader that the boy is a wrestling fanatic.

NARRATOR: Sure, I knew the wrestler, the legend. But the man underneath? The man he really was? Until Atlantis, he was still a mystery.

4. Next, in the lower right-hand corner: a short sequence of panels that depicts the other rooms in the house: a mother asleep in her bed, a little girl asleep in hers, a dog in its crate. 71

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

NARRATOR: Sure, I knew the wrestler, the legend. But the man underneath? The man he really was? Not really.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Cut to the boy, in front of the refrigerator holding a backpack open. The camera is to his left; a side shot. The boy is to the left of the panel, while the refrigerator is to the right. The boy looks thirteen-years-old; a tween. He has a thin frame and pale skin. He is wearing a luminescent, all-white suit. The fabric covers him from the chin down, its material both porous and reflective. A white mask and a pair of goggles sit on the floor next to him. The light from the fridge is bright, reflecting off of his suit. He is filling his backpack with small canisters of water.

NARRATOR: About his wrestling persona, I can only speak in generalities. Wild, heroic, unyielding…. If you want more details, you’ll just have to watch the tapes, like me.

Watch for yourself what drew people to him. What turned them into fanatics.

2. Zoom out. Full shot. The boy tiptoes down the hallway, checking to see that his mom is still asleep.

3. Cut to his sister’s room. He is looking through the door as she sleeps soundly with an

Ultimo Hombre doll tucked underneath her arm. He looks sorrowful, wishes he could take her with him.

NARRATOR: For all his absence, we still loved him at home.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. High angled shot. The boy stands in front of the front door, his backpack slung over his shoulders.

2. Zoom in. The boy puts on his mask, which is white like the rest of his suit, and then his goggles.

3. He opens the front door. Light floods the living room.

NARRATOR: Even in our presence, he refused to drop the mask.

4. The boy lowers his head against the glare and grabs the straps of his backpack.

5. Then he steps out.

NARRATOR: No matter where our family went, no matter what our family did, our father, Zachariah Hayes, was always The Survivor, the babyface legend. Good guy to all.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. Cut to the boy running down the sidewalk. It is a medium aerial shot. It is a tightly packed suburb, with every lawn xeriscaped. The streets are desolate at this hour. The heat is unbearable. There is not a soul.

NARRATOR: And that was okay.

2. Zoom in, over the shoulder. He sees the solar bus pulling away from the station.

3. Zoom out. The boy lowers his head and runs.

NARRATOR: What was he like before he was a performer? Honestly I can’t remember.

He was always the world’s most popular wrestler. Right up until the very end.

4. The boy waves his arms. In the background: the bus screeches to a stop.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. A high angle shot, as the boy walks up the steps. There is no one in the driver’s seat.

NARRATOR: My mom insists that he had once been different, that he had been what one might call a “good dad.”

2. Zoom out. High aerial shot. The van is traveling through a suburb. The road is horizontal on the page, left to right.

NARRATOR: But for me and my sister; if it was he image of our father, or the real thing, it didn’t matter…

3. Zoom out again. The sheer volume and immensity of the suburb becomes apparent.

4. Zoom out again. The van passes through rural desolation.

5. Zoom out again. An exaggerated and chaotic metropolis comes into view at the edge of the panel. There are buildings built on top of other buildings, a highway system that wraps around it convolutedly.

NARRATOR: …for a time, at least. Until the planet went on tilt, and everything took on the gravest weight.

6. High angled shot of the boy sitting in the back of the bus. The windows are tinted, keeping out the natural light. On the back of each headrest is a screen. At the front of the bus, a larger screen has been integrated into the windshield, and another toward the back.

The boy has taken his mask and goggles off.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. Zoom in. Medium close-up. The boy reaches behind his neck and turns on his

Interface. He checks his messages one more time and finds the address.

2. Shift to a first person point of view, so we see the Interface as he says the address out loud before he deletes it. His eyes serve as the mouse.

BOY: 2499 Van Buren Street, Phoenix, Arizona…

NARRATOR: That was the name for it. That the TV gave. For when the heat suddenly cranked up to unforeseen levels in a matter of weeks, giving us the hell of perpetual summer. Dead oceans. The last forests burned. The last glaciers melted. Seaboards wiped out.

3. They stop before the city and someone else climbs aboard. He is dressed in the same white attire as the boy, but he doesn’t take off his mask.

4. The person sits near the front. The boy watches him.

5. The person turns and looks back at the boy.

6. Zoom in. Full shot of the boy as the boy shuffles his feet and looks anxiously out the window.

7. Zoom in. Close-up of the boy. He reaches behind his neck and switches off the interface.

NARRATOR: When no one…

8. The bus stop again and two more people, also dressed in these white, synthetic suits, climb aboard.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Over the shoulder shot. The boy is looking up toward the front of the bus. He sees that the same person is staring at him again.

NARRATOR: …in any part of the world…

2. Cut to an aerial shot outside the bus. It has reached the outskirts of the city. The streets are mostly empty. A homeless person is here and there, withering in the shade.

3. Zoom in at another angle. They pass a high-tech cop car that is roaming the streets.

4. Cut back to the outside of the van. They turn down a street, and on the corner stands a street preacher with a face that is badly burned. He is holding up a sign and shaking it at the bus driving past. “REPENT,” it reads.

NARRATOR: …would find happiness again.

5. Full shot of the boy in his seat. There is a PSA playing on all the screens. Three symbols are crossed out: a clock, an angry face, and a lucha libra mask (which is meant to indicate that pro wrestling is no longer a welcome part of society).

OVERHEAD SPEAKER: A brief reminder of The New Epoch of National Unity!

Reaffirm your commitment to EcoPatriotism in this New Era of Kindness and Civility starting TODAY!

NARRATOR: There was no longer room for happiness. Everyone was on tilt together

6. Cut to the outside again. Medium aerial shot. The van has reached the boy’s destination, which is the very heart of the city. It pulls up next to a bus station.

7. The boy gets off wearing his mask and goggles.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. He begins to walk away and looks behind hims before turning down an alley.

2. Over the shoulder shot, from behind the boy. The person who was staring at him is getting off the bus and looking toward him.

3. The boy runs away in alarm.

4. A high-angled shot of the boy running down the alley. The alley runs from the bottom corner of the panel to the one diagonally across.

5. Zoom out. An aerial shot showing, once again, the city’s immensity. Buildings branch out into the sky, growing like crystals.

6. Zoom in. A close-up of the boy’s shoes, and behind them his shadow. The pavement is coarse and patched with tar.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Zoom out. The boy runs out into a street.

2. He stops and looks behind himself to see if the masked man is following him.

3. He switches on his Interface again.

4. Cut to his point of view. He has a map pulled up. There is a pin with a caption that reads: 2499 Van Buren.

BOY: Computer, pin up 2499 Van Buren.

5. Zoom out. Side shot of the boy running down the street.

NARRATOR: Regardless, my father persevered. Even after pro wrestling was banned by the state, he refused to relinquish his dream. He still wrestled. Underground. In boarded- up bingo halls and old opera houses.

6. Cut to the first-person point of view shot as the boy navigates the streets. Up in the right hand corner is the map, the red pin marking his location. There are other gauges on the screen: one for his body temperature, another his heart rate. They are both running high.

NARRATOR: And me? I did everything within my power to see him in person.

7. A far shot, from the other side of the street, as the boy runs down a sidewalk. There is a cop car passing the other direction.

NARRATOR: I risked everything to witness his greatness.

8. A high angle shot as the boy cuts down another alley.

NARRATOR: Apocalypse or not, The Survivor was still a big draw.

9. An over-the-shoulder shot from behind the boy. He sees an entrance down the alley.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Medium shot. The boy stands in front of a heavily reinforced door that has a long, rectangular peephole.

NARRATOR: He was still a heavy ticket…

2. Zoom in on the door as the boy knocks.

NARRATOR: …legal or not.

3. A peephole slides open. There are a pair of eyes behind it.

MAN: Ticket?

NARRATOR: Hundreds of us put ourselves in harm’s way……

4. Medium close-up. The boy holds up his hand. A scanner hanging high up scans it.

NARRATOR: …to watch The Survivor wrestle.

5. The door opens. The boy hurries past the large man guarding the door.

DOOR: BEEEEEP!

6. The boy walks down a long hallway.

7. He comes upon a sort of improvised doorway in mid-construction and walks through it.

8. He turns down another hallway.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Finally, he emerges into the lobby of an old, abandoned opera house.

2. An establishing shot of the lobby. The panel should take up much of the page. It looks like the opera house has been abandoned. The floor is marbled, with a classical frieze over the theater’s entrance. The windows are all boarded up. Light emanates from the chandeliers that hang high up on the ceiling. There are stairways to both the left and right of the theater entrance, which rise up toward the balcony. A few merchandise booths are set up, selling wrestling shirts and assorted memorabilia. The lobby is mostly empty.

Everyone is watching the wrestling show that has started.

NARRATOR: But at some point, all dreams come to an end.

3. Cut to the boy in a bathroom stall. He is taking off his suit and mask, and changing into jeans and a black wrestling shirt.

NARRATOR: The wrestling show was over. It was time for The Survivor…

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. He walks out of the stall wearing a Survivor shirt.

2. Zoom in. He reaches back and turns on his Interface.

3. Cut to the boy hurrying into the “arena,” his backpack over his shoulders. It is a medium aerial shot.

NARRATOR: …to go home.

4. An establishing shot of the opera house/makeshift arena. The seats have all been torn out and are replaced by folding chairs. The event is standing room only. A warm-up match is already underway: two jobbers who the boy is barely familiar with. Nonetheless, the match is getting the job done; the audience is already amped for the main event.

There is a mix of people in attendance. There are a number of adolescents, a few old heads. There are the insane, the drug-addled, and the deviant. There are a few Frat Boys, near the back, and some fans who are obviously wealthy. There is only a handful of women—a couple of groupies at the front, some moms. There are a couple of other children, too, who, like the boy, snuck in. The boy is pushing his way past a white guy with dreads and a black man with no hair, both of whom are shouting fervently at the wrestlers. In the middle of this mass is a wrestling ring. A wrestler in white trunks is whipping his opponent into the ropes. His opponent’s trunks are black.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Zoom in. Medium shot of the boy. In the background is a group of men with burns and scars all over their faces, just like the street preacher on the street corner.

NARRATOR: It was time to face reality.

2. Cut to a full shot of the wrestlers in the ring. The opponent rebounds against the ropes and returns a running lariat/clothesline, sending the wrestler in white trunks spinning in the air.

NARRATOR: Our family reunion was short, of course. My father was freaked. He couldn’t hide it. It was one of the rare time I felt I really knew him.

3. Full shot of the wrestler in black trunks. He screams and flexes over his opponent.

NARRATOR: And all it took was fear. The fear begot by the news he could no longer avoid.

4. The wrestler picks up his opponent by the hair and signals to the crowd that the match is over.

NARRATOR: He became paranoid, angry at the world, angry at us.

5. He puts his opponent’s head between his knees.

NARRATOR: One day he snapped. He said he was taking us to Atlantis, an underground city out in West Texas, he explained, where he’d put down a large sum of money.

6. And then powerbombs him. The impact is thunderous.

7. Shot of the crowd going wild.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. The wrestler pins his opponent. The ref counts, 1, 2, 3.

2. The arena erupts as the victor of the match climbs up a turnbuckle and screams. Spit flies everywhere.

NARRATOR: It was the right move, he said. Civilization was starting over, and we needed to be a part of it.

3. The victor rolls out of the ring and returns backstage. He is followed by the loser of the match, who is holding a hand on his back and wincing.

4. Zoom in. The boy turns and sees the street preacher standing a few feet away by the aisle. He is still holding his sign and waving it around. He is yelling something intelligible.

NARRATOR: Some billionaire savior, he said. Chuck Moonberg. The world knew him as an eccentric board game designer, but had been working on a subterranean suburbia since the tilt.

5. Zoom in. Close-up of the boy.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. Cut to boy’s point of view as he works the Interface. He is checking the camera feed of his house, making sure everyone is still asleep, which they are.

2. The boy blinks twice.

3. Cut back to the first person point of view. He is now recording.

4. Zoom out. The arena has gone dark. There are hoots and hollers from the crowd, a sense of anticipation.

NARRATOR: My mom hated the idea, of course. Of leaving to Atlantis.

5. Zoom in on the crowd. They recognize The Survivor’s entrance music at once and explode. There is a squeal of guitar, followed by a speed metal riff and heavy industrial drums. This is indicated to the reader through the use of musical notes and onomatopoeia.

The Survivor walks out from backstage. This should be a large panel.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. The Survivor cups his hands over his mouth and hollers. He looks older than he does in the poster that hangs on the boy’s wall. His hair is gray and frizzy. He’s still big, but his muscles don’t have the same definition.

2. He walks down the aisle and slaps hands with fans. He loves them, and they love him back.

NARRATOR: Unlike us, unlike the millions of his followers, she didn’t trust The

Survivor.

3. Then he sprints and slides underneath the bottom rope.

4. He poses, holding a fist up.

5. He nods to the crowd, confident, then tests the ropes.

6. Then he climbs to the second turnbuckle and holds his arms out. He screams and flexes. Then he makes a “crossed hands” gesture by crossing his thumbs, which is supposed to resemble an eagle.

NARRATOR: She felt we were safer in the city, where we already had food, water, shelter.

7. The light goes out again. There is a hush.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. When the lights comes back on, everyone erupts. The lights are now purple and green, the colors of Ultimo Hombre. The announcer calls his name.

2. Full shot of Ultimo Hombre walking out from the back. He is a hulking man, dark skinned, barrel-chested, like a mountain. He is wearing his purple and green mask, with purple and green trunks, and purple and green knee pads. He walks calmly, measured. He stops every now and then to high five a fan. Like The Survivor, he soaks in their adulation.

NARRATOR: She didn’t want to take the risk.

3. Ultimo Hombre slings over the top rope and into the ring.

4. He walks up and shakes hands with The Survivor, his longtime rival and occasional ally. The crowd goes wild for it. They know the significance of this moment, that it could be the last time they ever team up.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. The boy looks around himself, at the fans. He sees that the street preacher is agitated.

He is shaking his sign more vigorously, irritating those around him.

PREACHER: Sinners! All of you! Repent! Repent for the chaos that you lust for! The order that you pervert!

NARRATOR: She said the trip from Phoenix to West Texas was too dangerous.

2. Cut back to the first-person point of view, reminding the reader that the boy is still recording.

3. Another song plays over the loudspeakers. A full shot of the Wafflestompers stomping their way to the ring. These men are extremely burly, wear black boots with big tread.

They look German, for some reason, and they taunt the crowd. They spit and sneer, show nothing but disdain. They draw moderate heat, which is okay. They’re just a means to an end: putting over the babyfaces (or, in layman’s terms: making the crowd happy once they’re finally defeated by the good guys). In the background, the announcer is in the ring holding a microphone.

ANNOUNCER: All the way from Munich, Germany….THE WAFFLESTOMPERS!!

NARRATOR: Said there were too many bad guys in between.

4. The Wafflestompers climb over the ropes and immediately begin to taunt their counterparts. The ref gets in between them.

NARRATOR: And she was right.

5. The boy looks over at the preacher, who has started shoving his way up front.

NARRATOR: My father would not relent, as was his way. The fear inside him had taken over, had harnessed the angst that made The Survivor such a successful gimmick… 89

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. Ultimo Hombre and Wafflestomper #1 start the match. Three panels: a simple wrist lock by Ultimo Hombre. He hammers his arm with an elbow. The crowd pops.

NARRATOR: …though the outcome was surprising.

2. Cut back to the boy, an over-the-shoulder shot. The street preacher is pushing his way closer.

NARRATOR: The Survivor, the man who’d for so long championed the art of self- reliance and determination, was willing to put the livelihood of his family in the hands of…someone else.

3. Ultimo Hombre hammers W#1 (Wafflestomper #1) with an elbow, then whips him into their corner.

4. The Survivor claps and waves his arms as if to psyche up the crowd.

5. A running lariat by Ultimo Hombre, ramming his opponent into the turnbuckle.

6. W#1 stumbles backwards into Ultimo Hombre.

7. Ultimo Hombre grabs him and hits him with his legendary “lung buster.”

8. W#1 writhes around on the canvas, while his partner implores him to keep fighting.

Ultimo Hombre tags in The Survivor, and the crowd lets out a huge pop.

NARRATOR: Our father was out of ideas. And it had driven him insane.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. W#1 crawls toward his partner, reaching for a tag.

2. But before he can, the Survivor stomps him in the back of the head.

NARRATOR: The more news he read, the more fear he felt. The more fear, the less he held it together. I can remember my mother yelling at him, begging him to keep it together for the kids…

3. The Survivor lifts W#1 up by his ear.

4. Then he chops him across the chest with the back of his hand.

CROWD: Woooooooooo!

NARRATOR: He frightened my sister, so much that she didn’t want to leave with him.

She wanted our mother, who was stable and calm and capable of taking care of us.

5. Cut back to the boy. He is clapping excitedly.

NARRATOR: I went with him of course. Like any good son, like any good fan, I needed his approval.

6. Then cut back to the first person point of view, remind the reader, yet again, that he is recording.

7. The boy looks up toward the front and sees someone staring back, frowning.

BOY: What the hell…

NARRATOR: The world was ending, but how desperately I still wanted to be like my dad.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Cut back to the ring. The match is a total squash. Ultimo Hombre tags The Survivor back in.

2. Then he starts to put W#1 on his shoulders.

3. W#2 tries coming into the ring, but The Survivor cuts him off with a clothesline.

4. Ultimo Hombre has W#1 on his shoulders, while The Survivor pounces up to the top turnbuckle, like a cat. The crowd goes wild.

5. The Survivor leaps, hitting his opponent with a flying missile dropkick.

6. W#1 takes a hard bump to the neck.

7. The Survivor rolls him up into a pin…1…2…

NARRATOR: It devastated my mother, of course. She didn't want to see me go. Not in this world. Not in any world.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Suddenly, the street preacher is in the ring with a chair, and using it to whack Ultimo

Hombre in the head.

2. And then he whacks the ref.

CROWD: BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

NARRATOR: But she was powerless. The Survivor wouldn’t hear of it when it came to his son.

3. The Survivor is baffled and angry, and the street preacher hits him with the chair.

4. The Survivor staggers, stunned.

5. The street preacher hits him again.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. Cut to a close-up of the boy.

BOY: NOOOOOOOOO!

NARRATOR: So I went with him to Atlantis. Me and only me.

2. The street preacher whacks him one more time.

3. The Survivor drops to his knees, and then collapses, face first.

4. Zoom out. The boy squeezes his way through the crowd, pushing his way to the front.

The crowd is throwing garbage at the ring.

NARRATOR: It took us a week to get out of Phoenix proper.

5. The street preacher has found a microphone and is hectoring the crowd.

PREACHER: This! THIS is an unlawful gathering! You are defying the new orders! The new orders laid down by the New Era of Civility and Kindness! You dishonor our people with it! You defile our sanctity!

6. The boy nearly reaches the barricade.

NARRATOR: And another week to cross New Mexico…

7. The preacher drops the microphone and shakes his sign at the fans.

PREACHER: Shame on you! Depart this place! Scrub yourself of the filth in which you wallow!

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. A row of fans shake the barricade. One is climbing over. Others point at the street preacher threateningly.

FAN: Fuuuuuuck yooooooou!

2. The boy reaches the barricade, is pushed up against it.

3. The boy looks up at the ring and sees the preacher still ranting and raving. Behind him,

The Survivor is getting to his feet.

NARRATOR: …where we were pinned down by marauders in Artesia.

4. Zoom in. A close-up of the preacher. He looks wild and unhinged. Spittle flies from his mouth. His skin is rough, unshaven. The crowd is incensed.

PREACHER: Leave now! Before I alert the authorities to this illegal gathering!

NARRATOR: They wanted our food, our water.

5. Zoom out. The Survivor is now standing behind the street preacher, his fists clenched, head bowed. The crowd pops, a mix of excitement and surprise.

NARRATOR: They got too close, and my father shot them dead.

6. Full shot of the boy. He is raising his arms and cheering.

BOY: YES!

7. The street preacher finally turns around.

8. The Survivor kicks him in the stomach, doubling him over.

9. Then he gives him a DDT. It is the biggest pop yet.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Four

1. The Ultimo Hombre is back on his feet, too, and pumping up the crowd.

2. He grabs the street preacher by the hair and lifts him up to his feet.

3. Then he scoops him up into a tombstone piledriver.

NARRATOR: At Atlantis, he turned over his guns.

4. The Survivor has climbed the top rope. He crouches on the top turnbuckle, the fans in the background cheering wildly.

NARRATOR: You know this of course.

5. The Survivor jumps and spikes the piledriver. The street preacher’s head goes bouncing off the canvas. Another enormous pop from the audience.

NARRATOR: Still I was surprised. I hadn’t expected him to give them up so easily.

6. The Survivor and Ultimo Hombre shake each other’s hands in the ring.

7. Then they climb opposite turnbuckles and signal to the crowd.

NARRATOR: After all, he was The Survivor. His whole gimmick was based around his authority as a world-class survivalist and prepper. He didn’t bow to anybody. He knew more than anyone.

8. Zoom in on the boy. He waves at The Survivor.

BOY: Dad! Hey, Dad!

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Five

1. A medium shot of the Survivor atop the turnbuckle. He has noticed his son in the first row and looks surprised.

2. Zoom in. The Survivor cracks a smile.

3. He points at his son with both hands. He looks proud, and for a moment, he appears more like the wrestler in the poster on his son’s wall. His hair is less grey. His aura seems to gleam.

4. Smiling, The Survivor raises his arms, while on the opposite turnbuckles, his tag team partner flexes.

NARRATOR: Like everyone else on this hellish planet, my father was forced to change…

5. Zoom in on his son. He is laughing and giving the thumbs up. The crowd is jubilant.

NARRATOR: …to come to grips with being powerless.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Six

1. Suddenly, the police storm the old opera house. They are dressed in full assault gear.

They wear gas masks. They pour down the aisles as terrified onlookers scatter.

NARRATOR: Down in Atlantis, he divested himself even more…

2. Zoom out. The police swarm the ring. Some are sliding underneath the ropes.

NARRATOR: ..and more…

3. The wrestlers are dragged down from the turnbuckles.

4. They are dragged to the canvas.

NARRATOR: …and more…

5. Zoom out. The crowd looks confused. One man clutches his head with both hands, while a father runs away with his son. No one is sure if this is a shoot or a work.

6. The boy, the protagonist of this chapter, screams for his dad.

7. The wrestlers begin to fight back. There is a brawl.

8. A belly-to-belly suplex, a clothesline. The crowd gets back into it.

9. The street preacher is up and swinging his chair around.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Seven

1. He hits a couple of policemen with chair shots, but is overpowered quickly. There are at least three dozen cops, both inside the ring and out.

NARRATOR: …until his power was gone for good, until nothing was left of him but a shell.

2. The Survivor and Ultimo Hombre are completely overwhelmed. The Wafflestompers come running out from the backstage area, but they too are quickly subdued.

3. Even the ref gets brutalized. They throw him down to the mat and handcuff him with zip ties.

NARRATOR: It was a hard thing to see.

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Eight

1. Over the shoulder shot, from outside the ring. The boy sees his father at the bottom of a pile, a cop kneeling on his head. The Survivor is reaching out to his boy.

NARRATOR: He was always so proud. So defiant.

2. Cut to the first-person point of view as the boy records the devastation in front of him.

3. He turns and a riot cop walks up and shoves him.

NARRATOR: In these moments below earth, I felt like I finally knew him…

4. Someone on a megaphone is telling the crowd to disperse. But the crowd isn’t quite convinced that what is happening is real.

5. Zoom in on a canister that is rolling across the floor. Tear gas is streaming out of it.

6. Everyone in the arena scrambles. Some are coughing and holding their arms over their mouths.

100

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Nine

1. The boy kneels down and puts on his white mask.

NARRATOR: …down to the very core…

2. More cops, this time with riot shields, file into the arena.

NARRATOR: though I wish I hadn’t. Sometimes it’s better to not know. We tell lies for a reason. Kayfabe is safer, keeps us insulated from harm.

3. A group of riot cops have some fans pinned against the wall. They can’t escape.

NARRATOR: The masks, you see, they served a purpose.

4. The boy looks back at the ring one more time. He sees his father and Ultimo Hombre on their stomachs, being zip tied. Ultimo Hombre has had his mask ripped off. He has black hair and dark skin.

NARRATOR: They helped keep us sane. Helped keep our private selves intact.

5. The boy runs backstage. He sees a group of fans scrambling through a back exit. Light is pouring into the hallway. It is blinding.

BULLHORN: HALT! DON’T MOVE! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!

101

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirty

1. Close-up of the boy as he takes one more look behind him.

NARRATOR: The mask was a vessel that held intact our power…

2. Zoom in. A close-up the boy’s shoes as he disappears into the light.

NARRATOR: …that kept us in the fight.

102

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 3

Hanging After Work

Page One

1. Splash page of The Survivor vs. Charles Ion live at Super Bash 24. The panel is a medium shot of The Survivor laying on the mat. He’s locked in a figure four, but that’s outside of the frame. There is the familiar scar (~) under his eye. His long hair is damp with sweat. He looks in agony as he reaches out for the ropes.

ANNOUNCER #1: MY GOD! He’s trapped! The Survivor is trapped! He can’t reach the ropes!

ANNOUNCER #2: It’s over, folks! It’s absolutely over! No man on Earth has ever broken free from Ion’s figure four! There’s no way out for The Survivor! Not this time!

103

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. There are nine panels on the page. All depict wrestling action. In the first, the camera zooms out, the figure four becoming apparent to the viewer. The Survivor is sitting up, slamming his hand on the mat. Across from him is Charles Ion, who is wearing red trunks with black elbow and knee pads. He has a thunderbolt tattooed down his left arm, as part of a sleeve, and dirty blonde hair. Charles Ion is smiling, his two arms behind him.

ANNOUNCER #1: Look at Ion! He’s enjoying this! He doesn’t just want to beat The

Survivor! He wants to humiliate him!

ANNOUNCER #2: Believe me, there’s no love lost between these two! They’ve hated each other since they’ve entered the organization!

2. A medium shot of The Survivor reaching again for the ropes, unable to grab them.

ANNOUNCER #1: He can’t reach!

3. Yet, to the amazement of Charles Ion and the crowd, The Survivor reverses the figure four.

ANNOUNCER #1: Incredible! He’s doing it!

ANNOUNCER #2: HE’S REVERSED THE HOLD! ION CAN’T BELIEVE IT!

4. The hold is reversed. Charles Ion pounds the mat in agony, while The Survivor screams victoriously.

5. The Survivor lets go of the hold, struggles to his feet. The crowd is going nuts.

ANNOUNCER #1: The resilience! The determination!

ANNOUNCER #2: There is no quit in THE SURVIVOR! HE’S BACK BABY!

6. The Survivor gets a sudden burst of energy. He gets a running start, hits the ropes, rebounds, and knees Charles Ion in the head. 104

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

CROWD: OOOOoooooOOOOOoooOOOOO

ANNOUNCER #2: What a shot!

ANNOUNCER #1: Ion got ROCKED! Right to the face!

7. A low-angle shot of The Survivor holding up his signature crossed hands gesture, which is supposed to represent an eagle (like the tattoo on his back). This inspires the crowd to stand up and cheer louder. In the background, Charles Ion is struggling to get up to his feet.

ANNOUNCER #1: This is it! He’s signaling the end!

8. Ion finally gets to his feet, but the Survivor is ready. The Survivor scoops him into a fireman’s carry.

9. Then he flips him in the air, catches him, and plants a brainbuster/piledriver, a.k.a. the

Michinoku Driver, a.k.a. The Bug Out. This might have to have its own page entirely.

CROWD: ROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!

ANNOUNCER #2: BUG OUT!

ANNOUNCER #1: HE DID IT!

105

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. An establishing shot of Z’s living room. It takes up at least half of the page. Home

Defense is watching the match on Z’s quite large television, which is built into the wall.

Unlike Team Defense Headquarters, the room is rectangular, not circular, the ceiling not vaulted. The design is modern. Light fixtures hang throughout, giving the room a warmer sense of lighting. On the wall behind the couch, there are a number of wrestling posters:

The Survivor, Ultimo Hombre, Charles Ion, The Gog, “Death’s Head” Kenny Craven.

The pictures depict varying action-filled moments inside the ring. One poster is all text, an advertisement for a show in Denver, Colorado, featuring The Survivor vs. Kenny

Craven. The room is messy, as you’d expect from a teenager who lives by himself. It’s why Home Defense is partying here: no parental supervision. There are some dirty clothes on the floor, some empty beer cans on the coffee table, dirty dishes. There are several bookshelves full of books, a computer in the corner. At one end of the room is the door to the bedroom, cracked open. At the other end (and out of the frame) is the kitchen.

On the couch are Z, Dreng, and Penny (in order). Dreng raises an eyebrow skeptically, while Penny grins. There is a wrap on Z’s shoulder. He keeps a hand on it, while holding a remote control with the other. Sitting in the two chairs next to the couch are Ava and

Reece. They are both clapping in delight. Alfonso is in the kitchen (out of frame), while

Sarid and Levi sit on cushions on the floor, closer to the TV, while sharing what appears to be a joint. They are all dressed in regular clothes: T-shirt, shorts, etc.

ANNOUNCER #2: 1…2…3!

ANNOUNCER #1: HE DID IT! THE SURVIVOR RECLAIMED THE TITLE!

ANNOUNCER #2: HE’S THE WORLD CHAMP! 106

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

ANNOUNCER #1: INCREDIBLE!

REECE: Wow.

SARID: That was very good.

LEVI: Of the epic tradition, right? It felt very large.

DRENG: Eh. It was entertaining. I’ll give it that.

2. Penny leans forward and looks at Z.

PENNY: He was really your great-grandfather? Are you serious?

Z: The original Zacharia Hayes, yes he was.

3. A medium shot. Penny leans back, crosses her arms. She is wearing a t-shirt like the rest.

PENNY: That’s crazy. I don’t know anything about my ancestors. It’s a mystery. All my dad says is that they were from Oklahoma. Not even the Knowbot knows anything.

107

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. The camera zooms out, revealing Dreng and Z on the couch. Dreng raises an eyebrow.

Z is looking at his shoulder.

Z: My grandpa, Xander Hayes, was obsessed with The Survivor. My dad, not so much.

Sort of resented it.

PENNY: Why didn’t you show this stuff to us before?

Z: Because I wasn’t sure what it was.

PENNY: But now you do?

Z: I think so.

2. A high-angle shot of the room. Dreng furrows his eyebrows as he speaks.

DRENG: That match was all right, sure, but it just seemed a little fake.

Z: It’s not fake, it’s predetermined.

DRENG: Choreographed.

Z: Improvised, actually.

3. Dreng turns to Z.

DRENG: I don’t know. It’s fake, too. Like really fake. I mean, some of those punches.

And the way the fighters let themselves be thrown against the ropes…it’s not real.

Z: We live a mile beneath earth. Define “real.”

DRENG: It doesn’t hurt. It’s just a performance. The wrestlers are acting.

Z: How is Home Defense not a performance?

DRENG: I mean performance like a TV show, which this was. A show.

108

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: So that whole monologue you gave to the ferals? You weren’t trying to project a certain image? Perhaps the Heroic Adversary? Or the Benevolent Foe? A hot-headed Sir

Lancelot, but his kingdom being the underworld?

4. Dreng shoots him an angry look. Penny holds up her hands.

PENNY: I say that both are plenty good, each in their own right, and that arguing over them is pointless.

DRENG: In Home Defense, there are actually things at stake, okay? What was at stake for the Survivor? Glory? Ticket sales? Payoff to a story?

Z: The Survivor herniated a disk twenty minutes in. According to my grandpa’s journals.

109

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. The camera pulls out to an angled shot of the living room. It is from behind the couch.

In the background is the TV. On the screen, Ultimo Hombre is chasing would-be attackers away with a chair.

SARID: I really like this wrestler. He’s so good.

LEVI: He makes me want to break things. I don’t know why.

Z: That’s Ultimo Hombre. He was The Survivor’s best friend.

SARID: In real life or in wrestling?

Z: Both.

2. Alfonso walks into the living room, eating hydroponically grown seaweed out of a box.

ALFONSO: Ah, here comes the good shit.

DRENG: Hey, Sarid, who’s watching the cameras?

SARID: Xochi. Got some volunteers from Quad 1 with her.

3. The shot is from behind the couch, the wrestling match the focus of the frame. Ultimo

Hombre and The Survivor are standing side by side in the ring. Their enemies have run off, and are helping each other to the locker room.

4. Full shot of Alfonso standing next to the couch, food in hand. It is from the front, and includes everyone in the room. He is watching everyone watching the match, a grin on his face. Sarid is passing the joint over to Reece, while Ava twirls her hair. Z smiles.

Dreng crosses his arms. Penny takes a drink from a bottle.

ANNOUNCER #1: OLD FRIENDS TOGETHER AGAIN!

110

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

ANNOUNCER #2: TWO OF THE BIGGEST LEGENDS IN WRESTLING!

TOGETHER AGAIN! I’LL TELL YOU WHAT THIS IS, MICK! IT’S A RETURN TO

THE GOLDEN AGE!

5. Cut back to the wrestling match. Two panels side by side. The first shows Ultimo

Hombre holding up The Survivor’s hand, the other shows The Survivor holding up his championship belt with his other hand.

6. The next frame shows Ultimo Hombre clobbering The Survivor with a chair shot. It’s a heel turn! The chair careens off his head, and The Survivor’s knees buckle.

ANNOUNCER #1: WHAT?!

ANNOUNCER #2: I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

111

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. A side shot of the room in disbelief. Even Dreng looks surprised. Reece laughs, smoke billowing from his nostrils. Alfonso laughs, too, his mouth full of food.

ANNOUNCER #1: What betrayal! Ultimo Hombre is a JUDAS!

ANNOUNCER #2: He’s a SNAKE!

ANNOUNCER #1: What a disgrace! His old friend and partner!

2. Ultimo Hombre grabs the belt, pauses as he looks at it, and lays it across an unconscious Survivor.

ANNOUNCER #1: How does he look his fans in the eyes? What does he SAY to them?

3. Ultimo Hombre says nothing. He makes a belt motion around his waist and points down at The Survivor. Then he leaves the ring and walks back to the locker room, unbothered by the shower of debris being thrown at him.

REECE: Cold-blooded.

ALFONSO: Just absolutely ruthless.

REECE: I love it.

4. Medium shot of the friends on the couch. Z turns off the TV. Penny leans over Dreng and whacks Z in the back of t head.

PENNY: But why would he do that?! You said they were friends!

Z: It was complicated.

PENNY: The heroic duo! The good guys! What the hell happened?

5. Same shot. Dreng rolls his eyes, his arms still crossed.

DRENG: It’s just an act, Penny. It’s not real.

Z: The two had their moments. Sometimes the heat was very real. 112

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

PENNY: But why?

Z: They were competitors. They had philosophical differences.

113

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. A wide shot of the friends on the couch. Reece is getting up from his chair. Now Ava has the joint. Levi is running his fingers through his hair.

DRENG: They needed to keep the story fresh, I imagine.

Z: Exactly.

2. Medium-low angle, close-up. Penny rests her head on an arm and slouches.

PENNY: I don’t like it. They should be friends.

3. Medium shot of Dreng and Penny. Penny is looking at him angrily.

DRENG: They’re dead, Penny. This was over sixty years ago.

PENNY: You know what I mean.

4. Zoom out for a wider shot of the couch. Z is setting down the remote on the coffee table in front of him. Alfonso walks by.

Z: Their WrestleClysm 35 match was hailed as one of the greatest matches ever.

PENNY: Wrestle what?

5. Z leans back, puts his hands behind his head. Alfonso takes Reece’s seat. Penny looks annoyed.

Z: WrestleClysm. The WWA’s biggest event.

PENNY: That word’s ridiculous. I don’t like how it sounds.

ALFONSO: That match was amazing. Best thing you’ve shown me yet.

6. Reece comes out of the bathroom, zipping up his fly.

REECE: Hey Z, make sure you copy this stuff for me, ok?

7. Z reaches in his pocket

Z: I already did. 114

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. Z tosses Reece a small flash drive. Reece catches it.

2. Medium shot of Ava, still holding the joint. Her eyes are a little droopy. Behind her is the couch.

AVA: Copy? I want a copy.

DRENG: You?

3. Ava turns to him and shrugs her shoulders.

AVA: I’m out of shows to watch. I’ve seen everything.

REECE: Me too.

PENNY: Me three.

4. Medium shot of the couch. Dreng crosses his arms, looks visibly frustrated. Z and

Penny are rolling their eyes.

DRENG: Guys. Practice some skills. Do something useful.

5. A high angle shot of the living room. Penny punches Dreng in the arm.

PENNY: That’s not fair, Dreng. We have to get our minds off of this place. We need some escape.

Z: Really, Dreng. We don’t want to end up like our parents.

DRENG: Maybe not yours.

6. Z droops his head and puts his hands in his lap.

115

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Penny flashes Dreng an even angrier look. Dreng looks at her, worried, and holds up his hands.

2. She chops him on the side of the head.

DRENG: nggggggh…

3. Dreng holds his head, a look of hurt on his face.

DRENG: Ouch! That really hurt!

4. The shot is the three of them in profile, the angle from the end of the couch. Z, in the foreground, is smoldering. Dreng, in the middle, is turned toward Penny. Penny, at the end of the couch, is yelling at Dreng.

PENNY: Don’t be an asshole. It’s not a good look.

5. The shot cuts to the other end of the couch. Penny is turned to them. Dreng grimaces, his face turning red. Z looks down and blushes.

116

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Alfonso pulls out another joint, and starts to light it.

ALFONSO: C’mon, people. Can’t we just have fun tonight? All we do is fight.

LEVI: Seriously.

2. Alfonso takes a puff, hands it to Penny. She takes a hit. Dreng looks worried. Z stares ahead.

DRENG: The adults didn’t leave because they ran out of TV shows to watch. They left because they lost their sense of purpose.

Z: I don’t even know what the word purpose means anymore.

DRENG: See? You can’t even define it, can you?

Z: Maybe I’m depressed.

DRENG: Then go to the infirmary.

3. Dreng looks at Penny and sees she’s still angry.

DRENG: I’m not trying to be an asshole, okay? I just don’t want my team getting soft.

4. Close-up of the two. Penny makes air quotes.

PENNY: “My” team.

DRENG: I would actually like to avoid what happened to the adults, thank you very much. Don’t need another exodus to the Above Ground.

5. Overhead shot of the living room. Alfonso is walking back to the kitchen. Reece has taken his seat again. He’s whispering to Ava. Ava is looking over at the couch and grinning mischievously. Sarid stands up and stretches. Levi lays down on the floor, stares up at the ceiling, a beer can next to his outstretched arms.

ALFONSO: Not all the adults are gone. Some of our parents are still here. 117

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

SARID: And god bless them.

LEVI: I love our parents.

6. The shot is from the end of the couch, with Z’s small kitchen in the background.

Alfonso is bending over and peering into the fridge, looking for more alcohol. Penny, in profile, is the focus of the frame.

PENNY: You know what Dreng means. A lot of people have left.

DRENG: And a lot of people have stayed.

118

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Medium shot of Ava and Reece. Reece is holding a bottle of beer in one hand.

AVA: I think it’s sadness that drives people to the Above Ground. I’m not sad, but I can see it.

REECE: Mom is sad, but she’s still here. She didn’t leave us.

AVA: Mom is emotional. She feels all sorts of things.

2. Full shot as Alfonso walks back into the living room.

ALFONSO: Mom needs a vacation.

REECE: A vacation where?

ALFONSO: To the Above Ground.

AVA: Al…that’s not funny…

3. Medium full shot of Alfonso. He holds up his hands.

ALFONSO: Let her get some fresh air. See the sky.

SARID: Al.

ALFONSO: I’m kidding. Jeez. What we really need is more alcohol, by the way. Fridge is empty.

4. Tight medium shot of Z and Dreng on the couch.

Z: Don’t look at me. I’m not going to Center Circle.

DRENG: Come on, Z. Come with us.

Z: You don’t even drink.

5. Loose close-up of Dreng. He is holding up a finger.

DRENG: It’s important to still make your presence known.

119

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

6. Full shot of the room. Alfonso is smiling. Reece is laughing. Ava has a hand over her mouth. Sarid is walking over to the computer in the corner.

ALFONSO: Dreng just wants to go flex his muscles at Quad 8. Snarl at them a little bit.

AVA: Have a pose-off.

7. Medium full shot of the friends on the couch.

DRENG: You guys think they’re all talk, that it’s just hot air, but it’s not. They want what we have. I’m telling you. They have no adults left, and they’re squandering all their resources on steroids and barbells. At some point they’ll get desperate, and we have to be ready. Why do you think I started Home Defense?

120

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. Medium shot of Sarid sitting down at the computer.

SARID: We need to go to Quad 5 and talk to the Knowbot. He’s the only one who can find us a new motherboard. Can’t put it off any longer.

2. Medium shot of Z.

Z: Knowbot? What do you got to trade with him?

3. Full shot of the room. Levi is sitting up now, grinning. Ava is playing with the toy wrestling ring that is on the coffee table, and the little pro wrestlers. They are the same action figures from the boy’s room on page 34 (Chapter 2).

ALFONSO: Hemp.

LEVI: And a little wompwomp.

4. Medium full shot of Z, but high angled from behind the couch, with Ava, Reece, and

Levi in the background.

Z: You trying to kill him? Guy is like 110. He doesn’t drink wompwomp. We don’t even drink wompwomp.

LEVI: Figure someone’ll want some.

REECE: Someone usually does.

ALFONSO: It has its niche, that’s for sure.

Z: It’s disgusting.

5. Medium shot of Sarid sitting at the computer. He has it turned on and is waiting for it to boot.

SARID: It has its purpose. How you think we afforded our new server?

Z: What’s wrong with us? I thought we want to keep the adults sane around here. 121

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

SARID: Maybe we are?

ALFONSO: People have to escape somehow…

REECE: Without actually escaping. That’s the trick.

6. Dreng gets up from his seat,

DRENG: I’m with you, Z. I don’t like it either. It makes us soft.

122

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Medium shot of Alfonso. In the background, Dreng walks to the bathroom and shuts the door.

ALFONSO: Think about it, Z. We get that motherboard, and we have our very own

Knowbot. We’d have access to every pro wrestling video ever made. And we could share them with all of Atlantis.

Z: We don’t even know the server will work, if it’ll get to The Aether.

SARID: It will work. I’ve been studying this stuff for a long time. The Librarian has been helping me.

Z: Is there anything even to connect to?

SARID: There has to be. What do you think the Knowbot is doing? You think he just knows all these things? That all this data is stored in his brain? It isn’t. He’s connecting to an outside source.

ALFONSO: And navigating it.

Z: How?

SARID: I don’t know. If I can find this motherboard, then maybe we’ll find out.

2. Penny turns to Z and puts her legs up on the couch. He eyes her feet. Reece gets up, goes to the kitchen.

PENNY: So, what’s up with that move you pulled in the tunnels?

Z: What move?

PENNY: When you picked that little girl up over your head?

Z: I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to see what it was like to suplex someone?

3. She scoots closer to Z on the couch. She touches his shoulder. 123

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

PENNY: How’s the battle wound?

Z: Still hurts, but nothing like when she bit me. Just hideous.

4. She leans over him on the couch and lifts up his shirt. In the background, Dreng comes out of the bathroom, looking disconcerted.

PENNY: Is it infected? Let me see…

124

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. Close-up of Penny circling the wound with her fingers.

2. She puts her palm on it.

PENNY: It’s not red. It’s not hot. That’s good.

3. Zoom out. Medium shot of them sitting next to each other.

Z: Cleaned it with rubbing alcohol.

PENNY: Good boy.

4. Full shot of Dreng standing by the couch. He has his hands on his hips, as if in disapproval. Sarid is on the computer in the background

DRENG: Maybe you should follow your training a little more closely next time. Just a thought.

Z: I was giving her another choice.

DRENG: I already gave them a choice. Act, don’t react. Always be the first to engage.

ALFONSO: Hey! No shop talk!

Z: The girl was quick. I underestimated her.

DRENG: Never, ever, take your opponent for granted.

5. Penny moves back over to her spot.

PENNY: Let’s give it a break, huh?

DRENG: And lastly, our newest rule, phony wrestling makes for phony fighting…

AVA: Ouch. Cheap shot.

125

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. Medium shot of Z looking up at Dreng. He is squinting his eyes.

Z: Are you calling me a phony?

DRENG: What you pulled today was phony. Could’ve hurt the girl.

Z: I told you. It was Greco-Roman.

2. Dreng walks away to the kitchen. Z glares.

DRENG: No it wasn’t. It was that fakey shit.

3. Everyone winces. Z stands up.

Z: It’s not fake.

DRENG: You just had to restrain her. That’s all. But god forbid you ever keep it simple…

4. Z rushes Dreng. Penny holds a hand up to her mouth.

5. Z jumps on Dreng’s back. Dreng stumbles forward.

PENNY: Z!

DRENG: What the hell?

6. They crash into a bookshelf. Books go tumbling. The lampstand wobbles.

Z: I’ll show you phony…

126

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Close-up of the two struggling. Z is trying to cinch a chokehold, but Dreng is blocking it.

DRENG: Zak…that’s…enough…

2. Dreng flips Z over his shoulder. Z sells it, like an acrobat, but keeps ahold of his arm.

DRENG: I said that’s enough!

3. Z cinches Dreng into an armbar and puts all his weight on him, taking him down to the ground.

Z: Everything is fake as fuck! Say it!

ALFONSO: Hey, why don’t you guys chill?

DRENG: Nnnnggghhh….

4. Dreng breaks the hold and rolls over on top, a move known as a “hitchhiker escape.”

Everyone is standing around them, looking weary.

REECE: Watch out for the lamp!

5. Close-up of Z and Dreng on the floor. Dreng has Z pinned down. They’re both grinning.

Z: Nice reversal.

DRENG: Too lazy with your hips.

Z: I didn’t want to hurt you.

6. Dreng sits up straight and whaps Z in the face with his fingers (like a big brother would do to his little brother). Z winces, annoyed.

DRENG: Is this how you do it, Z? Is this how you pro wrestle? Am I doing it right?

7. Z wraps his arm around Dreng’s torso, bridges with his left knee, and flips him over. 127

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. High angle shot. Ava holds her hands atop her head. Reece is running to catch the lamp falling over. Sarid is still at the computer, totally focused on the screen. Penny walks away to the kitchen.

Z: You’re not being convincing.

2. Full shot of the room. Z springs to his feet grabs Dreng’s foot. He looks up at an imaginary audience, eyes wide, building up the anticipation.

3. Zoom in. Cowboy shot. Z grabs the other foot. Ava, in the background, claps, suddenly delighted. Alfonso smirks, his arms crossed.

4. Zoom in. Tight medium shot. Z steps between Dreng’s legs and crosses his knees.

5. Then Z rolls him over.

6. Z leans back on the hold, grinning. Dreng is laughing.

Z: Admit it! Admit it’s all bullshit! Atlantis, Team Defense, all of it! Or I’m never letting go!

7. Tight medium shot of Dreng’s face.

DRENG: Ok, ok, it’s starting to hurt…

8. Tight medium shot of the friends watching.

AVA: You convinced us! We believe you!

REECE: You can let go!

128

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. Close-up of Z’s face. He looks maniacal.

Z: SAY IT!

DRENG: It’s all bullshit! Ok? It’s all bullshit…you’re right…you win…

2. Medium full shot. Z lets go of his legs.

DRENG: Now get off me and go take a shower, because you stink.

3. Dreng stands up, while Z rubs his head.

Z: Sometimes I really hate your guts. You know that?

DRENG: Love you, too, fuckhead.

SARID: [off panel] Are we going to Center Circle?

4. Medium full shot of Sarid at the computer. He is turned to them. He sits slouched, with his legs spread. He is impatient.

SARID: Or we going to stand around having this pissing contest all night?

5. Wide shot of the room. Alfonso is gesturing to Z, who has his hands on his knees, winded. Dreng stands akimbo, also winded. Penny is leaning against the wall by the kitchen, bored, eating from a can. Ava and Reece sit on the couch. Ava has the remote in her hands and is turning on the TV.

ALFONSO: Come on, Z. Come with us. It feels like you haven’t come with us in forever.

Z: It’s been a month.

ALFONSO: Still.

DRENG: We could use you actually. Quad 8 is giving me bad vibes.

PENNY: I’m coming, too. Too much adrenaline. Won’t be able to sleep for a while.

129

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. Sarid walks over. He points his thumb back behind him, toward the door.

SARID: Don’t worry about Quad 8. Let’s just focus on finding the Knowbot.

2. Z walks off to his bathroom. The shot is of him walking away, rubbing his shoulder.

There is wrestling on the television.

Z: Fine. I’ll come.

3. Wide shot, from the front, of Z walking away. His friends stand in the background.

Z: But I’m taking a really long shower.

DRENG: No wasting water. Three minutes, max. We’ll meet you at HQ.

Z: Ok, watercop.

130

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Full shot of Alfonso pointing at his friends. Slight angle.

ALFONSO: I’m not ready to go to sleep, and I need more beer, so none of you assholes fuck this up. [break] I’m looking at you, Dreng. Control yourself.

2. Close-up of Dreng. He looks aggrieved.

DRENG: Center Circle belongs to everyone. It’s not me you need to be worried about.

3. Pull out to Alfonso and Dreng.

ALFONSO: Just remember that we’re representing Quad 3. We’re the civilized ones, right?

DRENG: Right. We come in peace, etc. etc. Like I said, don’t worry about me.

ALFONSO: Ok, boss.

4. Over the shoulder shot, from behind Dreng, of Alfonso walking out with the rest of the group. Dreng is unhappy. His face betrays his words.

ALFONSO: We’ll try not.

131

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 4

Center Circle (Pt. 1- Finding Mango)

Page One

1. Extreme close-up of a lizard’s eyeball: an elongated pupil that looks like a slit, with a purple iris behind it. Both the patterns and colors are similar to Ultimo Hombre’s mask and costume.

2. Pull out. The lizard has two heads. One head is high and alert, while the other is low. It hisses. This lizard looks part horny toad, part Gila monster, and very vicious. The light appears to be natural, as if this is taking place outside rather than underground. The background is red though out of focus. The lizards stands on hay that has been strewn across the floor.

3. Low angle shot from behind the lizard. The viewer can see what the mutated reptile is hissing at: on the other side of the ring is an abnormally large iguana. It looks crazed. The ring is made of plywood and chicken wire. The number 3 is painted all around its walls.

Behind the iguana is a small crowd of people. They are cheering wildly.

4. Pull out to a high angle. A referee stands between the two, holding his arms out as if keeping them separate. He is a short, skinny fellow with a long, oval face. His manor is of the utmost seriousness. Reverent, even. He has on a referee’s shirt, and a whistle hangs around his neck.

5. Close-up of the iguana. It is not only abnormally large, but ugly, hideous. There are sores on its face and cracked skin. Its mouth opens wide, showing its jagged teeth and serpentine tongue. It hisses.

IGUANA: HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 132

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Pull out. The two-headed lizard stands on its hind legs and charges the iguana. Both throats and necks are puffed out grotesquely.

LIZARDS: RAAAAAAAARRRR!

SOUND [OFF PANEL]: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

2. The iguana crouches in a defensive posture. A drone flies by in the background, looking wobbly. It is shaped like a football, with a large camera eye at its front. It is propelled by two round fans at each side.

IGUANA: SNNNNORRRRRTTTTTTTTT!

DRONE: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

3. The referee ducks his head.

4. The drone crashes between the lizard combatants, startling them. The drone tumbles across the ring, kicking up straw, and crashes into the ring, cracking the wall. The two- headed lizard is back up on its hind legs and racing away.

133

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Pull out. A man chases the lizard through the crowd. In this panel, the viewer can see that the ceiling is dome-shaped, and that it simulates natural light. The viewer can tell this because several of the panels have burned out, ruining the illusion.

VOICE: Hey! Stop him! That’s my lizard! Gil! Come back! GIL!

2. The ref stands over the drone while the lizard’s handler runs after him. The crowd is upset and have begun arguing with one another.

VOICE [off panel]: I’m sorry, Ref.

3. Full shot of a girl standing by the ring. She blushes. Her body language meek and shy.

She points back toward the market.

GIRL: It was my brother. I told him he was being stupid.

4. Full shot of the market, from the perspective of the ref and the girl. From far away, a boy is peeking his head out from behind a food stall, a done controller in his hands.

5. The ref looks at him, raises an eyebrow. In the background, the handler struggles to wrangle his iguana, who is still spooked.

6. The ref looks down at the drone. It lies on its side. One of the fans is broken.

134

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. The ref kneels down and looks at it. The panel should be large enough to hold all of the dialogue.

REF: Where’d you get this?

AMELIA: From the market.

REF: Intact?

AMELIA: In bits and pieces.

REF: Impressive. Be careful, though. It’s not a toy.

AMELIA: We will.

REF: Promise?

AMELIA: I promise.

2. The ref looks over at the drone again, narrows his eyes.

3. He grabs the drone and stands up.

REF: Don’t take this above ground. I know you’ll want to. Don’t do it. It’s too dangerous up there.

AMELIA: I won’t.

REF: Sarcos’ll snatch you two right up.

4. The ref hands the drone to her over the railing.

AMELIA: That’s not what the junkers say.

5. Close-up of the ref. He is looking away.

REF: Ask your dad if you don’t believe me. Where to you think everyone went after the seal broke? And it wasn’t by their own free will either. They were snatched up. As if the souls of five billion wasn’t enough for them. 135

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. The girl, looking striken, nods.

VOICE: [off panel] What’s the deal, huh?

2. Medium shot. A man is leaning over the ring, yelling. With one hand, he points. With the other, he holds up a small pet carrier.

MAN: Are we gonna do this or what?

3. Close-up of the pet carrier. There is an angry rattlesnake inside of it. It is missing an eye.

MAN: Or did I have Simon travel all the way here for no reason? He’s hungry. And I don’t want to feed him. He’s no good when he not hungry.

4. Full shot of the ref. He looks up at the man. The girl scampers away carrying her drone.

REF: We’ll run a couple more matches. After we fix the ring.

5. Pull out. A high shot. In the upper part of the page is the ring, the ref, the straw, the spectators cheering and placing their bets. A few come to help with the ring. Below them is the girl running south to her brother. Below her on the panel is the edge of the market.

He brother peeks out from behind a stall.

6. The girl runs up to the boy and shows him the drone. He throws his head back dramatically and sticks out his tongue.

DUNCAN: GAH!

AMELIA: We can fix it. You know we can.

DUNCAN: Was Ref mad at us? 136

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

AMELIA: He’s fine. Let’s go.

7. She runs out toward the circle’s periphery. She waves for the boy to follow, and he does.

AMELIA: C’mon, it won’t take long.

137

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. An establishing shot that takes up much of the page. Aerial shot of the two children walking toward the walls of Center Circle. They stand thirty feet tall and are made of the same gridded material as the tunnel. The children pass through a large doorway with a large yellow 3 above it. As they do, they pass Z, Sarid, Dreng, Penny, Alfonso, and Levi.

Z and Sarid come out first, followed (side by side) by Dreng and Penny, Alfonso, and then Levi, who is wearing a large backpack.

2. Side shot of Z and Sarid. Z squints, covering his eyes with his hand.

Z: [squinting] God, I hate this place.

3. Full shot. The perspective is from behind Z and Sarid. Z has his shoulder bandaged up.

In the background is Center Circle. At its very center is a tall, elaborate watchtower that is festooned with flags. It is built in a makeshift manner, much like the rest of the market.

Near it is the old gazebo. Most of the stalls that surround the center area are covered with tarps of various pastel colors. A few of the stalls use corrugated plastic, others corrugated steel, but some use whatever household items they can find: shower curtains, trash bags, blankets, duct tape, etc. Between the market and the walls is the social space: the lizard fighting ring, a small playground-turned-drug-market, a track to run on. High up, on the other side of Center Circle, are large numbers painted above the doors: 5, 6, 7, 8, 1.

Z: This light really fucks with my circadian rhythms. I can’t stand it.

138

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Side shot of Sarid with Z in the background.

SARID: I like the rhythm. Rhythm is good for us. It keeps us in harmony. We’d be lost without it, like a colony of naked mole-rats, gnashing at the world, blind.

Z: How’d you get to be so wise, Sarid?

2. Close-up. Sarid grins, a glint in his eyes.

SARID: A ten terabyte hard drive and a pair of loving parents.

3. Z looks over his shoulder, looks back.

Z: [whispers] Levi’s your brother, right?

SARID: He’s smarter than you think.

4. Pull out. Penny and Dreng walk up to them. Penny has on a jacket, her hands in her pockets. Dreng is wearing a black tank top and looking all around. Levi and Alfonso trail closely behind them.

DRENG: I don’t see Quad 8 out, but keep your eyes open. It’s going to be nighttime soon. They’re usually pretty active.

ALFONSO: This is Center Circle, Dreng. You’re not our boss here. We’re free.

DRENG: I still have a responsibility to the team.

PENNY: You don’t have to keep telling us about Quad 8. We’re all plenty aware.

5. Medium shot of Z. He grimaces.

Z: I get a headache just being here.

139

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. Alfonso slaps him on the back.

ALFONSO: Cheer up, Z. At least you don’t work here like some of us.

LEVI: It’s not so bad. I like the sunlight.

SARID: It’s not sunlight.

LEVI: Feels good to me.

2. Alfonso walks off, toward the market. He waves his hand. Levi follows.

SARID: Knowbot first. Then we find beer.

ALFONSO: [sigh] Ugh. Okay, I suppose that’s all right.

3. Sarid turns around to Z, Dreng, and Penny.

SARID: I don’t know how long it’ll take us to find him, so we’ll see you back at the residence. You want to come along, Z?

4. Z glances at Penny, then at Dreng.

Z: uhhhhh…I think I’ll hang here.

SARID: Suit yourself.

5. Sarid walks away with Alfonso and Levi.

6. Penny goes the other way.

PENNY: I’m going to get mango.

DRENG: That’s in Quadrant 7.

PENNY: So?

DRENG: You have to pass by Quadrant 8.

PENNY: First, you’re not the boss. Second, I’m not scared of Quadrant 8. They’re just a bunch of stupid idiots who don’t have anything better to do than look for fights. But 140

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 they’re not looking to go to war with us. Or with anyone for that matter. It’s why we’re down here. To survive. And right now I can’t survive without mango.

141

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Front shot of Penny walking away from Dreng and Z. Dreng follow after with Z right behind.

DRENG: I’m coming with you.

PENNY: I don’t need a bodyguard.

Z: Whoa, don’t leave me. Wait up!

2. Dreng and Z catch up with her. They walk side by side as they weave down the market aisles. Dreng looks around, as usual. The tables are sparsely populated. Many are vacant.

There is a stall in the background that has tables heaped with clothes, another stall

PENNY: I said I don’t need you.

DRENG: I have responsibilities to the team. You know that.

3. Zoom out. Establishing shot of the characters walking down the alley. They have passed a table full of clothes for sale and are coming upon a booth that sells algae in bulk.

In front of them is a man trading with the merchant, a woman. He is giving her a large bundle of mushrooms. She is wearing a head scarf; the man, a jumpsuit. (The algae is modified to have an extremely high level of protein and vitamins).

4. Medium shot of the characters passing the booth, sidestepping the man. They wave to the merchant, and the merchant waves back. She is Sarid and Levi’s mother, Talilah.

PENNY: Hello, Mrs. Grower!

GROWER: Hi, Penny! Hi, boys! Have you seen Sarid and Levi?

142

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. A faraway shot, with the back of Mrs. Grower in the foreground. She has her hands on her hips. Dreng and Z are nodding.

PENNY: They’re out there wandering around with Alfonso.

GROWER: Well, when you see them, please tell them that their mother is looking for them.

PENNY: Yes, Mrs. Grower!

2. Medium shot, from behind, of these three characters weaving their way through the market. There is a variety of vendors, though many booths are abandoned. This is to emphasize that Atlantis was once a bustling underground city before the seal broke and residents began disappearing and/or abandoning ship. This will also help illustrate that

Center Circle is Atlantis’ (very literal) hub, the quadrants circling it like the spokes of a wheel. In one booth, an old man wearing an eye patch sits behind a table that has VHS tapes, CDs, etc., stacked up on it. The booth to the right is run by a stout woman with her hair up in a bun. She sells slaughtered rabbits (and other creatures). The rabbits look strange and demonic. She is hand-wrapping one for a customer now. The rest she keeps on ice.

3. The friends keep walking, and they pass other shoppers. Many of them (though not all) are dressed in the same humble way: t-shirts and pants, sweat pants and tennis shoes, dresses and hoodies.

Z: Wow. Mrs. Grower looks healthy. That’s good. I was worried about her. She’s a nice lady. I like her a lot. She showed me a lot of attention after the seal broke and my dad left to the Above Ground. Helped me survive. Sarid and Levi are lucky. 143

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

PENNY: Sarid’s dad found her some new medicine.

Z: From where?

144

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Tight medium shot of them in profile.

PENNY: I don’t know. Something the junkers picked up. In Levelland, supposedly.

DRENG: Junkers tell a lot of tall tales about their adventures. I’d hate to put my life in their hands.

PENNY: Xochi says they’re going out farther and farther. She’s friends with them. Says they’re even getting close to the Sarcos. Like, within less of a mile.

DRENG: Impossible.

2. Close-up of Dreng. He rolls his eyes.

DRENG: I don’t believe it for a second. Junkers are crazy, not stupid.

3. Pull out. Aerial shot of the three walking through the market. The arrangement of

Quad 8’s market stalls have sort of a checkerboard design, a balance between abandoned and occupied. Most of what’s for sale is useless, though there are the occasional sellers peddling produce and food.

PENNY: Or maybe they’re just human, like you and me.

DRENG: What do you mean?

PENNY: I mean, who doesn’t want to explore?

Z: I want to explore.

DRENG: Then why not just become a junker, Z?

Z: Mutant coyotes. Toxic death. A sun that will microwave you. The exploration that I seek is of the spiritual kind.

4. Penny frowns.

PENNY: Well, you can’t find that down here. 145

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: We shall see.

DRENG: If what you want is a vision quest, talk to Levi.

Z: I prefer it not be chemically induced.

146

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. They come upon the gazebo near the watchtower at the center. Lines are painted on the concrete floor to indicate the territories. The lines are all coming together, radially, like an equally distributed pie chart. There is a man up on the gazebo, playing guitar. He has a cowboy hat pulled over his eyes as he rests against a column. His guitar case sits open in front of him. It is empty. Someone is filming him from outside the gazebo, while another stands next to him holding a boom mike. He is stocky and wears a large set of headphones.

2. The cameraman lowers his camera down and looks at Z, who is approaching, followed by Dreng and Penny. The cameraman looks happy to see him. The man holding the boom mike sets it down and lights up a cigarette.

DOCUMENTARIAN: Z!

Z: Hiya, Doc! Long time no see…

DOC: You’re telling me! Haven’t seen you in weeks? Months even? It’s hard to tell these days. Where’ve you been?

Z: You know, the usual. Fighting and training. Defending. Things of that nature.

DOC: Oh yeah? Who’ve you been fighting?

3. Before Z can answer, Dreng steps forward and sticks out his hand.

DRENG: A few feral children. Nothing to worry about.

4. Close-up of their handshake.

DRENG: Good to see you, Doc.

5. Medium shot of Doc. His smiles slyly.

DOC: Good to see you, Dreng. And you as well, Penny. 147

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

6. Penny blushes, while Dreng’s gaze goes cold.

PENNY: You too, Doc. How are things?

DOC: Well enough, I suppose.

PENNY: What’re you filming for? You have a new project?

148

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Doc sets down his camera and rubs the back of his neck, suddenly distressed. In the background stands the gazebo. There is a man sitting and playing guitar underneath it.

DOC: Well, I came to do a story on the gazebo, but I don’t know now. No one hangs out here anymore. Besides, got plenty of footage from this area already. Filmed this place a dozen of times by now, must be two dozen recordings in the vault, from the Grand

Opening to the Last Festival of 2080. So, I’m not sure if there’s much of a point in adding to the library. Honestly, I feel like we’ve reached the end of history down here.

Everything is so flat, so muted. There’s like zero perspective. It’s a hard feeling to escape, that none of this matters.

DRENG: Well, I wouldn’t go that far. That’s pretty extreme.

2. Z nods, eyebrows furrowed, as Dreng looks at him, annoyed. Doc points over at the man playing guitar.

DOC: Maybe I’ll do a documentary about Greg. He’s new. He’s different. I didn’t know there was anyone in Atlantis who still knew how to play guitar. All the Buskers disappeared a while ago.

3. Greg tips his hat.

GREG: This is a Busker guitar, matter of fact. Won it fair and square at the lizard squabbles.

4. Greg begins strumming the guitar, and belts out a verse. It does not sound good.

5. Penny and Dreng wince. Z raises an eyebrow. Doc, looking embarrassed, shrugs.

Z: Self-taught, are you?

149

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

DOC: I don’t know what else to do a story on. I’ve run out of ideas. You know how hard it is for a third-generation Documentarian to find new material? It’s a thankless task. No one cares. No one watches documentaries. No one visits the library.

PENNY: That’s not true.

150

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. A close-up of Doc smiling.

DOC: Well, I’m not talking about you guys.

PENNY: I’m not a guy.

DOC: You know what I mean. You people are cool. You people are different. I’m talking about the rest of Atlantis. Everyone would much rather sit around playing computer games or drinking wompwomp. No one’s interested in seeing a good story anymore, and no one has any stories of their own. Trust me, I’ve done hundreds of interviews. I’ve asked everybody. Like drawing blood from a rock.

Z: It wasn’t always like this.

DRENG: Why don’t you film the lizard squabbles? It’s a fairly new tradition.

2. Doc frowns, making a sour face. Penny, standing opposite, looks excited.

DOC: It’s terrible what they make the lizards do. They didn’t ask to come here. They were brought against their will.

PENNY: Do a documentary about that!

3. Doc crosses his arms and puts his thumb on his chin. Z has his hands out, like he’s asking a question. Penny smiles.

DOC: Alas, I’m afraid of the Above Ground. And the junkers, too. Besides, I’m not a journalist. I’m just a humble documentarian. Like my father and grandfather.

Z: How is your father by the way?

4. Doc shrugs his shoulders.

DOC: Still trouble breathing, but he’s hanging in there. Mostly just sits around his quarters, watching his old films, reminiscing. Hard to get him out. 151

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: Well, give him our best. He’s a great man.

DOC: Thanks, Z. I will. Where are you all headed?

152

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. Wide shot of the back of Doc’s head. In the background is Penny.

PENNY: We’re looking for mango.

DOC: Mango?

2. Medium shot of Doc. He picks his camera back up on his shoulder. In the background, the boom mike operator drops his cigarette and steps on it.

DOC: Haven’t seen any mango today. And I came through Quad 7 to get here.

3. Full shot of Dreng and Doc.

DRENG: Did you see Quad 8?

DOC: Saw Brangus, but no King Jeremy.

DRENG: Strange. Joined by the hip usually.

4. Medium shot of Penny. She turns red in the face.

PENNY: Are you serious? No mango?

DOC: I think their Growers have been having problems.

PENNY: Well, investigate it.

5. Close-up of Doc. He grins.

DOC: Not my job. But I do have mango in my freezer, if you want to stop by later.

6. Dreng steps toward her, a little frantic.

DRENG: Hey, let’s go check it out anyway. Maybe we’ll find some. We usually do.

153

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Penny storms off, irritated.

2. Dreng chases after her. Z stands behind, then follows.

DRENG: Penny, wait!

3. Dreng walks side by side with her.

DRENG: Doc doesn’t know everything. Maybe we’ll find some!

4. Penny clenches her jaw, her eyes looking up.

PENNY: Not everything is about you, Dreng.

DRENG: I know, I’m just…

PENNY: I don’t need you, or anyone, to help me find mango.

DRENG: I know…

5. Close-up of Penny.

PENNY: [lowers her voice] And you are not my boyfriend.

154

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. Dreng stops walking. He looks stung, saddened. Z catches up with him.

Z: I don’t want to be in Center Circle anymore. I want to go back.

2. Dreng glowers, hunches his shoulders a bit.

DRENG: Then why don’t you?

3. Pull out to include Penny. Penny is in foreground and the subject, Dreng and Z look at her behind.

Z: Good question, my friend.

4. Pull out some more. Aerial view.

Z: Good question.

155

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 5

Center Circle (Pt. 2- Finding the Knowbot)

Page One

1. Cut to an establishing shot of Sarid, Alfonso, and Levi. They are walking through a different part of the market. This is indicated by a lesser population, more abandoned booths, and the frequent use of yellow. In a few spots, the number 5 appears: on the side of a few booths, on a banner, spray painted onto the path with a circle around it. Sarid and Alfonso walk side by side, while Levi walks behind them, wearing a backpack.

ALFONSO: Remember Quad 5 back in the heyday?

SARID: Remember Atlantis back in the day? Before they broke the seal to the Above

Ground?

ALFONSO: Quad 5 had it together, man. They were on top of their shit.

SARID: They still are. Just in ways we don’t see.

2. Mid shot of Alfonso and Sarid.

ALFONSO: Helps to have a Knowbot live to be 110, I suppose. They had the best booths of the festival every single year. They were just so much fun. Hard to see how sadness drove them away. They seemed so happy. Must have been something dark. Something sinister.

3. Shot from behind Alfonso, Sarid, and Levi, as they walk down the market aisle. From up high.

SARID: Who knows why anyone leaves, Alfonso. Could be any number of reasons.

LEVI: What about Quad 8? Maybe Dreng’s right.

156

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Full shot from the front, from another high angle.

SARID: No. There was no violence. We would have known. Sometimes people just leave.

ALFONSO: Or they got snatched up by the Sarcos.

SARID: The Sarcos don’t need to kidnap anyone. They have five billion people. They’re doing just fine.

ALFONSO: They’ve been radio silent for over twenty years. Longer than we’ve been alive.

2. The shot is from the Sarid’s side. Alfonso is in the background. Sarid looks annoyed by Alfonso’s comment. Alfonso looks surprised by his irritation.

SARID: And? Does that fact scare you?

ALFONSO: Me? I ain’t scared of nothing.

LEVI: I’m scared of death, of dying in the catacombs.

SARID: We don’t have catacombs.

LEVI: We are a catacomb.

3. Sarid and Alfonso look at each other.

4. Sarid looks behind him.

SARID: You okay, brother?

5. Levi looks at Sarid strangely, like he’s stupid.

LEVI: Why wouldn’t I be? The sun feels warm on my skin.

SARID: It’s not the sun.

157

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

LEVI: I don’t care.

6. Alfonso looks suddenly perturbed. He looks around at the booths as they pass.

ALFONSO: I’m getting thirsty, fellas. Why do the Knowbot’s handlers always make him so hard to find?

SARID: Because he’s the last living one.

ALFONSO: Good point.

158

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Full shot of Sarid and Alfonso walking side by side.

SARID: When he dies, everything is lost. We have no backups.

ALFONSO: Unless.

SARID: Unless I get the motherboards I need.

ALFONSO: If.

2. Close-up of Sarid. He again looks annoyed.

SARID: There is no if.

3. Alfonso looks at him, wide-eyed.

ALFONSO: That’s some hardcore faith right there.

4. Medium shot of Levi.

LEVI: Mom used to call him the Little Rabbi.

5. Sarid looks back, gives a dirty look. Levi smiles goofily while pointing ahead.

ALFONSO: Ah, now this is what I’m talking about.

6. Medium shot of Alfonso. He is pointing at a booth they’re approaching. There are stools, old bar kitsch, a bartender wiping down tables.

ALFONSO: No one brews beer like Quad 5. They’re the ancient masters of underground hops.

SARID: They get their hops from Quad 4.

ALFONSO: May they always be masters of their craft. It’s all we have to live for.

7. Sarid points at the booth cattycorner to the brewery.

SARID: There he is. There’s the cutout.

ALFONSO: You need us to go with you? Or do you have it covered? 159

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. Sarid looks over at Levi, who’s looking at the bar longingly.

2. Full shot of Sarid and Levi. Sarid reaches out his arm.

SARID: No, I’ll be fine. Give me the backpack.

3. Levi hands him the backpack.

LEVI: You sure?

4. Close-up of Sarid.

SARID: Positive. Quad 5 likes us. Just behave. Don’t get in any trouble. I won’t be that long. Just a couple of questions.

LEVI: We’ll be good.

SARID: Don’t overconsume. Understand?

LEVI: Yes.

SARID: Do you?

5. Levi drops his head.

LEVI: I do.

6. Sarid turns to go.

SARID: If you run into Mom later, don’t say anything about the Knowbot.

7. Levi shakes his head. His mouth makes him look very serious.

8. Sarid walks away. Alfonso and Levi are in the background, turning to go to the bar.

160

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. The camera cuts to behind Sarid. He walks toward the booth in the background. The booth has walls made of professional siding. A large banner hangs above the entrance advertising “O” (oxygen). There is a merchant standing outside of it in a yellow robe.

MERCHANT: Well, well. If it isn’t Sarid the Grower.

SARID: Sarid Abboud.

MERCHANT: Right. You kids and your last names. A different generation, I forget.

2. Full shot of Sarid with the Merchant’s back in the foreground. Sarid opens up his backpack.

SARID: I’m here to see the Knowbot.

MERCHANT: Well, the Knowbot is very busy today.

SARID: I can pay in plants.

3. The Merchant takes the backpack and looks in it.

MERCHANT: Well, we don’t need...oh. Yes. I see. Perhaps we can make an accommodation. It smells…it smells very strong.

SARID: We’ve been working on the craft. Tightening up our skills.

4. The Merchant peers over at him, slightly annoyed.

MERCHANT: So Knowbot tells me. If we had more space in our quarters, if we had more labor to spare, perhaps we could grow cannabis sativa ourselves, but Atlantis desperately needs the purifying air. So ours is another calling.

SARID: Quad 3 is grateful for everything you contribute to Atlantis’ collective wellbeing.

161

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

MERCHANT: And we’re grateful to Quad 3 for keeping the edges of our frontier safe.

SARID: We rarely see action anymore. Really.

MERCHANT: Still, it’s good to feel safe again. You’re young. You don’t remember what things were like after the seal broke. Lost more people during that year than we lost in our entire fifty-year existence. No note. No goodbyes. Just went right out the hatch. Or so the cameras told us. They weren’t much help in ascertaining their motives.

SARID: My mother and father describe it much the same. And my friend, too. Zacharia.

His dad went out the hatch when he was eight. A lot of fear and uncertainty.

162

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. The Merchant nods seriously.

MERCHANT: Our people have much in common with yours. We’ve shared many losses, and many parts of knowledge. There’s a reason both of our quadrants include so many accomplished Growers.

SARID: Or we just got lucky.

2. Full shot of Sarid and the Merchant. The Merchant’s face is somewhat sorrowful.

MERCHANT: There is no such thing as luck. Down here, anyway. There is only preparation, the will to persist. Luck is the word we use for things out of our control. It’s a pointless thing to think about or even consider.

3. The Merchant turns and motions for Sarid to follow. A banner with the “O” hangs above the doorway at the top of the page.

MERCHANT: It’s time to see the Knowbot, Mr. Abboud. Please follow.

4. They walk into the booth’s lobby. A high angled shot of the room. There are several glass display cases, of various sizes, with many different plants growing inside them. The plants are strange and exaggerated. There are many leafy plants, but also ferns and flowering plants. In the corner is a tall palm. The room is misty with water. There are small misters above their heads. The Merchant has the backpack slung over his shoulder.

MERCHANT: Things aren’t what they used to be, but we’re still a proud people. We know our value to Atlantis, what we bring. We know that our survival is not up to luck.

And neither is yours.

5. Full shot of Sarid. He is inspecting one of the ferns, squeezing the leaves. The

Merchant stands behind him 163

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

SARID: Quad 2 might disagree.

MERCHANT: Quad 2 was foolish. They didn’t listen.

164

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. The shot is from over The Merchant’s shoulder. Sarid is in the background looking at the plant.

SARID: Quad 2 lost more people than anyone.

MERCHANT: They lacked resilience. Their children weren’t taught the trades. Quad 2 collapsed because they didn’t put in the effort.

2. Sarid puts his hands up and steps away from the fern. In the background, the Merchant picks up a walkie-talkie from the counter.

SARID: They didn’t have any of their old-timers live to be 110 either.

MERCHANT: Neither did Quad 3.

SARID: Maybe, but…wow…I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded…

MERCHANT: That’s a hybrid Chinese evergreen. It can produce oxygen without light, in total darkness. A marvel, really. One of our most impressive breakthroughs.

3. Sarid looks at his hands.

SARID: That’s impossible, though, isn’t it?

MERCHANT: Our specialty is raising oceanic plant life miles below earth, so I guess you can say that anything is possible.

4. Extreme close-up of Sarid’s face. His eyes are wide.

SARID: Wow. This plant is amazing. My mind feels clear. My body fresh. What can I trade for it?

5. Full shot of the Merchant.

MERCHANT: You can just have one. As a token of our friendship.

165

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

6. The Merchant walks over to the wall and unlocks it. Sarid looks up at the ceiling and sees the camera in the corner.

MERCHANT: We’ll pick it up on the way back out.

166

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. The Merchant speaks into a walkie talkie.

MERCHANT: A visitor is here to see the Knowbot. Talihah Grower’s son. From Quad 3.

He has excellent goods.

2. A closeup of Sarid.

VOICE: Send him through.

3. The Merchant and Sarid walk through a makeshift hallway, like a well-manufactured sidewalk shed that people walk underneath in big cities when there is construction. Lots of bars and pipes with tarps covering them.

MERCHANT: Quad 5 and Quad 3. We harvest algae so our people can breathe, you grow algae so people can eat. You’re the ying to our yang. True balance, just like Chuck

Moonberg intended.

4. They walk through the entrance of a greenhouse. A large establishing shot of the room. The siding and roofing are made of plastic, the ceiling gabled. The greenhouse is situated in the middle of a courtyard. Because of that, a lot of artificial light pours through. There is the same assortment of plants as in the lobby, except a larger number. It is very misty and humid. A gardener is at work tending to the plants. There are flaps over the entrance and exit.

MERCHANT: But no one cares what the Founder thought. Except for the Chuckies of course, who do their best to remind us. But perhaps it’s good to forget. Atlantis has its flaws. That is a fair complaint. Some ideas he didn’t think all the way through. But he still came from a place of wisdom when he designed our city. His intentions were good, and his vision prescient. He is the one who brought us all down here together, who sold 167

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 our ancestors a dream for the future. He has always been the center of our wheel, but now he’s discarded, insignificant, a speck of dirt, even as we continue living under his design, obeying his orders. Even now, after the Abandonment, we still cling to the founder’s notions of conducting things. Balance, mutual respect, non-aggression. Our survival has become an unconscious effort. For some of us at least. Others think more about shedding the past forever, which seems to worry me far more than you youngbloods.

168

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. They walk out into the courtyard. It is partitioned off by a circular arrangement of walls.

SARID: We’re aware of Quad 8.

2. They walk across the courtyard, toward another door.

MERCHANT: I only hear what my fellow denizens tell me. Some are afraid that they’re descending into chaos.

SARID: They lost nearly as many people as Quad 2, but they’re resilient. They’re strong.

They’re not going to collapse.

3. Close-up of the Merchant. He looks stricken.

MERCHANT: That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.

4. They walk into yet another hallway.

MERCHANT: It would be easier if we dispersed them among the remaining quadrants, shut the whole area down. But that’s not for me or anyone else to decide.

5. They walk down the hallway, turn right at a junction.

SARID: Quad 8 does like to fight. But real violence, the carnage that the Founder spoke against, I don’t think they have it in them.

6. The Merchant turns around and smiles.

MERCHANT: That hardly gives me much comfort, but at least we’ll always have our friends from Home Defense.

169

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Medium shot of Sarid following behind him. He holds up his hands and shrugs.

SARID: We only engage with outsiders. There is no conflict within Atlantis proper.

MERCHANT: Yes, no police force, no deputizing, no vigilantism, as Chuck Moonberg once decreed. But over time, everything evolves. Even us. I remember when having to guard the borders was once unthinkable. Why would we have to if nobody outside of

Atlantis could get in? When all we had to worry about were our neighbors?

2. A high angled shot from behind them. Down the hallway is a door. A guard sits outside in a chair. He is slumped over, asleep.

MERCHANT: It never occurred to Chuck that cities might collapse, or that some of the residents might start opening the escape hatch. He was always an idealist. His greatest quality and his greatest flaw.

3. They approach the door. The Merchant pulls out his keys to unlock it.

4. The Merchant opens the door and sweeps his arm forward. In the background, the guard is startled awake.

MERCHANT: Here we are. After you, Mr. Abboud.

5. Side shot. Sarid walks past the Merchant, into the room, as the Merchant hands him back the backpack.

MERCHANT: The Knowbot will decide the number of questions. I’ll come back when you’re done.

170

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Sarid walks inside. The room has a low ceiling. It has the warm feeling of a study, but there is an absence of books. At the far end of the room is a desk facing away from the wall. There is a typewriter with paper stacked next to it. In a cup are a couple of pens.

There is also a French press, steaming with coffee. To the right of the desk, toward the corner of the room are two Victorian chairs that face each other. Between them is a tall coffee table with a steaming mug sitting on top of it, as well as a couple books. In one chair is the Knowbot, and in the other chair is the Librarian. The Knowbot is a desiccated old man. His eyes are cloudy, though he’s not blind. He has on a yellow silken robe. His hair is white and long, his beard is scruffy. He is drinking from a mug. The Librarian appears to be in his fifties, and wears a hirsute green suit jacket with brown dress pants.

His hair is slicked back. He looks like an old-school professor. He leans forward with some papers in his hand, as if they’re intensely discussing something. The Knowbot’s wheelchair is parked next to them. The Knowbot’s nurse, a burly man, sits in a chair near the corner with his hands in his lap.

LIBRARIAN: …and you’re certain that that’s what it means? That this person was quoting a song from popular music? Fascinating. I would have never thought. Figured it was a philosopher.

2. Full shot of the Knowbot and Librarian. The Librarian sets his papers down and stands up from his chair.

KNOWBOT: Mmmhmm…The Butthole Surfers, I am certain.

LIBRARIAN: Sarid! Fancy seeing you here!

171

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

3. Sarid and the Librarian shake hands. Sarid has his backpack slung over his shoulder. In the background, the Knowbot leans over the coffee table and begins writing something down. The nurse is peering over, nosily.

SARID: I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just have some questions.

LIBRARIAN: We were just about done. I found what I came for.

172

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. The Librarian eyes Sarid’s backpack.

LIBRARIAN: Which is good, because his answers aren’t cheap.

2. Sarid adjusts his backpack, stands up a little straighter.

SARID: They are not.

LIBRARIAN: I pay with the coffee beans I get from Quad 7. Costs me a pretty penny, about one hundred books per pound. Out of my own library, of course. I’d never trade anything sacred. Quad 7 doesn’t really care about the books. I think they just like skinning me. At least we have the junkers bringing in new material now. They used to ignore books completely, until I brought it up with the organizers, stressed the importance.

3. A medium shot of them in profile.

SARID: I’ve been meaning to come to the library.

LIBRARIAN: You want to reconnect The Aether? Am I right?

4. High angle shot of Sarid.

SARID: That’s part of it, yes.

5. Full shot of the Librarian. In the background, the Knowbot is still writing. His nurse stands behind the wheelchair.

LIBRARIAN: Junkers brought down some technical manuals last week. They look useful.

SARID: From where?

LIBRARIAN: An electronic shop in Brownfield.

173

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. A medium long shot that captures the whole room. Sarid stands looking surprised. The

Librarian holds up his hands as he speaks.

SARID: That’s far out there.

LIBRARIAN: Their farthest journey by 12.5 miles. I’ve been mapping their course, whenever I’m able to get information. Which isn’t that often. Junkers find my questions annoying. They just want to be left alone. Mysterious lot. Willing to trade their hauls but not their stories. But there’ve been whispers, you know, about the Sarcos. That they show no sign of activity. That they’re tombs. I’d like to go see for myself, but I have my daughter to look after. You remember what happened…to her mother…

SARID: But no one has actually been to the Sarcos. How could they know?

2. Full shot of the Knowbot in his chair. He is holding up his pen and looking at what he wrote.

KNOWBOT: Finished! I have the record you’re looking for. Sorry if my handwriting is hard to read. It’s not easy being this old.

LIBRARIAN: That’s really okay. You’re doing me a great service. Without you, I’d be utterly lost to the void. Besides, I’ve seen worse handwriting. Much worse. Would drive you mad if you stared at it for long enough.

3. The Librarian turns to Sarid.

LIBRARIAN: Stop by the library sometime. I’ll give you those manuals if you promise me you’ll take care of them.

SARID: Of course.

174

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

LIBRIARIAN: And see if Z will bring those video, too. I’d like to record them. For posterity.

SARID: If we get to The Aether, you won’t have to. They will belong to everybody.

Everybody with a computer.

LIBRIARIAN: I don’t doubt your intelligence, Sarid. But down here in the underworld, I don’t take anything for granted. I’d still like to borrow those videos. Just in case. Do you know where he got them?

SARID: Passed down from his grandfather. His dad hid them before he disappeared. Z found them a couple of months ago.

LIBRARIAN: Huh. Well, thanks for asking him. Always excited for new material for the library.

175

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. The Librarian turns to the Knowbot and takes the paper from him. The Knowbot smiles, his cheeks ruddy. The nurse walks up behind the Librarian, ready to escort him to the door.

LIBRARIAN: I’ll be back soon. I’m eternally grateful, as usual.

2. The Librarian looks closely at the paper. His eyes narrow.

LIBRARIAN: [muttering] The Butthole Surfers…

3. He walks out the door, still talking to himself. The nurse walks with him.

LIBRARIAN: “You never know just how you look through someone else’s eyes.” Not an ancient Greek philosopher, or even a phenomenologist. But a pop song all along! That’s amazing. I’d never have guessed it.

4. The Knowbot pours himself another cup of coffee. Sarid has his back turned to him, is the looking at the nurse. The nurse shuts the door behind the Librarian.

KNOWBOT: My handwriting gets smaller and smaller every year. He’ll need a microscope just to read it. I’m told it’s a sign of Parkinson’s, but who knows. I’m not a doctor. I’m just a very old man with ancient hardware in his head.

5. The Knowbot looks at Sarid. Sarid turns back around. The nurse is sitting down in the wheelchair.

KNOWBOT: Please, have a seat. How can I help you today?

6. A close shot of the backpack as Sarid hands it over.

SARID: I have some questions.

KNOWBOT: Of course you do.

176

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. Medium shot. Knowbot opens up the backpack, looks inside.

SARID: [off frame] A lot of questions.

2. Knowbot leans back from the smell. His eyes are wide, and he makes an “o” with his mouth.

KNOWBOT: Wow! Yes, I get that.

3. Medium full shot of Sarid looking at the Knowbot in his chair.

SARID: Whatever you think is fair.

4. The Knowbot looks up at him and squints.

KNOWBOT: Sit down, sit down. Please.

5. Sarid sits down as the Knowbot reaches into the backpack.

KNOWBOT: You boys have been hard at work, I see. This is…I’ve never seen cannabis like this.

SARID: It’s just a weed. Not hard to grow.

6. The Knowbot pulls out a large, crystallized bud. It has purple swirls in it and glitters.

KNOWBOT: Still, a plant like this takes a lot of care, a lot of attention.

177

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Close-up of the Knowbot smelling the bud, his eyes wide.

KNOWBOT: It takes love.

2. Full shot of the two in their chairs. The Knowbot looks up at Sarid.

KNOWBOT: I’ll give you fifty questions. You don’t have to use them all now.

3. A medium shot of Sarid. He pulls out a notepad from his back pocket.

SARID: Thank you. That’s very generous. You know I’ve always respected…

KNOWBOT: No need for reverence, boy. I’m long past pomposity. I’ve never liked it, the way people treat me. I don’t actually know anything. I’ve never had to work. I’m the same as anyone born during my age. I just outlived them all. Through sheer luck.

SARID: The Merchant and I were just discussing that.

4. The Knowbot taps the side of his head.

KNOWBOT: The Merchant is a prick. He comes from a family of pricks. A long lineage of them. I know. I’ve investigated.

5. The Knowbot picks up his coffee mug. There is an image of a cowboy printed on it, his hands by his holsters.

KNOWBOT: No one has contributed to Quad 5 less than the Merchant. He believes he’s indispensable when really he just mans the store. The real brains are our Growers. I could tell you everything you could need to know about plant life. Every detail of every type, every genus, every species, down to its chemical composition. But get me around actual plants, get me in the greenhouse, and I’m useless. And not just because I’m old either!

I’ve always been useless. The only difference now is that I’m rare. I’ve no real idea of

178

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 what’s floating around inside my head. No real knowledge. Heh. The Knowbot. It’s a joke, that’s what it is. I feel confident telling you this because I like you.

179

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. Medium close-up of the Knowbot holding his coffee cup.

KNOWBOT: But they do wear on me, especially the Chuckies, always asking me about the Founder. Then there are the fanatics like the Librarian. He’ll never be satisfied.

Though I guess I shouldn’t complain.

2. The Knowbot takes a sip of coffee and winks.

KNOWBOT: Mmmm…always brings me good coffee. Maybe the best I’ve ever had.

You should try some. Clement? Could you make us another pot.

3. Zoom out. A full shot of the room. The desk is to the left of the page, while to the right is the Knowbot and Sarid sitting in their seats. By the desk is a table against the wall.

There is a small one burner stove and a French press. Clement, the nurse, walks over to it.

KNOWBOT: Now give me a question, Mr. Abboud. How can I help you?

4. Close-up of Sarid. His eyes harden. He looks determined.

SARID: I need to find some new motherboards. If I can, then I think I can access the

Aether.

180

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. The Knowbot looks up from his cup, raises an eyebrow.

KNOWBOT: Well, you can’t find those kind of motherboards down here.

SARID: I know.

2. Medium shot of the Knowbot. It is from behind Sarid. The Knowbot holds up a hand.

KNOWBOT: So you’ll be talking to the junkers then?

3. Closeup of Sarid.

SARID: I don’t need the junkers. I can find it on my own.

4. Zoom out on the two sitting across from each other. The nurse is turning the crank on a coffee grinder.

KNOWBOT: I see. Have you ever been up there before?

SARID: I thought I was the one asking questions.

5. Medium shot of the Knowbot. He holds up a hand, smirking.

KNOWBOT: You’re right. I’m sorry. Here you’ve brought me the most pungent cannabis I’ve ever encountered, and now I’m wasting your time. You see, I just don’t know much about the Above Ground in its present condition. It’s what I tell the junkers.

Sometimes they find the thing where I tell them the thing will be; other times, they don’t.

But they don’t tell me much, either way, or ask a whole lot of questions. I’m not positive that I can help you.

6. Close-up of Sarid. He darkens a bit, annoyed.

SARID: I’ll be fine. I’m not your ordinary Grower.

KNOWBOT: [off panel] Right, Home Defense. I remember you telling me. You’re valuable to Atlantis in many ways, Sarid. I don’t want us to lose you. 181

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. Zoom out. The nurse is pouring hot water into the French press.

SARID: I appreciate your concern. But really, I’ll be okay.

KNOWBOT: You can find your motherboards in what used to be designated as

Muleshoe, Texas. There is an electronic shop downtown. 1472 Water Street. I’ll draw you a map.

2. Sarid writes it down in his notebook.

SARID: Muleshoe. I thought you might say that.

KNOWBOT: Any other questions?

3. Close-up of Sarid.

SARID: What is the Aether?

4. Over the shoulder shot of the Knowbot, from behind Sarid.

KNOWBOT: You’ve asked me this before.

SARID: Tell me again.

5. The nurse walks up to the coffee table and, with one hand, sets down the French press on the coffee table and, with the other, another coffee cup. It has the same picture of the cowboy.

KNOWBOT: I don’t know what the Aether is. I know what it was.

SARID: What do you think it is?

182

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Medium shot. The Knowbot looks toward the room.

KNOWBOT: A wireless antenna out there, somewhere, that has somehow kept running.

Solar powered probably.

SARID: But the network. The NSP. What is it?

2. The Knowbot grabs the French press. He is irritated and his hands shake.

KNOWBOT: I’ve told you. I don’t have access to that information. I’m not a computer,

Sarid. I’m still a person.

SARID: But you say that the Above Ground is a wasteland, that over seven billion people migrated to the Sarcos. How could a network still be up and running if that’s true?

3. The Knowbot pours coffee, grimacing a bit. It splashes everywhere.

KNOWBOT: What do you want from me? Do you want to crack my head open and examine for yourself? Go sifting through my gray matter?

SARID: I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand.

4. The Knowbot sets down the French press.

KNOWBOT: I’m not hiding anything from you. I simply find speculation tedious. This is far out of my wheelhouse. If you want to know so badly, go find your motherboards.

SARID: I have some more questions.

KNOWBOT: Of course, of course.

5. Sarid grabs the cup.

SARID: Who was The Survivor?

KNOWBOT: Disambiguation, please.

SARID: The professional wrestler. 183

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

6. The Knowbot strokes his chin.

KNOWBOT: Ah. Well. Let me see.

7. The Knowbot holds up a finger. It looks as if he’s staring into nothingness. Behind him, the nurse is sitting in his wheelchair. He has dozed off.

KNOWBOT: His name was Zacharia Hayes. Born 2001, died 2045.

SARID: Was he a resident of Atlantis?

184

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Close-up of the Knowbot. He is tilting his head, his eyes milky white.

KNOWBOT: Yes. For a short time.

SARID: [off frame] How short?

KNOWBOT: Five months.

SARID: [off frame] How’d he die?

KNOWBOT: Unknown illness.

2. Medium shot of Sarid. He is still holding his coffee cup.

SARID: So Z is telling the truth? Or his grandfather was?

3. The Knowbot turns his head and spies the nurse sleeping in his wheelchair.

KNOWBOT: I did not know the original Zacharia Hayes, yes, but yes, it seems a reasonable inference.

4. Zoom out. The Knowbot reaches down and grabs his cane.

SARID: Why did pro wrestling disappear?

5. The Knowbot squints.

KNOWBOT: Same reason everything disappeared. The Tilt.

185

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. The Knowbot turns around and nudges the nurse with his cane. The nurse is startled.

KNOWBOT: Don’t go falling asleep on me now! There’s plenty of work for you!

NURSE: NGH!

2. Zoom in. Medium shot. The nurse scratches his head.

KNOWBOT: Type up my notes from this morning. File them away with the rest.

NURSE: Yes, Knowbot. I’ll get on it immediately. I’m sorry for falling asleep. Must not be getting enough oxygen today. Need some huffs of phytoplankton. It’ll wake me right up.

KNOWBOT: Brew more coffee. Make yourself useful.

3. Zoom out. The nurse stands up from his chair. The Knowbot turns back to Sarid.

KNOWBOT: I’m sorry. Where was I?

SARID: I deserve a real answer from you. No more stalling.

KNOWBOT: In 2044, there was a crackdown on pro wrestling in the United States, as well as a few other countries. It was put down through force.

SARID: Why?

4. The Knowbot makes air quotes with his fingers.

KNOWBOT: For promoting “an atmosphere of conflict and incivility.” Apparently, it was not contributing to the spirit of the times in a positive manner.

SARID: But the world was ending…

186

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. Zoom out on the Knowbot and Sarid. The frame is large enough to capture a long exchange of dialogue.

KNOWBOT: Which gave the state more power to implement the Positive Mental

Attitude Initiative.

SARID: I don’t understand.

KNOWBOT: That’s okay. None of us really do.

SARID: What were they trying to accomplish?

KNOWBOT: They believed in the powers of putting mind over matter. It wasn’t uncommon back then. They thought it was our collective bad attitude that was upending order, not the world Going on Tilt.

2. Zoom out. Behind the Knowbot, the nurse has sat down at the desk. He is in front of the typewriter.

KNOWBOT: Yes, pro wrestling was driven away through the use of state violence, but it would have disappeared no matter what. Can’t sustain the industry when five billion people are migrating to the Sarcos.

3. Same perspective. The nurse is inspecting the Knowbot’s handwritten notes.

KNOWBOT: Maybe they have pro wrestling in there. It’s doubtful, but you never know.

These are mysterious times. I am truly humbled by how little I can tell you.

4. Zoom in on Sarid and Knowbot.

SARID: I have so much more to ask you.

KNOWBOT: Ask away. I’ve had my coffee. I’m ready for it.

187

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Four

1. Closeup of Sarid. He looks worried.

SARID: But my friends are waiting. I have to go. I don’t want them to get into trouble.

2. Zoom out on the Knowbot. A medium shot.

KNOWBOT: That’s fine, Mr. Abboud. Your credit is always good with us. You’re welcome any time. Just do me one thing.

3. Zoom out on the two. The nurse is typing away.

SARID: Anything.

KNOWBOT: Promise me you’ll be safe if you venture to the Above Ground. Tell me you won’t do anything that’s too dangerous.

4. Sarid gets up from his seat. He puts his hand over his heart. The Knowbot is reaching into the backpack.

SARID: I promise you, I know what I’m doing.

KNOWBOT: Perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Nurse! I’m ready to return to

Quad 5. I desire a nap…

5. The Knowbot holds up a bud to his nose. He smiles blissfully.

KNOWBOT: …and some time with this beauty.

6. Zoom out. The nurse picks up the Knowbot and carries him to his wheelchair.

KNOWBOT: You do good work, Sarid. You’re one of Atlantis’s very best and brightest.

188

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Five

1. The nurse pushes the wheelchair to the door. Sarid stands in the background.

KNOWBOT: I wish you luck in your quest for total knowledge. I have all the faith in the world that you will succeed.

2. Zoom out. A full shot of the room.

KNOWBOT: But, please, keep your dreams in check.

3. Zoom out again. An aerial shot of Center Circle. It appears labyrinthine and chaotic.

KNOWBOT: Don’t expect our knowledge to save us.

4. Zoom out again. And aerial shot of the plains, the Sarcos on the horizon.

KNOWBOT: Don’t expect it to set us free.

189

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 6

Center Circle (Pt. 3- Beef with Quad 8)

Page One

1. An extreme closeup of a CD. There is a face in the metallic reflection, a rainbow glint.

The viewer can’t make out the entire shape of the disc, but there is a quarter of a circle in the bottom right hand corner. This is a fairly large panel, which takes up much of the page.

KING JEREMY: [off frame] A-ha! Here’s the shit! Right here!

2. Zoom out. A teenage boy is holding it up and peering at it. He has a thick eyebrows and acne. He wears long earrings and has a misshapen mullet.

KING JEREMY: Been looking for this for weeks! Junkers didn’t trade it for cheap. For what? Ten sheets of blotter?

3. Cut to a boombox. He has put the CD in a boom box and his hand is reaching away.

The CD reads “IGGY AND THE STOOGES” on the top and “RAW POWER” on the bottom.

KING JEREMY: Ah, well. Was worth every bit of it.

190

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Zoom in on his finger. It pushes play.

KING JEREMY: If this doesn’t turn us up, nothing will.

2. Zoom out. Establishing shot of the Quad 8 market. Two pages. An aerial view. This part of Center Circle is the most run down that we’ve so far seen. It’s like a ghetto.

Empty booths mar the market alley. Flags and banners hang in tatters along both sides.

Signs have fallen off their hinges. Rooves are caved in, the ground littered with trash. The artificial sunlight is of poor quality in this part. A number of the panels have burned out overhead. A small group of people are walking away, their backs turned, shoulders slouched, hoodies pulled over their heads. Past them, on the horizon, between the walls of

Center Circle and the market, is a small playground complete with a slide, monkey bars, and a couple of spring riders. There are shadows lingering about. On the right hand page, closer to the bottom corner, is a group of kids hanging out by a booth next to a dead tree.

There are seven of them in all: four boys and three girls. Nearly all of them are freakishly muscular, except one. There is a boom box set up on the concrete tree planter, and it’s blasting music. Zoom in. One boy (CONROY) does pushups, while another (BRINKS

BRANGUS) hangs onto the doorway of the booth, doing pullups. A large girl (SUE

NAMI) stands in front of them, keeping watch. She is built like a small tank. She squints, her massive arms crossed against her chest. A long ponytail hangs down to her waist.

Another girl, NORA, sits with her back against the tree planter, her knees pulled up to her chest. She has on dark mascara and twirls her hair. She is not as muscular as the rest of the group. Her skin is light. Standing in the middle, front and center, is the tallest boy of the bunch: KING JEREMY THE WICKED. He wears leather jeans and a leather vest, 191

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020 with a white tank top underneath. He is playing air guitar. Musical notes are coming from the boombox (♫♫).

192

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Zoom in on KING JEREMY. He begins strutting like a concert performer, gesticulating wildly. The boombox is in the background, on the planter. Who’s

BOOM BOX: [in large font] ♫♫ I’m a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm

♫♫

KING DAVID: ♫♫ [Sings along] ♫♫ [the speech bubbles converge into one]

2. Zoom out. King Jeremy spins around, cocking his head back à la Robert Plant. Behind him, in the booth, is SICK NICK, a tall boy, with a dark, wavy afro. He is the one overseeing transactions. They have a small line of customers. All of them are carrying things to trade. Sick Nick is being helped by his NEPHEW and NIECE. Sick Nick judges the trade, while the Niece hands out poker chips that the customers will exchange at the playground for drugs, which the Nephew handles. This is the way in which Quad 8 survives. Atlantians come from everywhere to trade food and essential goods for narcotics. There may not be any adults left in Quad 8, but the children still have an exceptional chemist (S.A.N.D.O.Z., not pictured).

BOOM BOX: ♫♫ I’m a runaway son of the nuclear A-bomb, ♫♫

KING JEREMY: ♫♫ [Sings along] ♫♫

3. Zoom in on King David. The shot is still from faraway, but King David is back to being the focus of the frame. He’s really feeling the song. Sweat flies from his brow.

BOOM BOX: ♫♫ I am the world's forgotten boy ♫♫

♫♫ The one who searches and destroys ♫♫

♫♫ Honey, gotta help me please ♫♫

KING JEREMY: ♫♫ Sings along ♫♫ 193

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

4. Zoom in. Close-up of King David. His eyes are closed, spittle flying.

KING JEREMY: ♫♫ Somebody gotta save my soul! ♫♫

194

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. Zoom in even closer. Extreme close-up. A vein has popped out of the side of his head.

KING JEREMY: ♫♫ Baby, detonate for me! ♫♫

2. Zoom out. Aerial shot. King Jeremy holds out his arms in the air.

KING JEREMY: ♫♫ Oh! ♫♫

3. Zoom in. Full shot. King David looks struck by something. His eyes are open. He scratches his head.

KING JEREMY: Oh?

4. Zoom in. A medium full shot. King Jeremy grins.

KING JEREMY: Oh!

5. Full shot of King David. Behind him, the Nephew hands some poker chips over to a customer while Sick Nick takes the box of canned goods.

KING JEREMY: Huh. Never thought of it like that! Sue!

195

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. Medium shot of Sue. She turns her head around.

SUE: Yeah?

KING JEREMY: We’re the forgotten boys! It’s us!

SUE: What?

2. King Jeremy stands in front of her.

KING JEREMY: This song! They’re singing about us! We’re the forgotten boys! It’s us!

3. Medium shot of Sue. She raises an eyebrow.

SUE: Boys?

4. Zoom out. King Jeremy holds up his hands.

KING JEREMY: You know what I mean.

SUE: Nope. Can’t stand this fucking music.

5. She flexes her arms and cracks her neck.

SUE: Makes me want to crank someone’s head off.

6. Zoom out. All six of the kids are in the frame again. Brangus lets go of the doorway, drops down. Conroy is sitting on the ground.

KING JEREMY: The song! It’s telling us how to live!

SUE: So?

196

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. Close-up of King Jeremy. His eyes narrow, and he makes a very serious face.

KING JEREMY: It’s a good feeling. A nice change of pace, yah know? Makes me feel alive! We are the forgotten boys! The ones who searches and destroys!

2. Medium shot. Sue turns to him.

SUE: You can’t destroy in Atlantis. It’s a utopia. You can only crank on someone until they give up. It’s the rules.

KING JEREMY: You know what I mean! We dominate this place! We really do. No one can fucking touch us, not even punk ass Quad 3, who are too fucking good to ask us to be on Home Defense. They’re just scared of us. That’s all. We’re always going to survive, and that pisses them off. We were once forgotten, but now we’re feared! We’re the nuclear A-bombs! With hearts full of napalm! No one fucks with us!

SUE: Napalm? What the hell is napalm?

3. Zoom out. In the frame: Sue, King Jeremy, Conroy, and Nora.

NORA: Oooo. I’ve read about napalm. It sounds amaaaaaaazing.

4. Zoom in on the girl. She grins, wiggling her finger.

NORA: Basically like sticky fire.

5. Zoom out. Brangus hangs his head. Nora consoles him.

BRANUS: I wish I could read.

NORA: You can still learn!

197

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Full shot of King Jeremy waving his arms frantically. Sick Nick and Nephew #1 are in the background. Sick Nick is holding up three fingers, indicating three poker chips.

KING JEREMY: None of you are listening! Doesn’t matter what napalm is! Or A- bombs! It’s how the words and music makes you feel! And they’re making me feel pretty good right now! Like we can do anything!

2. Close-up of King Jeremy.

KING JEREMY: This should be our song!

3. Zoom out. Conroy walks up to King Jeremy and Sue.

SUE: You want to make every song our song.

4. Same perspective. Conroy dusts his hands.

KING JEREMY: I’m trying to rally you guys! Everyone’s been in such a funk! Where’s the spirit? Where’s the energy?

CONROY: We need some battle. That’s what.

5. Sick Nick sticks his head out of the booth and turns to them. The Nephew is behind him, handing out more poker chips.

SICK NICK: Battles are bad for business. Just want to let you dipshits know that. Brings around Chuckies. And no one wants to be around Chuckies.

6. Medium shot of King Jeremy and Sue.

KING JEREMY: Who cares? Let’s go somewhere.

SUE: No one wants to battle us.

198

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. King Jeremy makes quotations marks with his fingers.

KING JEREMY: How about Quad 3? Let’s go stir some shit with Home Defense.

2. Nora points to a stack of goods outside the booth which they bartered for.

NORA: Could we at least stock up on some more protein first? I just see a lot of sugar and starches.

BRANGUS: Yeah, yeah, real fancy words.

3. Zoom in. Medium shot of Nora.

NORA: I said I can teach you to read!

4. The camera angle is from behind. A shot of their backs, out toward the market. The back wall is missing from the booth across from them, revealing the other side. Walking toward them, and visible through the giant hole in the wall, is Deng, Penny, and Z.

Conroy points at them.

CONROY: Hey, hey, hey! Look who it is!

SUE: Cool it. Don’t want them up in our business.

KING JEREMY: What the?! Planning on walking through Quad 8 are they?!

199

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Close-up of King Jeremy. Spittle is flying.

KING JEREMY: Those jerks!

2. Medium shot of Dreng, Penny, and Z. They walk down Quad 7’s market aisle, toward

Quad 8. Penny is up toward the front, looking aggravated. Dreng follows closely behind, looking apologetic. Z walks behind them, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

DRENG: Look, I’m sorry.

PENNY: You don’t have to be sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry about.

DRENG: I didn’t find mango.

3. Medium shot of Penny.

PENNY: Finding mango is not your responsibility! It just sounded nice to me at the time!

But now you’re making it out to be such a big deal! Gah!

4. Close-up of Penny.

PENNY: Forget it! Forget I said anything about mango! I just want to get back home!

5. Zoom out. Full shot, from behind, of the three walking down the alley.

Z: We haven’t checked out Quad 8…

PENNY. Z, stop.

Z: I’m serious.

6. Zoom in. Dreng looks back at Z, annoyed.

DRENG: Quad 8 doesn’t have mango, Z. They have drugs.

Z: People trade them things for the drugs.

KING JEREMY [off frame]: WELL, WELL, WELL! LOOK WHO IT IS!

200

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Full shot of the hole in the wall. King Jeremy is standing in the center, peaking his head through. Sue, Brangus, and Conroy walk up behind him.

KING JEREMY: If it isn’t our Atlantian heroes! The defenders of the realm!

2. Zoom in. Full shot of King Jeremy. He leans on a support beam and sneers.

KING JEREMY: What would we ever do without you?! Who would ever defend us against the starving children who come begging for food?!

3. Medium side shot of Dreng, Penny, and Z. Dreng hunches his shoulders and clenches his fists. He has walked ahead. Penny holds out a hand, worried. Z’s mouth hangs slightly open.

PENNY: You ignore them, Dreng.

DRENG: These motherfuckers…

PENNY: Please don’t…

4. Close-up of Penny.

PENNY: Let’s just turn around. We can go home another way. Please. Let’s go watch pro wrestling.

5. Zoom out. It’s just Dreng and Penny in the frame. Penny looks at Dreng, nervous.

Dreng glares, still clenching his fists.

DRENG: No. Not this time. Not again.

Z: They’re just fucking with you, Dreng. They get off on it. Don’t take the bait. They’re just kids.

DRENG: They are not kids. They’re capable of learning.

PENNY: It’s not your job to teach. 201

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Zoom out. Aerial view. The other rows of the market are visible. They bend in their concentric circles. The border between Quad 7 and Quad 8 is marked by the ropes tied across overhead. Dreng keeps walking ahead of Penny and Z, an aggressive posture.

DRENG: No. I can’t project weakness. We have credibility to defend.

KING JEREMY: Look-e look-e! Here he comes! Mr. Lardy Dardy!

2. Full shot of King Jeremy. He sticks his head through the hole in the frame and rests against the beams, taunting.

KING JEREMY: You’re ready to fight us, Dreng? Huh? You finally going to do it? You gonna step the fuck up for once? Show us who’s the toughest? Show us who’s in charge?

3. Zoom out. Far shot of Dreng. He’s getting closer. To the left of the page is a close-up of King Jeremy’s head.

KING JEREMY: Cuz I have news for you, asshole. It ain’t YOU!

4. Dreng walks right up to King Jeremy. Only the frame of the dilapidated booth separates them.

DRENG: You dog-faced piece of shit. I despise you. You’re a thorn in the side of us all, an albatross, dragging us to the depths of oblivion. You contribute nothing to Atlantis but junk. Shit. You’re a poison, a cancer, and the quicker you disappear, the better it will be for all of us.

202

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. Camera cuts to behind Dreng. The shot is over his shoulder. King Jeremy looks pissed.

Sue Nami stands next to him, arms crossed. Conroy is to her right.

CONROY: Wow.

KING JEREMY: I’m going to rip out your throat.

2. Zoom out. Side shot of the two sides facing each other. The frame separates them, is barely visible on the page. Penny and Z have caught up.

DRENG: Look at yourselves. Bunch of freaks. Nothing but steroid junkies. Can’t inject enough of them in your ass, can you? Bet they’re turning your brains to pudding.

3. Medium shot of King Jeremy with Sue Nami standing right behind him. King Jeremy is so mad that his face is trembling.

SUE: Hey, guy, you don’t even know us.

4. King Jeremy steps though the frame, enraged, goes after Dreng.

KING JEREMY: Then let’s settle this right now!

5. King Jeremy gets in Dreng’s face, points a finger. Brangus and Sue Nami try to keep him back. Dreng smirks, amused.

KING JEREMY: Let’s do it! If I win, you let us be on Team Defense. All of us.

203

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Dreng lifts back his head and cackles.

DRENG: HAHAHAHAHA!

2. Dreng pokes King Jeremy in the chest.

DRENG: You’d like that wouldn’t you? An opportunity to destroy us from the inside.

Like a secret cancer, rotting a hole in our gut. No thanks. I’d rather chop off my own arm, to be perfectly honest.

3. King Jeremy backs away, hurt.

KING JEREMY: You’d do that, wouldn’t you? Make your people less safe just to spite us? We can help.

4. Medium shot of Dreng. Penny is behind him, her hand over her eyes, embarrassed.

DRENG: You make us less safe.

5. Conroy looks down at Dreng, glaring.

CONROY: Your mouth is making you less safe.

6. Brangus and Sue look at each other. Conroy points over Dreng’s head.

CONROY: I like you, Z.

7. Full shot of Z. He grimaces, looks over at Dreng. Penny stands between them.

CONROY [off panel]: But your boss is a dick. I’m going to stomp his head in if he’s not careful.

8. Zoom in. Dreng is gesticulating.

DRENG: What do you do with all this time on your hands anyway? Besides poisoning

Atlantis that is? Bet it’s not training. Bet it’s not eating nutritiously. Bet it’s not honing your shit. 204

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. King Jeremy smiles and flex his muscles.

KING JEREMY: Why don’t you step over here and find out? We eat just fine.

2. Zoom out. King Jeremy steps through the hole in the wall.

KING JEREMY: Or tell you what, I’ll come to you. And I’ll beat your ass for free. You don’t even have to let us be on Home Defense. Sounds lame anyway. Like something for children…

DRENG: I’m going to give you one chance to shut your face. Otherwise, you’re going to be curled up and pissing your pants.

3. Zoom out. An over-the-shoulder shot of Dreng. King Jeremy stands in front of him. In the background, down the alley, are Alfonso and Levi, walking back from the playground. King Jeremy rips off his shirt, enraged.

KING JEREMY: Ok then. Let’s fucking do this!

DRENG: What the hell…

4. King Jeremy looks behind him, fists still up like he’s ready to brawl. Dreng frowns, his teeth forming a momentary underbite. He clenches his fists in front of his abdomen. A vein has formed by his temple.

KING JEREMY: Huh?

205

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. King Jeremy looks back toward Dreng and smiles.

KING JEREMY: Oh shit, are those your boys? They are, aren’t they? Came here looking to deal some wompwomp for LSD. Didn’t recognize them. Figured they were from some slums like Quad 2, dealing wompwomp like that. But not Quad 3. Oh no, never Quad 3.

Not them. Quad 3 is too prefect! Quad 3 are model citizens! They don’t deal in poisons, not like Quad 8! Wompwomp ain’t really our kind of thing, tell you the truth. Nothing but rotgut. But you never know when something like that will come in handy. It’s flammable, you know, good for starting…

2. Dreng shoves King Jeremy to the side and storms past.

KING JEREMY: What the fuck, man?!

3. Dreng steps through the back of the booth. Conroy, Sue, and Brangus step out of his way.

DRENG: HEY, DUMB FUCKS! OVER HERE! DON’T THINK I DON’T SEE YOU!

DON’T YOU FUCKING RUN!

206

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Medium shot of Alfonso and Levi looking back at Dreng, who charges toward them in

Quad 8. They look high as hell.

ALFONSO: Ah, fuck…what’s Dreng doing here?

LEVI: You’re too negative, Al. You know that? That’s your problem. You’re too much like Sarid.

2. Zoom in. Alfonso looks at Levi. Their pupils are like saucers.

ALFONSO: Will you snap out of it, fool? There’s training tomorrow. What do you think

Dreng’s going to do when he sees us fucked up like this?

LEVI: Just be yourself. And love yourself. Try that for once. However you’ve come to define love down here. Everything else will work out fine. We are too uptight, Al. That’s our problem.

3. Zoom out. Alfonso is backpedaling back toward the playground. Meanwhile, Levi has his arms extended like he’s counting on a hug.

ALFONSO: Oh shit, I don’t think Dreng is waiting….

4. Zoom in. Over the shoulder shot, from behind of Alfonso and Levi. In the distance,

Dreng is walking toward them aggressively, with Penny and Z trying to keep up. Behind them, King Jeremy and his crew turn and look at them, smirks on their faces.

ALFONSO: He’s going to give us our thrashing right now.

LEVI: That’s what I’m talking about, Al. The now. The moment. It’s all we got. We just can’t see it when we’re bottled up like this. No wonder people left. We didn’t break the wheel. We blew our top. We got too negative…

207

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

5. Medium shot. Dreng walks directly up to Levi and smacks him in the ear with the palm of his hand. Levi recoils.

DRENG: I SAID HEY!

LEVI: AAHHHHH!

208

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. Dreng grabs Levi by the hair and pulls his head back. Levi’s pupils are visibly dilated, like little saucers. Alfonso recoils, afraid.

LEVI: UGGGHHH…

2. Zoom in. Close-up of Dreng and Levi. Dreng is looking into his face and sneering in disgust.

DRENG: What did you take, huh? Look at yourself. Can you even see me standing here?

LEVI: I see you Dreng….ngggggggghh…I’m sorry Dreng…I’m sorry!

3. Dreng then puts Levi into a sleeper hold. Levi’s eyes bulge out, his face panicked. He reaches out to Z, terrified.

DRENG: I don’t think you do see me, do you?

4. Zoom out. Medium aerial shot. Dreng drags Levi back toward Quad 7 while having him still in a chokehold. Levi leaves his feet, is dragged like a sack of potatoes.

DRENG: In fact, I don’t think you even hear me.

5. Zoom in. From behind Dreng as he drags Levi. In the background is King Jeremey and company, standing outside the booth.

DRENG: Like ever.

6. Dreng drags Levi past Quad 8. They all step aside. In the background is hole in the wall.

DRENG: So…

7. Side shot. Dreng throws Levi through the hole, like a ragdoll.

DRENG: What are we going to do with you?

8. Dreng steps through the hole, with Alfonso right behind him. Levi tries to crawl away. 209

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

ALFONSO: Dreng!

210

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. Alfonso reaches out and puts a hand on Dreng’s shoulder

ALFONSO: Come on, Dreng! Not in Center Circle. You can’t do this…

2. Dreng spins around.

DRENG: Was this your idea, huh? You’re one of my best guys. I thought you were better than this.

3. Dreng reaches for Alfonso. Alfonso pulls back, trying to get away.

DRENG: I guess not.

ALFONSO: Hey! I was just drinking beer! I didn’t do anything! AGGGHHH!!

4. Dreng has Alfonso in a fierce wristlock. He bends his arm awkwardly.

ALFONSO: OW! OW! OW! OW!

Z: Dreng, let go. You’re going to injure him.

5. Zoom out. At the edge of the panel is King Jeremy and the rest of Quad 8. They stand at the border between Quad 8 and Quad 7.

ALFONSO: OOOOOOOOWWW!!

Z: He’s not faking, Dreng.

211

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. Zoom in. The shot is from behind Dreng and Alfonso, with Z trying to break them up.

In the background stands King Jeremy and Quad 8.

KING JEREMY: Who are the animals now?

Z: You’re going to break his wrist…

ALFONSO: Fffffggghhhhh……

2. Zoom out again. Penny rushes up to Dreng.

KING JEREMY: This is Center Circle, bud! Maybe chill out on your people, huh?

PENNY: Deng, are you insane?

3. Penny strikes Dreng with a palm thrust to the chin.

PENNY: Knock this the fuck off.

DRENG: Nggghhh…

4. Over the shoulder shot behind Dreng. He rubs his chin, hurt. Penny stands with her hands up, fingers spread apart, furious. Z checks on Alfonso while Levi rubs his neck.

5. Zoom in. Levi looks around.

6. Levi then walks away, in the direction of Quad 6.

7. Close-up of Levi. His eyes widen.

SARID: [off frame] What’s happening?

LEVI: I don’t know brother. I just got here.

212

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Zoom out. Sarid stands in front of Levi. He has his backpack over his shoulder and looks confused.

SARID: Are you okay? Why is Dreng hurting Al?

LEVI: Too much negative energy. It’s going to blow the lid off this place.

2. Zoom in. Sarid looks at Levi in the eyes and frowns.

SARID: Jesus, Levi. Really? I can’t leave you alone for even an hour?

LEVI: I’m just so bored with it, brother. What else can I say?

SARID: What did you eat?

3. Zoom in. Close-up of Levi. He grabs his throat.

LEVI: A little lysergic acid diethylamide. I just wanted to go running through the tunnels.

Would’ve been neat if Dreng hadn’t gone berserker.

4. Zoom out. From behind Sarid and Levi. In the background, Penny is yelling at Dreng, while Alfonso pulls his arm away from Z, who is trying to help.

SARID: What’s wrong with your throat?

LEVI: Dreng put a chokehold on me. Ruined the whole night. Made me afraid. Might as well go home and watch pro wrestling.

SARID: He can’t do that. This is Center Circle.

LEVI: Alfonso tried explaining.

213

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Sarid walks toward Dreng, who has his back turned. Z looks over at him, worried.

SARID: Dreng! Is this true?! Did you try to choke out my brother?!

2. Dreng turns around. He holds up his hands as if innocent. Sarid frowns.

DRENG: Sarid, I…

SARID: In Center Circle? You can’t do violence here!

3. Dreng points at Levi, who is standing behind Sarid.

DRENG: Your brother ingested poison. Again! It’s bad for his mind. Bad enough he’s scoring the shit from Quad 8. Those piss lickers can’t even grow their own food. And he has sentry duty tomorrow. With Xochi, who’s already annoyed with him.

SARID: That’s no reason to put your hands on him. Just find a replacement.

DRENG: We need him to be alert. It makes us less safe when he’s like this. You’ve said so yourself.

4. Sarid looks over at Levi, who is wandering away again, back toward Quad 6.

SARID: Who are we fighting, Dreng? There’s only children out there.

DRENG: Levi’s hurting the team.

SARID: And Alfonso?

5. Dreng looks down and shrugs.

DRENG: Eh. That was a mistake. Lost my temper a bit.

6. Zoom out. A low shot. A leg, robed, in the foreground of the panel. He is the Proctor, a prominent Chucky (a follower devoted to the work of Charlie “Chuck” Moonberg, the founder of Atlantis), who left Quad 3 for Center Circle.

SARID: You promised us you wouldn’t start shit. This trip is too important. 214

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

DRENG: I know.

PROCTOR: You! The Children of Quad 3! What are you doing?

215

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. The camera moves behind Sarid and Dreng. To the right of them is Z and Alfonso. To the left, Penny. In the background stand a group of Chuckies. They are all robed in a brown hirsute material. They all have circles branded on their faces. They are a mix of men and women. They are all older, adults.

SARID: Oh great. Just what we need. Proctor Chucky.

DRENG: Damn it.

PENNY: Not these guys.

CHUCKY: What is happening here? What is going on? You, Alfonso Grower! What’s wrong with your arm? What was all that screaming about? We could hear it all the way over in Quad 4.

Z: Proctor Chucky…it’s nothing. I assure you. We’re just on our way back to Quad 3.

2. Proctor Chucky points behind him, toward Quad 7.

PROCTOR: Quad 3 is that way.

Z: Well, technically it’s both ways. Center Circle is…a circle.

3. Zoom in. Proctor Chucky looks at Z dismissively.

PROCTOR: And what do you know about circles, Mr. Zacharia Upkeep? Or what

Charlie Moonberg wrote about their significance in the Correspondence? Nothing. You know nothing. Because your father fled as soon as the seal broke. He never believed in

Atlantis. None of the Leavers did.

4. Close-up of Z. He looks suddenly annoyed.

Z: I don’t know what he believed, honestly.

216

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

5. Medium shot of Proctor Chucky. He is pointing at Sarid now, scolding him. Chuckies stand by his side.

PROCTOR: And you, Sarid Grower, what would your parents think of all this? Out here causing trouble instead of helping grow the food we all so desperately rely on? Are you not a Grower, Sarid? Or is that a misnomer?

217

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. Zoom in on Sarid. He looks annoyed.

SARID: I help quite a bit. I do a lot for everyone.

2. Zoom out. Proctor Chucky is pointing at Sarid’s backpack.

PROCTOR: Really, then what’re you all doing here in the slums? Where are you coming from? What do you have in your backpack?

3. Sarid adjusts the backpack on his shoulder.

SARID: It’s empty.

PROCTOR: Show us.

4. Zoom out. Sarid, Dreng, Z, Penny, and Alfonso are all in the panel.

SARID: You have no authority.

5. Proctor Chucky points with his thumb back toward Quad 8, where King Jeremy is still standing with his friends.

PROCTOR: Is it drugs? Is that what you’re doing here by Quad 8?

DRENG: Proctor Chucky, we don’t deal with those kind of people. I can assure you.

6. The Proctor turns to Dreng. He shakes his head a bit and scoffs.

PROCTOR: Is that right, Dreng Chucky?

7. Close-up of Dreng. He is frowning.

DRENG: That’s not my name.

218

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Four

1. Zoom out. The Proctor stands akimbo while Dreng clenches his fist, a sneer on his face. Penny looks at him, worried.

PROCTOR: It is your father’s.

DRENG: I’m not my father.

2. Zoom in. Medium shot of Proctor Chucky.

PROCTOR: What would you like to be called then? Dreng Child-Fighter? Dreng Home

Defense? Dreng Bully?

3. Zoom out. The panel frames Dreng and Proctor Chucky, who face each other.

DRENG: Just Dreng. And I’m not a bully.

4. Zoom out. Aerial shot, angled toward the border between Quad 7 and 8. Probably takes up half a page. The aerial shot is so that there is plenty enough room for the dialogue. At the edge of the panel stands King Jeremy and crew. Toward the center is Proctor and

Dreng. Sarid stands to Dreng’s left, Penny to his right. Z is behind Dreng, while a dozen

Chuckies, in their hirsute robes, back up the Proctor.

PROCTOR: This is not how the Founder wanted us to behave. This disharmony will not do. This lack of grace. It will not stand. Not anymore. This is still Atlantis.

DRENG: We’re aware, Proctor Chucky. But you know as well as I do that when the wheel broke it showed…

KING JEREMY: Hey Chucky! I just saw him beating up the weird kid! And you might want to check the fat guy’s arm. I’m pretty sure Dreng broke it!

219

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Five

1. Zoom in. Medium shot of the Proctor and his Chuckies. He looks bewildered.

PROCTOR: Is this true? Violence? In Center Circle?

2. Dreng leans toward Proctor Chucky, tires to keep his voice low so that King Jeremy can’t hear.

DRENG: We were training…

3. Medium shot of King Jeremy and the other members of Quad 8. The emotions on their face range from shock to bewilderment to amusement. King Jeremy is cupping his hands over his mouth, like a bullhorn.

KING JEREMY: Bullshit! Dreng was pissed off! Dude’s a savage! Probably should learn to keep his emotions in check! Maybe find some more healthy outlets!

4. Dreng glowers at Quad 8 from afar. Alfonso stands in the background, hunched over and holding his arm. The Proctor is looking toward him.

PROCTOR: Is that so? Perhaps things are worse than we thought. Perhaps it’s time for a lesson? When we get back to Quad 8? I think it’s time you all go back to school. It’s been awhile.

5. Zoom out. Brink Brangus now stands in front of the crew, in Quad 7.

BRINK: Hell yeah! Teach them what’s up!

6. Zoom in. Proctor Chucky has turned around and is facing Quad 8. The Chuckies are too. They look annoyed by Brink’s comments.

PROCTOR: We would give you a lesson next, if there was anything worth saving.

220

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Six

1. Brangus’ jaw drops. Sue Nami looks hurt by the remarks, while King Jeremy scratches his jaw, unfazed.

2. Proctor Chucky turns back around to Dreng. Penny walks in between them. The

Chuckies are still looking at Quad 8, their faces scrunched up in disapproval.

PENNY: That’s not really necessary. Dreng lost his cool. He’s fine now. We promise it won’t happen again.

PROCTOR: This is a bad sign for all of us. We’re going to have to tell your parents.

SARID: Proctor, please. Like Penny said, it’s not necessary.

3. Cut to behind Proctor Chucky. He is turning to look at King Jeremy and company, who stands in the background, blurred. He reaches into his robe.

PROCTOR: We’ll be seeing you soon, Children of Quad 3. If you don’t mind now….

4. Zoom in on Proctor Chucky’s robe. He pulls out a book. The book is not thick, though it has clearly been read several times over: a worn cover, dogeared, book marked with a flimsy red ribbon.

PROCTOR: ….we have some shaming to attend to. Even if our exhortations are useless.

5. Zoom out. High aerial shot. The Chuckies are all pulling out similar books from under their robes. King Jeremy, Sue Nami, Brinks Brangus, and Conroy are scrambling back to

Quad 8. Brink Brangus is in the front, stepping through the hole. At the edge of the panel, the line of customers is breaking up, fleeing with the goods they came to trade.

PROCTOR: At least we get to break up a party.

221

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Seven

1. The Chuckies walk off toward Quad 8, the hole in the booth behind them in the distance. Sarid has turned to Dreng. He is holding up a hand, furious.

SARID: Good job, Dreng. Now my parents are going to ground us. We won’t be able to go up to the surface for months. We’ll never find the Aether.

DRENG: I’m…I’m sorry.

2. Mediums shot of Penny. She has her hands on her hips, and she’s just as furious as

Sarid. Alfonso is standing behind her, and he doesn’t look happy either.

PENNY: What do you even care about Quad 8, huh? What makes you like this? Why can’t you just be normal?

DRENG: Penny…the team.

3. Penny wags a finger in Dreng’s face, while Dreng pouts his lips. A side shot.

PENNY: You don’t care about the team. You just care about yourself. Home Defense is nothing but an extension of your ego. You just like to be a bully.

4. Zoom in. Medium close-up Dreng, offended.

DRENG: I’m not a bully! I stand up for my people!

5. Alfonso holds up his arm. It hangs at an awkward angle.

ALFONSO: Nah, dude. I’m pretty sure you’re a bully.

DRENG: Fuck. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I get like that.

6. Sarid points back toward Quad 7. Penny has already started back.

SARID: C’mon. Let’s go. We’re going back the long way.

222

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Eight

1. Medium shot of Dreng. Tears have welled in his eyes. His brows are furrowed. His mouth has become very small.

SARID: Lest Dreng gets us in even more trouble.

2. Everyone walks off in the direction of Quad 7, except for Dreng and Z. Dreng looks on, still hurt, while Z has his hands in his pocket.

Z: S’all right, man. Don’t let it get you down. I know you’re just looking out for us. Like you always do. Like you did for me. We’re orphans. We look out for each other.

3. Dreng looks at him, morosely. For once, he is vulnerable.

DRENG: My dad left, too, you know. He just didn’t go far. My mom still can’t believe he became a Chucky. I can’t either.

4. Medium shot of Z. He holds up his hands apologetically. Everyone but them has headed back to Quad 3.

Z: Forget it, man. There is a new era ahead of us. You heard Sarid. Let it go. You know we love you. It’s just…

DRENG: I can’t always keep my cool?

Z: Something like that. Don’t let Quad 8 get under your skin. They’re just a bunch of dumbasses. Ain’t nothing to worry about.

5. Dreng looks back toward Quad 8. Z puts a hand on his shoulder.

Z: You don’t have to trust them. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t trust them either. But you do have to share Center Circle. They have as much of a right to it as you do. It’s in the rules.

223

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Nine

1. Zoom out. Dreng turns to Z.

DRENG: You sound like a Chucky.

Z: Nah. Chuckies too boring. Rigid. Unyielding. I could never do it. Things are dull enough as it is.

2. Zoom out. Z walks away, toward Quad 3.

Z: Let’s just go home, friend. I’ll show you Wrestleclysm 10. It’s among the best. An instant classic, as the dirtsheets used to say.

DRENG: Dirtsheets?

Z: It doesn’t matter right now. Let’s just go home.

3. Zoom out again. The totality of the market becomes visible, the squalor of Quad 8, the relative affluence of Quad 1 on the horizon.

Z: I don’t like it here either, Dreng.

224

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirty

1. Zoom out again. The gazebo at the center of the circle is in the bottom right hand quarter of the page. Z and Dreng are small, barely visible. Dreng looks back at Quad 8, while Z walks farther ahead.

Z: Brings back too many bad memories. You know? We need to create some new ones, better ones.

DRENG: I don’t…I don’t think that’s possible.

Z: C’mon, Dreng.

2. Extreme zoom out. We move to high above the surface, over the flat, dusty plains. It is high noon. There is little shade. Far below is a small cluster of brown, inconspicuous houses, a road leading up to it, and a large array of solar panels surrounding it. In the distance are the Sarcos. They are truly massive. They stand 3,000 feet high, taller than the world’s tallest skyscrapers, with an area of 400 square miles. They are dark and amorphous, with a texture and surface resembling fungi.

Z: Don’t you want to hope?

225

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 7

Training Floor

Page One

1. Open up with an aerial shot of a medium-sized gymnasium. A splash page. It’s the next day. The area is large, but not large enough to hold a full-on wrestling show (When the Underground Wrestling Alliance finally forms, it will need to find a bigger space, perhaps the old auditorium in Quad 8 if they can reach an agreement with King Jeremy).

There is a full-sized basketball court, two hoops to the side, and a set of aluminum bleachers, about five rows worth. The roof is roughly twenty-five feet high. The number

3 appears everywhere, on the walls, on the ceiling, on half court, on the front of the backboards. A few of the lights have gone out overhead, making it dimmer than it should be. There are shades of orange and brown. The entrance is on the opposite side of the room, behind the railing and stairs. There are blue mats all over the basketball court, but only Z and Penny are currently in the gym, working on their pro wrestling moves. They face each other and lock up like wrestlers usually do at the beginning of a match. They have their hands on each other’s arms and the back of the neck; a.k.a. the collar (neck) and elbow (arm). Both are smiling. Their heads aren’t touching, but they’re very close.

Both characters are of the same height.

PENNY: You sure this is right? Feels silly.

Z: It is. I swear. We’re locking up. Perfectly normal.

PENNY: Then what?

226

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Zoom in. Z’s face is to the left, Penny’s is to the right. They are still smiling.

Z: Well, we could take it a number of ways.

PENNY: Such as?

Z: You could gain an advantage on me. Back me in a corner.

2. Penny pushes Z backwards. He takes a couple of steps back.

PENNY: Like this?

3. Z lets go and backs away. He puts up his hands.

Z: That’s pretty good. You got to give me some space, though. Otherwise the ref’ll come in and break it up.

PENNY: But there’s no ref here.

Z: That’s right. No rules. No disqualification. You could gouge my eyes, elbow me in the head.

4. Penny grins.

PENNY: Knee you in the crotch. I’ve seen them do it.

Z: You could do anything. But you won’t.

5. The two have their arms up and circle around the mat in a crouch.

PENNY: Oh no?

Z: You’re too likeable. You’re not the villain type. You wouldn’t be giving the crowd what they want. They want to love you. Being mean to me would ruin the psychology.

227

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. They lock up again. Penny is still smiling, but there is a slight meanness to it, like she’s trying to prove a point.

PENNY: Oh really? Sounds presumptuous to me. How can you know me? I don’t even know me.

2. Penny grabs Z under the arm. She turns her hip.

3. She flips Z over on his back. There are lines to indicate the impact.

4. Z gets up to his knees, smiling. She is circling the mat again, ready to go.

PENNY: You flipped yourself over. I barely did anything.

Z: That’s how you sell.

PENNY: Sell? You mean like make me look good?

5. Zoom in. Z grins mischievously.

Z: Like you need me for that.

6. Zoom out. Z gets back up to his feet. Penny circles him.

PENNY: Sell. Huh. Sounds very businesslike.

Z: It’s reciprocity.

PENNY: Meaning?

Z: You’ll sell for me later.

PENNY: Tit-for-tat.

Z: Exactly.

PENNY: Quid pro quo.

Z: Uh huh.

228

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. Zoom in. Penny grins.

PENNY: Businesslike.

2. Zoom out. A high-angle shot. She locks up with him. They bend their knees, exaggeratedly.

3. Zoom in. Z grabs her in a headlock, feigns like he’s tightening the hold.

4. Zoom out. Z takes a step forward, looks to his left.

Z: Wish we had a real ring. You could push me into the ropes and then…

5. Penny slips under and escapes from the hold. She moves behind Z.

6. Penny grabs Z’s arm and twists it around into a hammerlock. She stands behind him closely, smiling. His eyes are looking back.

PENNY: C’mon, Z. Sell it for me.

7. She tugs on his arm somewhat violently.

PENNY: Make the world believe.

8. Z goes behind Penny and reverses the hammerlock.

Z: You have to put on more pressure, make it tight. Focus it on the shoulder. Like this…

9. Penny reaches up and grabs Z in a headlock. She flips him over again.

229

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. Quickly, she puts him into an armbar and takes him down to the mat, aggressively. Z’s face is mashed into the mat.

Z: Now you got it.

PENNY: It’s not difficult.

Z: You’re very fluid.

2. Xochi walks into the room followed by Levi, Reece, and Ava. Xochi has broad shoulders and walks with authority. Her eyes are sharp, and she has a large tattoo on her left forearm. It’s clear she has rank among Home Defense.

XOCHI: Where’s Dreng?

Z: I don’t know. We haven’t seen him since we went to Center Circle.

XOCHI: But it’s a training day.

PENNY: We know.

XOCHI: It’s not like him.

Z: Xochi, it’s okay. He’s fine. He’ll be here.

XOCHI: Well, it’s very strange.

AVA: Alfonso said he lost it.

3. Reece dangles his arm and makes a face.

REECE: Said he nearly broke his arm.

4. Zoom out. Ava stands next to Reece. Reece grabs his elbow.

AVA: That lucky shithead gets out of Greenhouse Duty.

REECE: But not Market Duty. Al can still help with that.

5. Medium shot of Z. 230

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: Where’s Al now?

231

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. Xochi points to the walkie-talkie on her belt.

XOCHI: Watching the cameras. Doubt we’ll hear from him. The ferals aren’t coming back any time soon. Which is too bad, really. Was at Market Duty last time.

PENNY: It wasn’t much of a fight. Believe me. Nothing to write home about. Just some straggling kids.

XOCHI: And Quad 8? I heard they disrespected Dreng in Center Circle?

Z: They were just being Quad 8.

XOCHI: They want to be on Home Defense. They’re mad about it.

Z: Should we let them?

XOCHI: I don’t know. It’s Dreng’s call. They’re unpredictable, strange. Junkers say they’re only interested in lab equipment.

Z: Junkers can find that?

XOCHI: Junkers can find anything.

Z: How?

2. Xochi shrugs.

XOCHI: I’m not a junker. I want to be, but my calling is Home Defense.

3. Xochi looks around. In the background, Sarid and Levi have walked through the door and are coming down the stairs. Levi is looking down, grabbing his neck. They are followed by their mother (Talilah) and father (Ron).

XOCHI: So what do we do? Wait for Dreng?

4. Sarid and Levi walk up to the group. Their parents stand behind them, unhappy. Ron has his arms crossed. Talilah glowers. 232

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

SARID: Where’s Dreng?

Z: Don’t know.

5. Sarid turns around to his parents. Levi hangs his head sheepishly.

SARID: You don’t have to stay here. We’ll be fine.

6. Ron looks over at Levi. Levi won’t look back.

RON: Will you?

233

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Zoom out. Talilah and Ron face Sarid. Talilah and Ron to the left, Sarid to the right.

SARID: We will. I promise. We’re not going anywhere.

TALILAH. That’s exactly right. You’re not to leave Quad 3, except to go to Market

Duty.

RON: And you’re not to go near Quad 8 ever again. For anything. You think I like having the Chuckies coming to the greenhouse and bothering us? They get in the way of our work. They are very unpleasant.

TALILAH: And we’re worried about you. Both of you.

2. Levi looks at his parents and frowns. Sarid puts his hands in his pockets and fumes.

There is a slouch to his posture.

TALILAH: You children cannot be fighting in Center Circle. You cannot be doing drugs.

SARID: I wasn’t doing drugs!

3. Medium shot of Ron and Sarid. Ron is pointing at Sarid angrily.

RON: You let your brother do LSD! You are responsible for him, Sarid. You are almost an adult now. We depend on you. Levi depends on you. We don’t have as many people as we used to. We’re weak…

SARID: I know. I made a mistake. But you can calm down. You don’t have to surveil me.

TALILAH: We’re trusting you, Sarid. Do not leave the quadrant.

RON: If they leave the quadrant, you tell us. You hear me, Z?

4. Z looks at Sarid.

Z: Sure, Mr. Abboud. 234

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

TALILAH: We are trusting you, too.

RON: Tell Dreng we’d like to talk to him too. Where is he?

Z: We don’t know.

TALILAH: He should not be hurting people. We expect more of him than that.

PENNY: We do, too.

RON: A lot of children look up to him. It is not good for Quad 3. Not good at all.

5. In the background, the parents walk away. Sarid turns to Z. Levi walks to the bleachers.

SARID: Why isn’t Dreng here?

Z: I told you. We don’t know.

235

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. Close-up of Sarid. He frowns, unhappy.

SARID: They ground me for six months. Levi, indefinitely. They’re watching us closely.

2. Zoom out. Z and Penny stand to the left of the panel, with Sarid to the right. Levi is sitting on the bleachers in the background.

Z: So going to the surface has to wait then.

SARID: It can’t wait. I need those motherboards.

PENNY: Why? What’s the big rush?

3. Zoom in. Medium shot. Sarid seems surprised by Penny’s question.

SARID: Because we need the information. We need help. The Aether will give it to us.

It’ll sustain us. We need to be connected.

4. Zoom out. Sarid to the left of the panel, Penny to the right. Levi stands in the background.

PENNY: You sound like the Librarian.

SARID: I want to move us forward, not back. Atlantis is crumbling. All the old timers are dying. We need The Aether. The Librarian provides an insufficient library

5. Zoom out. Z turns to Sarid.

Z: Then what’re you going to do?

SARID: I’m still thinking about it.

6. Zoom in. Medium shot of Reece and Ava. Reece is holding up his fists playfully, while

Ava imitates a wrestler who’s ready to grapple.

REECE: Hey Z, why don’t you show us some more of those pro wrestling moves?

AVA: Yeah, since Dreng’s not here. 236

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Mediums shot. Z rubs the back of his neck.

Z: I don’t know. We should probably get to training. We know what to do. We don’t need

Dreng to start.

2. Over the shoulder shot, from behind Z. Reece walks up to Z. Ava stands behind him.

REECE: C’mon. Show me how to do the sharpshooter. That’s fucking awesome.

AVA: And the vertical suplex. Show us that.

3. Full shot. Z gestures over to the mats.

Z: I dunno. We don’t even have a real ring. I don’t want to hurt you guys.

REECE: We’ll stack up the mats, layer them up.

AVA: We’re tough, Z. We can take it.

4. Zoom in. Close-up. Z looks anxious.

Z: I don’t really have any knowledge about how to do this stuff. Just what I’ve read and seen on TV. Your guess is as good as mine.

5. Zoom out. Reece and Ava are to the left of the panel, Z to the right, with Penny standing behind him. A profile shot.

REECE: Let’s just practice then. C’mon, it’s fun.

AVA: You got us hooked. You got us addicted.

REECE: You’re responsible, Z. You have to show us.

237

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Zoom in on Penny. Medium shot. She smiles.

PENNY: Yeah, Z. You have a duty now. You have to show us.

2. Zoom out. A high angled shot that captures all the characters standing around each other. Xochi has her arms crossed.

XOCHI: I don’t know. Dreng wouldn’t like it.

LEVI: Dreng’s not here.

Z: He’s on his way.

3. Zoom in on Z, Reece, and Ava.

AVA: You’re not yourself.

REECE: What’s going on?

4. Side shot. Z is holding his hands up, like he’s explaining something.

Z: I just think Dreng puts himself under a lot of pressure, that’s all. I know the guy can be a jerk, like he becomes somebody else entirely, but he feels responsible for all of us. He really does care, even if he has a funny way of showing it. He’s always there for us when we need him.

238

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Zoom out. Penny turns and faces Z. In the background, Levi is walking away toward the bleachers.

PENNY: We know that, Z. We love Dreng, too. He just needs to learn. He needs to grow up.

LEVI: He must hold himself to the standards that he holds for us.

2. Medium shot of Z. Ava and Reece stand to the left of him.

Z: We haven’t been facing raids anymore. The tunnels are empty. He needs a new purpose in life. It’s why he’s been like this with Quad 8. He needs something to do. He needs an enemy. He needs something to protect us from.

AVA: Are we going to wrassle or not?

3. Zoom out. In walks Dreng. He’s carrying a shallow cardboard box and walking down the stairs. Levi looks over at him from the bleachers. Everyone is turned around to look, except for Sarid who walks away to stretch.

REECE: Too late.

DRENG: Sorry I’m late! I just stopped to pick something up. Took me longer than I thought…

4. Dreng walks up to the group. Xochi stands with her arms crossed, her eyes steely. She is the first one to greet him. Z stands next to her.

XOCHI: Glad you could make it.

Z: Heya, boss.

5. Medium shot of Penny. She has her arms crossed, too, a blank face.

PENNY: Dreng. 239

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Full shot of Dreng. He holds up the cardboard box.

DRENG: Look at what I found in Center Circle…

2. Zoom in on the cardboard box. There are a bunch of mangoes in it.

DRENG: Mango.

3. Zoom out. A wide shot featuring Dreng to the left, and Xochi and Penny to the right.

Xochi puts her hand to her chest.

XOCHI: For us?

DRENG: I know I’ve been a terrible leader, a terrible friend. I want to make it up to everyone.

PENNY: With mango?

XOCHI: Quad 4’s talent for growing fruit is undeniable. Thank you.

4. Zoom in on Dreng. Medium shot. He has a puzzled look on his face.

DRENG: I thought you liked mango?

5. Zoom out. Over-the-shoulder shot. Dreng to the left of the panel; Penny to the right.

She is starting to fume.

PENNY: I do, but that’s not the point.

DRENG: I’m just trying to be nice.

6. Dreng hands the box to Xochi.

XOCHI: It is nice.

240

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. Zoom out. Mid-aerial shot. Xochi walks away with the box, toward the bleachers.

Dreng turns to Penny.

DRENG: Look, I’m sorry I got like that. I’m sorry I went berserk.

2. Zoom in. Penny nods over towards Levi, who is sitting in the bleachers in the background, looking at this feet.

PENNY: Well, don’t tell us that.

3. Dreng turns and looks back at Levi.

DRENG: Yeah, I’m going talk with him.

4. Zoom out. Full shot. Ava and Reece stand behind Penny. They have their hands behind their backs. They look shy around Dreng, careful.

Z: We all get bored down here, Dreng. Levi was just looking for a way out. It’s constrictive down here. Claustrophobic.

DRENG: I…I know that. I understand. There’s more to life than Home Defense. I get it.

5. Zoom in. Medium full shot of Penny. In the background, Sarid is stretching against the wall.

PENNY: No, you don’t get it. There isn’t anything to life. Other than Home Defense and growing food. That’s the point.

241

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Wide shot of Dreng with his arms folded. In the background, Sarid has stopped stretching and is walking over.

DRENG: I’m not arguing with you. I’m trying to understand.

PENNY: Then listen to us when we say we’re feeling empty. Try to see it from someone else’s perspective for once.

DRENG: I said I’m trying.

2. Zoom in on Z and Dreng. Full shot. Sarid has walked up and is standing to their right.

Z: You’re a tough dude, Dreng. One of the toughest I’ve ever met. You were built for life down here. Your dad became a Chucky, and you didn’t even flinch. You learned judo, grew three feet, became a monster. We’re not all like that, Dreng. We’re not all warriors.

We have other sides to ourselves. Levi is a complicated kid. He’s very spiritual.

SARID: It’s true. His faith in the immaterial is strong. He believes in the soul.

3. Zoom in. Close-up of Dreng. He rubs the back of his head.

DRENG: Hiya, Sarid.

4. Full shot. Dreng to the left, Sarid to the right.

SARID: You asshole.

DRENG: I’m sorry!

5. Zoom in. Close-up of Sarid.

SARID: Did you hear? I’m grounded. Levi’s grounded. We’re fucked now. We’ll never get back to the Aether. We’ll never get the knowledge we need to survive.

242

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

6. Zoom out. Wide shot. Dreng looks down, scratching his head. The other characters stand around, looking at each other. Ava and Reece grimace at one another. Penny fumes with her arms crossed. Xochi grabs an ankle and begins stretching on one leg.

DRENG: I had a feeling.

SARID: We can’t go to the surface now.

DRENG: You know, I’ve been thinking about that.

SARID: Do you see what happens when you put your own ego before the team? Do you see what happens when you lose control?

243

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. Zoom in. Sarid to the left, Dreng to the right. In the background, Levi sitting on the bleachers, his head in his hands.

DRENG: Why don’t you ask the junkers to get the parts?

SARID: I can’t. I won’t.

DRENG: Why not?

2. Zoom in. Close-up of Sarid.

SARID: Junkers aren’t stupid. They’ll find out about the Aether when we need to keep this quiet. I don’t want people bothering us, trying to get in on the project. I don’t want the Chuckies coming around, shaking their sticks at us.

3. Zoom out. Medium shot of Dreng, Z, and Sarid. They stand around each other in a sort of triangle.

DRENG: Then I’ll go. Let me do it. I’ll take Z with me.

Z: What? No way.

DRENG: My mom doesn’t give a shit what I do, where I go. And Z…he doesn’t even have parents.

4. Zoom in Z. He’s annoyed.

Z: Thanks.

244

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. Zoom out. Aerial shot in order to give enough space for dialogue.

DRENG: We could do the trip. I know we could.

SARID: I don’t know. This is very personal to me. This is my project, my quest. I have to be the one.

DRENG: How long are you grounded?

SARID: Indefinitely. I have to check in every three hours.

2. Zoom in. Z to the left, Dreng to the right. Ava and Reece have gone to work on one of the mats, wrestling with each other. Xochi practices kicks.

DRENG: Well?

Z: Dreng, I appreciate you thinking of me, but I have absolutely no inclination to go to the surface. It’s hostile up there. The junkers say it isn’t, but I’ve seen the snakes and lizards they’ve been bringing back. The scorpions. It’s not safe. We don’t really know anything about the conditions. It’s all guesswork.

DRENG: That’s why we need the Aether.

3. Zoom in. Dreng turns to Z.

DRENG: You want meaning in your life, right? You want to fill the void you feel? Then let’s go on an adventure. You and me. On a mission. A quest. C’mon.

Z: I’m not looking for anything grandiose.

245

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. Over the shoulder shot. From behind Z.

DRENG: I need your help, Z.

Z: I’d rather clean the restrooms in Center Circle.

2. Xochi pauses with her foot in the air, looks over.

XOCHI: I can help you out with that. I know some Cleaners.

3. Wide shot. Ava is on top of Reece, looking over at Xochi, who’s bouncing on her feet, her fists up like she’s ready to strike.

AVA: You know everyone.

XOCHI: I’m very active in the community.

4. Medium shot of Sarid and Dreng. Sarid is to the right of the panel, his arms crossed.

Dreng is in the center, holding up his hands. Z is behind him, looking shocked.

SARID: You’ve never been to the surface before.

DRENG: I’m trying to make things right. If that means dying on the surface, so be it.

Z: Dying? Who’s talking about dying?

246

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. Close-up of Sarid narrowing his eyes and looking dubious.

SARID: You won’t know what to look for.

2. Dreng hugs Z on the shoulder, with one arm.

DRENG: You could teach me. You could teach us.

Z: Computers aren’t really my domain.

SARID: That’s not true.

Z: I mean, I’m not like you. I can’t build computers. I can’t code.

SARID: You’d know what to look for.

Z: Ehhhhh….

DRENG: So you’re agreeable? If Z comes with me? You’ll let me make it up to you?

SARID: Hrmmmmmm. I guess so. Yes. I can do it. I can swallow my pride.

DRENG: C’mon, Z. Please. Come with me. I’m begging you.

Z: Ugh. Ok. Fine. On one condition.

DRENG: Name it.

Z: You stop talking shit about pro wrestling.

DRENG: I’m just giving you a hard time about it, that’s all.

3. Wide shot. Penny shakes her head. Sarid looks away. Reece and Ava are on the mat, looking over and shaking their heads.

Z: You bag on it constantly. It’s annoying. No one likes it.

DRENG: I don’t have a problem with it. I just don’t understand.

PENNY: What’s there to understand? It’s fun. It gives us joy.

4. Zoom in. Medium shot of Dreng. 247

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

DRENG: It’s just so…you know. It’s not real.

248

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. Zoom out. Medium close-up of Z and Penny. Z is rolling his eyes. Penny is furious.

Z: Dreng, stop. Just shut up.

PENNY: It’s not real? It’s real to me! It’s real to Ava and Reece!

2. Medium shot. Penny and Dreng stand facing each other.

DRENG: I’m….I’m not saying that. I’m saying that it’s a performance. It’s theater.

PENNY: And?

3. Zoom out. Full shot of the room. Penny has her face in her hands. Sarid smirks, amused.

DRENG: Well…what’s the point?

Z: Stop.

DRENG: I told you. I’m trying to understand.

4. Zoom in. Close-up of Sarid. He gestures with his hands, trying to explain.

SARID: It’s the ritual, Dreng. The catharsis. I like watching wrestling. It’s fun. I like seeing the crowd lose their minds. It takes over, makes me feel large. We need the

Aether, yes, but we also need culture. We need ways to come together. Those crowds are inspiring to me.

5. Zoom out. They stand in a sort of triangle. Sarid at the top of the panel, Dreng to the left, Z to the right. Dreng is looking at Sarid, while Z is looking at Dreng.

SARID: They help me see what we’re missing down here.

DRENG: All that? From pro wrestling?

Z: I asked you not to be a dick.

6. Medium close-up of Dreng. 249

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

DRENG: I’m sorry. I’ll stop. Does this mean you’ll come with me?

7. Zoom out. Over Sarid’s shoulder. Z stands to Dreng’s left.

Z: Fuck. Sure. I guess so. If I die, I die.

DRENG: That’s the spirit.

Z: Just shut the fuck up.

250

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. Full shot. Penny has walked over to Z. Xochi stands in the background, furthest right.

PENNY: You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.

Z: I know that. I’m doing this for Sarid. I know what this means for him. For Atlantis.

SARID: Then it’s settled. Time for us to get to work then.

DRENG: Right. Everyone line up. Let’s get to work.

2. Zoom out. Xochi cups her hands over her mouth. In the background, Levi looks up from the bleachers, a blank look on his face.

XOCHI: You heard him, Levi. Get over here.

3. Dreng walks away from the group, toward Levi. The group begins lining up.

DRENG: One sec, guys. I’ll be right back.

4. Dreng walks up to the bleachers.

5. He looks up at Levi. It is a profile shot.

DRENG: Look, Levi, I’m really sorry. I lost my mind. It’s unacceptable. I swear I’ll never do it again. I’m your leader. I’m your…

LEVI: I could feel the universe. I could see it. Connecting everything around me. You ruined my night.

DRENG: I…I’m sorry.

LEVI: Spent the whole evening in my closet. Sheer terror. Really fucked me up.

DRENG: I just don’t like you putting synthetic chemicals in your body. It doesn’t make it right, but that’s what worries me the most.

251

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Levi sits up straight.

LEVI: Everyone loves and respects you, boss. But you got to ease up. When you get angry, it scares us.

DRENG: I gotcha.

2. Levi stands up, looks down at Dreng with his arms out.

LEVI: Those tunnels are empty, man. Nothing but children out there.

DRENG: We don’t know what’s out there.

3. Zoom in on Levi. He nods seriously.

LEVI: Exactly. Could be anything. Could be an army with machine guns. In which case we’re all dead already.

4. Zoom out. Medium shot of Dreng, wide and at an angle. He’s rubbing his chin as Levi walks down the bleachers.

DRENG: The junkers don’t bring in any guns. It’s not allowed. You bring in a gun, you’re expelled from Atlantis.

LEVI: Like I said, nothing to worry about.

5. Same angle. Levi jumps off the bleachers.

DRENG: But…the tunnels…I don’t know. They could be brought in in other ways.

6. Full shot. Levi brushes the hair out of his eyes, looks up at Dreng.

LEVI: Shit’s so boring down here. Just let us have some fun.

DRENG: We do have fun.

252

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Close-up of Levi.

LEVI: Yeah. Sometimes it’s fun. Fighting and whatnot. I think it’s made me a better, stronger person. But it’s so much work just getting ready for the actual fighting. Life down here’s short. Are we going to spend it all preparing for a war that never comes?

2. Zoom out. Levi and Dreng stand face to face. A profile shot.

DRENG: I’m not exactly asking for a leap of faith. How many times have we been raided?

LEVI: Just children. Looking for food.

DRENG: So far.

LEVI: I’m not saying Home Defense is all bad. I like that we give comfort to the denizens, that we help them feel safe. That, in itself, is meaningful.

DRENG: But?

LEVI: The soul cries out for more.

3. Dreng scratches the back of his neck.

DRENG: Ok. I don’t know, but I guess I kinda see.

4. Levi turns to walk away toward the rest of the group.

DRENG: Levi, wait. Look, I’m really, really sorry. It’s eating me up. I don’t know what happened. Thanks for talking with me. I swear I’m trying to make it right.

253

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. Levi stops and turns around.

LEVI: We know, Dreng. That’s why we love you. See you at Z’s tonight?

2. Zoom in. A close-up of Dreng, his eyebrows furrowed.

DRENG: Z’s? What’s happening at Z’s?

3. Medium shot of Dreng (to the left) and Levi (to the right). Levi is holding up his hands and smiling, while Dreng has a worried look on his face.

LEVI: We’re watching WrestleClysm V. Old school stuff. Phantasmo versus Jim Givens,

Death’s Head versus “The Medicine Man” Chris Alvarez. Z says it’s one of the classics.

Way before The Survivor’s time.

4. Zoom in. A profile shot. This time, Levi is to the left and Dreng is to the right. In the background is a blurred image of the rest of the group forming into a circle.

DRENG: But we watched wrestling last time…

LEVI: I don’t know, boss. Penny’s request. She’s the one really aching to see it.

254

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. Zoom in. Full shot of Levi walking away from Dreng, who is grimacing, a miffed look on his face. In the background are the bleachers, behind them the number 3 painted large on the wall.

LEVI: Everyone will be there, even Xochi. She wants to see what all the hype is about.

And I can’t say I blame her. It’s all we talk about.

2. Zoom out. A high angled shot. To the left of the panel are Dreng and Levi by the bleachers. To the right is the rest of the group lined up in a circle. In the center, Xochi and Sarid get ready to spar.

LEVI: You should come. It’ll be good for your soul, I promise.

255

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Chapter 8

Journey to the Surface

Page One

1. The scene opens with a medium shot of The Ref, a.k.a. William Judge. He is sweeping up lizard poop with a broom and dustpan.

2. Zoom in. Close-up of the dustpan. The poop is green and large. Wavy lines come off it to indicate smell. There are no flies.

REF: [off panel] Jesus…

3. Zoom out. Medium close-up of The Ref. He wrinkles his face and pulls his head back.

REF: What the hell are they feeding these things? Legumes?

4. Zoom out. Aerial shot. It is nighttime in Center Circle. The panels in the roof are simulating moonlight. It is empty in the market, quiet. The tower at the center is lit up by flood lights, the streets of the alley are lit up by small LED lights that are built in the ground, marking the path. The Ref is to the lower right of the panel, in the outer ring of

Quad 3’s zone. Wall lamps light up the outer walls behind him with a warm, orange light.

Behind The Ref, a silhouette is approaching.

REF: Ugh. Didn’t know lizards shit like dinosaurs. God forbid their handlers clean it up, but at least it’ll pay for groceries. Growers are going to love it…

256

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Two

1. Zoom in. Over the shoulder shot, from behind the Ref. In the background is the silhouette. It’s Dreng.

REF: Hey! Who’s there?!

DRENG: Ref? It’s me, Dreng!

2. Medium shot of the Ref, from over Dreng’s shoulder. The Ref is holding a hand over his chest.

REF: Holy moly, man. What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?

DRENG: Sorry, Ref. I thought you saw me.

3. Side shot of The Ref and Dreng facing each other. The Ref holds the broom with his right hand.

REF: It’s okay. Just don’t like being here at night. Unfortunately this is one of the few times I can get away from the family. What are you doing here?

DRENG: I need your help.

4. Close-up The Ref. He is squinting his eyes and looks at Dreng suspiciously.

REF: Ok.

DRENG: [off frame] I need binoculars.

REF: Why?

5. Medium shot of Dreng. He looks down at the ground.

DRENG: They’re for Home Defense. To help us in the tunnels.

257

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Three

1. Semi-aerial shot of The Ref and Dreng. The Ref is back to sweeping. Dreng crosses his arms. In the background are the orange-lit walls of Center Circle.

REF: How will binoculars help you in the tunnels?

DRENG: We need to…uh…be able to look ahead.

REF: You’re a terrible liar.

DRENG: I just need them, ok?

2. Zoom in. Full shot of The Ref. He is looking up at Dreng now. Dreng’s left arm is to the right side of the panel.

REF: I can’t help until you tell me what you’re really up to.

3. Zoom in. Close-up Dreng.

DRENG: I’m going to the surface.

258

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Four

1. Zoom out. High angled shot. The Ref leans his head back.

REF: You’re doing what?

DRENG: With Z.

2. Zoom in. Medium close-up of The Ref. He is holding his arms out.

REF: You sure that’s a good idea, Dreng?

3. Zoom out. Medium shot of Dreng from over The Ref’s shoulder. In the background is the market.

DRENG: You act like I’m going to die up there or something.

4. Zoom in. Close-up of The Ref.

REF: Ask your father about the Above Ground.

5. Zoom out. The Ref has gone back to sweeping up dung. Dreng is turning his head and looking around.

DRENG: I know it’s dangerous. That’s why I need your help.

6. Medium close-up of The Ref. He rolls his eyes, annoyed.

REF: *sighs* I don’t know anything about traveling up there. I stay away.

259

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Five

1. Zoom out. Medium aerial shot. There needs to be plenty of space for dialogue.

DRENG: But your brother is a junker.

REF: Two brothers, actually. They’re both stupid as hell.

DRENG: But don’t you trust them?

REF: Trust them for what? Telling the truth? Yeah, I don’t think they’re lying to me when they say they’ve seen no danger. But they haven’t hit the shit yet. They’ve covered a lot of ground, but they haven’t hit the shit.

2. Zoom in. Medium shot of The Ref and Dreng. The Ref is sweeping dung into the dustpan.

DRENG: How do your brothers get around up there?

3. Zoom out. Full shot of the ring. The Ref is walking away from Dreng, looking for more shit to sweep. He looks peeved.

REF: We don’t talk about it. They know I don’t approve.

4. Zoom in. Medium close-up of Dreng.

DRENG: So you won’t tell me where to find binoculars?

260

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Six

1. Zoom out. Medium aerial shot.

REF: Hrrrmmmmm….I can’t stop you can I? You’re going to go no matter what I say.

Ok then. You’re going to need cover, transport, and lots of water. And you’re going to need more than just binoculars.

DRENG: Such as?

REF: Those kids you brought back, a few months ago? Talk with them.

They have a drone.

2. Close-up Dreng. He looks surprised.

DRENG: Thanks, Ref. I’ll be careful. Please don’t tell my dad about this.

3. Zoom out. Full shot of The Ref, from over Dreng’s shoulder.

REF: Your secret is safe with me. We haven’t spoken in years.

4. Dreng turns around and walks away, back into the shadows. Behind him, in the background, is The Ref, looking down and sweeping.

REF: Just stay away from the Sarcos, ok? Don’t get too close, or you’ll end up like all the others. We need you, Dreng. Don’t be stupid.

261

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seven

1. Change scene. Cut to an establishing shot of the kid’s garage, the boy and girl who crashed their drone into the lizard-fighting ring. They are at work rebuilding an engine.

The garage is a very spacious storage unit. They have the engine up on a hobby horse.

Various tools surround them on the floor: drills, wrenches, hammers, sockets, gears, manuals, etc. On a tall tool box, a laptop is set up, the cord traveling behind a metal storage cabinet. The girl, Amelia, has her hair pulled back into a ponytail and is working a wrench. She wears gloves and has streaks of grease on her face. The boy, Duncan, has a pair of goggles on his head and is handing her tools.

AMELIA: Whew! Almost there. Pretty soon this engine’ll be as good as new.

DUNCAN: Some real good it’ll do. We don’t even have a car.

AMELIA: You know that’s not the point. The point is to learn.

DUNCAN: Mmmm…I suppose.

AMELIA: We have to make ourselves valuable, Duncan. Useful. This is how we become junkers.

DUNCAN: We’re too young. They’ll never let us.

AMELIA: You don’t know that for sure. Who cares how old we are as long as we can take care of ourselves?

DUNCAN: They don’t believe we can.

AMELIA: Well, do you want to be a junker or what?

2. Duncan nods seriously. A long, narrow panel.

AMELIA: Then make them believe it.

262

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eight

1. Zoom out. In the background: someone bangs on the roll-up door. In the foreground:

Ameilia and Duncan look over.

DRENG: [off panel] Duncan? Amelia? Are you in there? It’s me, Dreng!

2. Side shot. A profile. Duncan claps his hand. Amelia lifts up the door.

DUNCAN: Dreng!

AMELIA: Oh my god!

3. Full shot that captures the high ceiling. Amelia gives Dreng a crushing hug.

AMELIA: Dreng! We missed you!

DUNCAN: Where’ve you been, Dreng? We haven’t seen you in forever!

DRENG: You know, just been busy with Home Defense. Staying prepared. You know.

Complete and total vigilance.

4. Zoom in. Side shot. Amelia and Duncan to the left, Dreng to the right.

AMELIA: We heard about the raid a few weeks ago.

DRENG: Yeah, there was, but it was nothing. Just a group of ferals.

DUNCAN: Ferals like us?

5. Zoom in. Close-up of Dreng.

DRENG: No. Not like you. Not like you at all.

DUNCAN: No one took you up on your offer? To come back with you to Atlantis?

263

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nine

1. Medium shot of Dreng. He shakes his head.

2. Zoom out. Full shot of Amelia, Duncan, and Dreng. Amelia and Duncan talk excitedly, while Dreng looks around the garage, his hands behind his back. There should be plenty of room in the frame for dialogue.

AMELIA: It’s scary out there. In the tunnels. They couldn’t have known what they were doing. It’s hard to make the right choice when you’re starving.

DUNCAN: It’s a miracle we did. I barely remember anything.

AMELIA: Me too. It was just us. Alone, in the dark.

DUNCAN: We’ve never been fighters. Not even in Xanadu.

AMELIA: We’re just survivors. That’s all.

3. Full shot of Dreng. An over-the-shoulder shot from behind Duncan. Dreng turns around, his hands still behind his back.

DRENG: That’s why I’m here actually. I need your help.

DUNCAN: Oh yeah? With what?

4. Side shot from the other side of the room. Dreng is to the left, Amelia and Duncan are to the right. Amelia is squinting her eyes, suspicious.

DRENG: Ref told me you have a drone. That you rebuilt it out of parts that the junkers found.

AMELIA: That’s right. We did.

DRENG: That’s amazing. Will you let me borrow it?

DUNCAN: Why?

264

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Ten

1. Zoom in. A close-up of Dreng. He looks uncomfortable.

DRENG: I can’t tell you.

2. Zoom out. Aerial shot. Dreng crosses his arms, defensive.

AMELIA: You’re going to the surface, aren’t you?

DRENG: What? No, I’m just…

AMELIA: You are! You’re going up there.

3. Zoom in. Medium shot. Duncan claps his hands in joy. Amelia is looking over at him with consternation.

DUNCAN: Oh wow, you’re going to love it, Dreng.

DRENG: Wait, you’ve been up there?

AMELIA: We haven’t gone far. We stay near the houses.

4. Zoom in on Dreng. He is astonished.

DRENG: There are houses?

5. Zoom out. Full shot. Duncan and Amelia are to the left. Amelia is elbowing him.

DUNCAN: I mean…

6. He puts his hands behind his back, looks down at the floor.

DUNCAN: They’re Fake Houses. Nothing in them.

DRENG: You can’t be going up there. You’re not allowed.

265

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eleven

1. Zoom in. Medium shot of the three. Amelia has her hands on her hips. Duncan still looks at the floor.

AMELIA: Well neither are you.

DRENG: You’re just kids. Children.

DUNCAN: I don’t feel like a kid.

2. Same angle. Duncan looks up at Dreng. Amelia crosses her arms.

DRENG: Trust me. You’re a kid.

DUNCAN: But why’re you going up there?

AMELIA: Yeah, what’s up?

3. Zoom out. Semi-aerial shot. Dreng is holding up his hands apologetically.

DRENG: I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. Sarid promised me to secrecy.

AMELIA: Take us with you and you can borrow our drone.

4. Over the shoulder shot, from behind Dreng.

DRENG: I can’t do that. Not as Home Defense leader.

AMELIA: Then do it as Dreng.

DRENG: I can’t.

5. Zoom in. Medium shot of Duncan and Dreng. Duncan has crossed his arms, affirmatively.

DUNCAN: Then we can’t lend you our drone.

DRENG: Really?

266

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twelve

1. Full shot of Amelia and Duncan standing next to each other.

AMELIA: I’m sorry, Dreng. But that’s the deal. If you want to use our drone, you have to take us with you.

DUNCAN: Besides, we’re useful. We know all sorts of things.

2. Zoom out. Dreng is shaking his head. Amelia holds her head to the side.

DRENG: No. It’s too dangerous.

AMELIA: That’s not what the junkers say.

3. Zoom in. Close-up of Dreng. His face is suddenly angry.

DRENG: You don’t want to help me? Fine. I have better things to do. I don’t need your drone. I’ll talk to someone else…

4. Zoom out. Dreng is walking away, back out toward the door. Amelia holds up the palms of her hands.

AMELIA: Dreng, please. Wait!

DRENG: Forget it. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Sorry for bothering!

5. Medium full shot of Amelia and Duncan. Duncan’s eyes are wide as he implores him to stay. Amelia puts her face in her hands.

DUNCAN: Dreng! We want to help you!

AMELIA: Oh no…

6. Same angle. Ameilia drops her hands, looks suddenly sad.

AMELIA: Dreng’s mad at us. We’ll never see him again.

DUNCAN: What did we do?

7. Same angle. The siblings look at each other. 267

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

8. Same angle. The siblings drop their heads in sadness.

268

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirteen

1. Cut to an establishing shot of Z and Dreng as they make their way through tunnels. In

Dreng’s hands is a map. Z is looking behind himself, worried. They are both carrying heavy duty backpacks with them. The light is dim; the walls, bare and indistinct.

Z: Are you sure we’re going the right way?

DRENG: According to Sarid’s directions, yeah.

Z: I don’t know. We’ve been walking a long time. At least five miles.

DRENG: I told you it was a ways.

2. Medium close-up of Z. He is looking back behind him.

Z: I know…but we’ve never gone this far. You sure we brought enough supplies?

3. Zoom out. Frontal shot, from down the tunnel, capturing the roundness of the walls, the very high ceiling. At the bottom, Dreng is walking toward the viewer, with Z right behind. Dreng has a slight smirk on his face.

DRENG: Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?

Z: Please don’t make me die in the Above Ground.

4. Medium close-up of Dreng. He is looking back at Z, still smirking.

DRENG: Above Ground, underground, what’s the difference?

5. Close-up of Z. He looks angry.

Z: Don’t be so glib, damn it. We can still turn around. We don’t have to do this.

6. Zoom out. Medium shot from the side.

DRENG: I promised Sarid.

Z: Sarid can wait. I know the Aether is important, but we’re doing okay, aren’t we?

Maybe we have enough knowledge to survive? Almost all the quads have enough 269

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Growers, enough food. What’s six more months? Or even a year? Sarid’s parents won’t ground him forever.

270

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fourteen

1. Medium shot of Dreng, from the front. He has grabbed onto the straps of his backpack.

Behind him is Z.

DRENG: We’re making a gesture, Z. A gesture of good will. I need to show everyone that they can still rely on me, that I’m dependable, that I’m worthy enough to be their leader.

Z: What’s my gesture?

DRENG: That you’re my best friend.

2. They come around a corner. In front of them is a large service elevator, with smooth, shiny doors. The lights in the panels have all gone out. The elevator looks nonfunctional.

Dreng is reaching into his backpack.

DRENG: Alright! The Hatch.

3. Side shot. Z walks up to the elevator and touches the panel. Dreng is right behind him with a keycard that is attached to a small control box.

DRENG: Here, Sarid gave me this. Got it from the junkers.

4. Zoom in on the device.

Z: [off frame] How much did that cost?

5. Zoom out. Dreng walks up to the panel.

DRENG: Less than you’d think. Marijuana’s the one thing junkers can’t get their hands on. Not up there anyway.

271

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Fifteen

1. Dreng sticks in the card, taps on the control box. The doors opens.

DRENG: Hey hey!

Z: Sarid, that genius.

2. Zoom out. High angled shot, from behind them. Inside is an elevator. Dreng and Z stand back and look.

DRENG: You ready or what?

Z: Gah! Fine. Let’s just get this over with.

3. Cut to Dreng and Z standing in the elevator. Dreng reaching and pressing the only button on the panel.

DRENG: Away we go.

4. Medium close-up of Dreng and Z as the elevator heads upwards. Dreng has his eyes tilted up at the ceiling. Z is looking down at the floor, worried.

ELEVATOR: WHIRRRRRRR…

5. Zoom out. Full shot of the elevator opening from the other side of the doors. The room is dark. The elevator is the only source of light. Z and Dreng are standing inside it.

ELEVATOR: DING!

6. Same angle. Dreng takes a step out.

DRENG: Hello! Is anyone there?

7. Same angle. Dreng, out of the elevator, walks into the darkness. Z stands halfway out.

DRENG: Anyone?

272

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Sixteen

1. The door closes, leaving a slight crack of light, which illuminates Z’s back leg as he walks away from the elevator. Otherwise, the room is pitch black.

Z: What the?!

DRENG: Hold on. I got a flashlight.

2. Dreng turns on his flashlight, illuminating the room. The walls and floor are concrete, and across from them is a large, circular vault door, with a wheel that you have to turn to open.

3. Dreng has walked up to the vault and is turning the wheel.

DOOR: SQUEEEEK!

4. The door swings open.

DOOR: EEEEERRRRRRRRRRRKKKKK…

5. Dreng and Z step through the entrance into another room. The shot is from behind them. Here the walls are unfinished, exposing the beams and pink insulation.

273

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Seventeen

1. Zoom out. High angle shot. Dreng shines his flashlight to the right. Z stands behind him.

2. He shines his flashlight to the left. There is no apparent exit.

Z: Just great! We’re trapped!

3. Medium shot of Dreng, from the perspective of the wall. Dreng walks toward it, the light from his flashlight whiting out much of the panel.

DRENG: Just calm down and trust me…

4. Close-up of Dreng running his hand up one of the beams. It is moving toward a red button.

DRENG: [off panel] …everything is okay.

5. Zoom in on Dreng pressing the button.

DRENG: Bingo! Sarid’s right again.

6. The wall panel swings open, flooding the room with sunlight. Dreng and Z turn their heads away and cover their faces with their arms. The shot is from behind them.

7. Medium shot. The two have kneeled down, are reaching into their backpacks. Z is pulling out a synthetic white suit and goggles, similar to the one seen in the first chapter.

The panel is intensely bright.

274

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Eighteen

1. They walk out into the room dressed fully in their gear. They are again wearing their backpacks. The shot is from a low angle. Dreng is looking up at the light that’s coming through the skylights, while Z has his hands on his head. The ceiling is an A-frame.

DRENG: Can you freaking believe it? The first real sunlight we’ve ever seen! In our entire lives! It’s magnificent!

Z: Ugh. My head’s going to burst.

2. Zoom out. Establishing shot from a medium high angle. Again the panel is bright.

Dreng and Z are at the center. The room is mostly empty, except for a commode and water fountain near the far corner. There is some garbage littering the floor, an overturned ashtray, a couple of sleeping bags by the far wall. The walls are plaster and bare. There are no decorations, no furniture. Z is looking around, nervously.

Z: Where are we? What is this place?

DRENG: Must be the fake house.

Z: Fake house? Why a fake house?

DRENG: To hide the entrance.

Z: Very Chuckian.

DRENG: It worked, didn’t it?

3. Medium shot from the front. Dreng looks at Z, while Z stares ahead. There is a grim look on his face.

DRENG: You’re a really good friend, Z. I’ll never forget this. I promise.

Z: Just save it, okay? You owe me big. Bigger than you can possibly imagine.

275

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Nineteen

1. They come out onto a porch. Dreng is walking down the steps, Z is looking side to side. Their faces are obscured entirely by their suits and goggles. The light has a bright, yellow hue.

Z: Holy hell…

2. Zoom out. Medium aerial shot. Dreng has walked out into the dirt yard. Z follows down the steps. The A-frame roof points toward the sky; the skylights at the top reflecting sunlight. A road leads out of the yard, to the left of the panel, and goes through a field of blue-tinted solar panels.

Z: What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?

3. Zoom out. High aerial shot. The house is smaller. Solar panels surround it in every direction. Dreng and Z are specks.

Z: I can’t even comprehend this!

DRENG: Just slow down. Take a deep breath…

4. Zoom out higher. The solar farm takes the shape of a perfect circle, with roads cutting through to the north, south, east, and west. In the center is the ever-shrinking house.

DRENG: I promise, the distance is shorter than it seems.

5. Zoom out again. Extreme aerial shot. In the center is the circular solar farm. Outside of it are the dry, dusty plains. To the north, like blobs on the horizon, are the Sarcos.

Z: We’ll be in Muleshoe by morning.

276

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty

1. Cut to Dreng and Z walking eastwards down the road. It is a medium shot, from the front but angled. Behind them are the blue solar panels. Wind is kicking up dirt, and

Dreng and Z are tilting their heads and bearing down.

2. Z stops and turns around. Medium shot. Behind him, Dreng is walking ahead.

3. Zoom in on Z. His head and right shoulder is to the left of the panel. Far off on the horizon is the fake house they’ve left behind.

4. Zoom out. Z turns back around, hustles to keep up.

Z: [bold for emphasis] Where’s the transport?

5. Full shot, from the front, of Dreng walking down the road. Walking behind him is Z.

Behind both of them are the massive Sarcos on the horizon. From this angle, they look like an amorphous blob of congealed mushrooms. It is hundreds of miles wide.

DRENG: Only a couple more miles. Just past the solar farm.

Z: GOD, It’s so fucking hot! Feels like my shoes are melting! Why couldn’t we have done this at night?

DRENG: Because that’s when predators come out.

Z: Predators?! What predators?

DRENG: Nothing to fear, Z. You can just wrassle them to death. Put them in a sleeper hold. Now shut up and save your energy for the walk.

277

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-One

1. Zoom out. Aerial shot. The two are walking down the road, side by side.

2. Zoom out some more. The solar farm’s edge comes into view. The light has changed, which indicates the passing of time.

3. Zoom in. A side shot. Z is beginning to hang his head and lag behind. Their white suits are dusty.

4. Zoom out. Dreng and Z reach the end of the solar farm. In front of them are the flat, endless plains, a road leading into desolation.

5. Zoom in. A medium close-up, this time from the side. Z is in the foreground, while

Dreng is in the background. Dreng has a hand over his goggles, shading his eyes from the light.

Z: Son of a Chucky.

DRENG: Hrrrmmm….

6. Zoom out. To the left of the panel, in the foreground, is a very large tent anchored by several ropes. The flaps are being whipped by the wind. In the background are Z and

Dreng. Dreng is pointing at the tent.

DRENG: There it is! Junker base. Right where Sarid said it would be.

278

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Two

1. Cut to inside of the tent, which looks like the inside of a storage shed. There are automotive parts everywhere, silverware, furniture, computer equipment, copper wiring, steel pipes, laptops. In the center are large beams keeping the tent propped up. Dreng is sticking his head in through the entrance. In the corner are a few chairs around a long coffee table. In the center is a tray and teapot, coffee mugs scattered around it.

DRENG: Hello? Is anyone there?

2. Same angle. Dreng looks to the left.

DRENG: Hello?

3. High angled shot. Dreng and Z are inside the tent and are standing toward the middle.

They have taken off their masks. Their goggles they wear around their necks. Z has his arms crossed, while Dreng is stepping toward one of the piles of junk.

Z: Where are all the junkers?

DRENG: Must have gone for a run.

4. Zoom in. Medium shot. Dreng is walking around the tent, looking through the junk, while Z stands behind him with his hands up.

Z: Should we wait for them?

DRENG: No. Sarid said it’s already paid for.

Z: What is?

5. Zoom out. Full shot of Dreng, from the side. He is pointing at something behind a file cabinet.

DRENG: This.

279

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Three

1. Z comes and stands next to Dreng. It is a low angle shot from the front.

Z: What is it?

2. Full shot of the Solar Scooter. It is as large as a motorcycle, has a large, wide trunk and big monster truck-like wheels. Mounted on the back, like a rudder, is a solar panel.

DRENG: Solar Scooter. All-terrain. Custom made.

3. Zoom out. Z is scratching his head. Dreng looks at the Solar Scooter admiringly.

Z: Just one?

DRENG: It’s all the junkers had.

4. Zoom in. Medium shot. Z is frowning. Dreng smiles.

Z: You mean we have to ride on this together? All the way to Muleshoe?

DRENG: Yup. Has more than enough horsepower.

Z: I won’t do it.

DRENG: You have to.

5. Close-up of Z grimacing.

6. Cut to Dreng and Z riding on the scooter together, again wearing their mask and goggles. It is a full shot. The sun is lower, and the light has a more orange tint to it. Dreng is in the front, standing on the platform, while Z is in the back, sitting on the front end of the trunk. On the back end of the trunk, their backpacks are tied down by rope.

280

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Four

1. Zoom out. An aerial shot. It is dusk, and the light has a reddish quality. The road goes on and on into nowhere.

2. It is nightfall. Dreng and Z have set up camp off the road. There is no campfire. The moon the only source of light. Dreng and Z are sitting on their backpacks, eating food straight from a box. They are out of their suits now and are wrapped up in blankets. Near their feet are sleeping bags with the same kind of synthetic, Space Age fabric as their suits.

3. The view is from the ground. Dreng is looking up at the stars. Behind him is the huge expansive sky.

DRENG: I just can’t believe how nice it is. Pretty much like an out of body experience.

4. Zoom in on Dreng. A closeup.

DRENG: I mean…just look at these stars. I’ve read what they are, I’ve seen them in books, but the words...the pictures…they do no justice. I feel like they’re reaching deep into my soul and speaking to me.

5. Zoom closer in on Dreng. He is beginning to shed a tear.

DRENG: Fuck…they’re so beautiful.

6. Zoom out. Z sits glumly, holding his fork. Dreng wipes his eyes.

Z: They’re okay, I guess. Be a whole lot nicer if we didn’t have to worry about the sun coming up.

7. Zoom in. Medium shot of Z and Dreng sitting next to each other. Dreng is looking over.

281

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

DRENG: Why do you always have to shit on everything, huh? This is the first time we’ve ever been outside. Can’t you just enjoy it?

8. Zoom in on Dreng. He waves his hand at the stars.

DRENG: Look in front of you, Z. There is meaning everywhere. Can’t you feel how new this is? Can’t you sense the possibilities? This is a new world. Completely new.

9. Zoom out. Z glowers. Dreng digs into his boxed meal.

Z: This isn’t what I mean by meaning. This might mean something to you, but it means nothing to me.

DRENG: You’ve got a bad attitude.

282

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Five

1. Zoom in. Medium shot of Dreng, from the side, with Z looking at him in the background.

Z: I want to create, Dreng. That’s what I mean. I want to be an artist.

2. Zoom out. Full shot. Dreng turns his head to look at Z. Z bends his neck, lifting his fork to his mouth.

DRENG: An artist? How’s wrasslin being an artist?

Z: For one thing, it’s an art.

3. Zoom in on Dreng. He holds up his fork as if to pontificate. Z chews his food.

DRENG: It’s wrasslin. It’s goofing around. It’s playacting. That’s fine if you and the rest of the team are into it, I really don’t care, but it’s not art.

4. Zoom out. Medium sfrom the side. Z is in the foreground, digging his fork into his food.

Z: You’re wrong.

DRENG: I’m not wrong. I might not be the smartest guy around, but I know what art is.

And pro wrestling is not art. It’s a spectacle.

5. Z looks over at Dreng with a cautious look.

Z: Ask Penny. She agrees.

DRENG: Penny? No way.

6. Full shot from the front as they sit next to each other.

Z: Why do you think she asked to train with me?

DRENG: Train? With you?

Z: I’ve only shown her a couple of things. But she gets it. She understands. 283

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Six

1. Dreng’s face changes completely. He begins to glower.

DRENG: I didn’t know that.

Z: We get to the gym early, before anyone else is there.

2. Z takes another bite. They sit there in silence.

3. Dreng stands up and walks away with his sleeping bag.

DRENG: Better get to sleep. We’ll be leaving before the sun’s up.

4. Dreng walks away, toward the darkness. Z watches him go.

Z: Gotcha, chief. Bout to hit the hay myself.

5. Cut to the next morning. Medium aerial shot. They are back on the road. The sky is a light blue. Behind them is a trail of dust.

6. Zoom in. From behind Dreng’s shoulder, a drone appears in the sky.

284

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Seven

1. Full shot from the front. Dreng is pointing up at the drone.

DRENG: Look at that!

Z: What is it? A bird?

DRENG: No, it’s a drone.

2. Low angled shot, from the road. The drone appears to be malfunctioning. There is a ragged patch of stones, and the scooter is headed right for it.

DRENG: And I got a pretty good idea who it belongs to.

3. Zoom in on the wheel striking the stones.

WHEEL: CRACK!

4. Zoom out. Wide shot. Z and Dreng go flying off the scooter. The scooter flips into the air.

5. Dreng and Z land on their faces. The scooter goes tumbling behind them.

SCOOTER: CRASH!

6. Z lays face down in the dirt. Dreng is sitting up with a hand on his head, his mask off.

DRENG: For fuck’s sake.

7. Dreng looks back down the road and glares.

285

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Eight

1. Cut to Dreng and Z looking down at the broken scooter. They both have their masks off, and are squinting. Dreng stands akimbo while Z clutches an elbow. He has scrapes all along the side of his face.

DRENG: It’s totaled. We have to leave it.

Z: No, uh-uh. We can’t walk. It’s impossible.

2. Dreng looks back down the road.

3. Then he look back up at the sky. The drone is there, hovering.

DRENG: We might not have to.

4. Cut to Dreng and Z sitting on the side of the road. They have made a makeshift shelter out of some materials from the backpack, and are sitting under it waiting. In the distance, on the horizon, is a huge plume of dirt. They are looking toward it.

5. Same angle. The plume gets bigger, closer. Z takes a drink of water.

6. Full shot of Z and Dreng from the front. A dune buggy pulls up in front of them, driven by Amelia. Duncan sits in the passenger seat.

286

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Twenty-Nine

1. Over the shoulder shot, from behind Dreng and Z. Duncan hangs out the window.

DUNCAN: Need a ride?

2. Full shot from the front of the dune buggy. Dreng and Z are to the left, with Duncan and Amelia to the right.

DRENG: I told you to stay where you were. I said you couldn’t come.

DUNCAN: We did stay. But then we saw you crash.

AMELIA: We couldn’t leave you out here.

DUNCAN: It’s pretty hot.

3. Medium close-up Dreng and Z. They look stunned. Duncan and Amelia stand to their left.

DRENG: Where did you get that vehicle?

DUNCAN: We built it out of parts.

AMELIA: Junkers are very generous.

DUNCAN: They bring back more junk than they can use.

AMELIA: They have a compulsion.

Z: How’d you get it up the elevator?

AMELIA AND DUNCAN: [in unison] We built it up here!

4. Zoom in. Close-up of Amelia.

AMELIA: So…you just going to sit there and fry or are you going to get in?

5. Cut to the dune buggy driving down the road. It is a medium aerial shot, from behind the dune buggy. The plains in the background are as flat as a pancake. There are no signs of life. Dreng and Z sit in the back. 287

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Z: We haven’t seen any lizards…

DUNCAN: Lizards ain’t around here.

Z: Where are they from?

DUNCAN: I don’t know, but not around here.

288

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirty

1. Medium close-up, from the front. Dreng is leaning forward into the front of the cab.

DRENG: WAIT! Slow down!

2. Full shot of the windshield, from behind Dreng, Amelia, and Duncan. Far ahead, on the road, is what looks like a body.

DRENG: Do you see that?

DUNCAN: What is it?

AMELIA: Is that a body?

3. Low angled shot of the body. In the background is the dune buggy pulling up.

4. Z and Dreng get out of the dune buggy.

Z: Is that…? No…it can’t be.

289

Texas Tech University, William Taylor, May 2020

Page Thirty-One

1. Zoom in. Wide of the two walking forward. Dreng is looking over at Z, slightly worried.

DRENG: Who?

2. Low angled shot of Z and Dreng looking down.

Z: But…he’s supposed to be dead. He died a long time ago.

DRENG: Holy shit…

3. Full shot of Ultimo Hombre, laying in the dirt. He is wearing his purple and green mask, and he’s covered in dirt, his lips cracked. His body takes up the entirety of the frame.

DRENG: [off panel] It is him…it really is.

Z: [off panel] He’s breathing…

4. Zoom out. Dreng and Z are look down at the road, at Ultimo Hombre. Duncan and

Amelia are walking up from behind.

Z: Ultimo Hombre is….alive!

FIN

290