SOLARA

  What is a saint, anyway?

  79.

  ELI

  It’s someone who spent their life doing good things for others.

  Enough that God himself took a special interest in them.

  Solara looks at Eli tenderly, with admiration.

  SOLARA

  Someone like you.

  Eli looks away, down at the ground. He appears sad.

  ELI

  No. Not like me. Saints ain’t killers. And I done too much of that. Spilled too much blood.

  BEAT. No words, just the flickering firelight.

  SOLARA

  Will you read me some more from the book?

  ELI

  It’s late. You should get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow.

  LATER - NIGHT

  The fire down to its last embers. Eli sleeps next to his pack, half-hidden in the looming shadows of the cave. His hat and goggles hung up for the night on the hilt of his sword.

  Solara sleeps nearby... then opens her eyes. Not asleep after all. She looks over at Eli - his face hidden in shadow and so impossible to tell if he’s asleep or awake.

  SOLARA

  Eli?

  No response. Quietly, she moves forward, kneeling by his side. She opens his coat and checks the pockets. Empty.

  She goes deeper, peeling back the layers of clothing, stealthily frisking him. She finds something on his lapel, hidden under several layers, that causes her to stop.

  It’s a RECTANGULAR PLASTIC BADGE. The red, white and blue colors faded and worn. It reads: WELCOME TO WAL-MART

  MY NAME IS “ELI”

  HOW MAY I HELP YOU?

  80.

  She stares at it for a moment, not knowing what to make of it. Then moves on, continuing to pat him down.

  Whatever she’s looking for is not here. She turns her attention to the backpack. Slowly, carefully, opens it up.

  There it is. THE BIBLE, wrapped carefully in its neat little package of cloth and twine. She reaches in for it.

  Suddenly, ELI’S HAND SHOOTS OUT AND GRABS HER BY THE WRIST.

  She cries out, startled. Eli sits up, his face just a dark shape in the shadows. For the first time he appears a little scary to Solara.

  ELI

  What are you doing?

  SOLARA

  You scared me! I thought you were asleep.

  ELI

  On the road you sleep with one eye open. I asked you what you were doing.

  SOLARA

  I just wanted to see the book.

  ELI

  You want to see the book, you ask me. Nobody touches it but me. Ever.

  Until it gets where it’s going. Do you understand?

  He’s very forceful. She nods, a little afraid of him.

  ELI

  Tell me you understand!

  He grips her wrist tighter.

  SOLARA

  Okay! I understand! Ow!

  Eli releases her wrist. Takes the pack from her and closes it up. Pulls it closer to him and lies back down.

  ELI

  It’s no use to you anyway. You don’t know how to read it.

  81.

  SOLARA

  Well... now we have the time, maybe you can teach me.

  ELI

  Maybe. Get some sleep.

  She lies back down beside him, but doesn’t close her eyes.

  She just lies there, watching him.

  EXT. WASTELAND - DAWN

  The sun rises out of the east. And out of the sun comes the FLEET OF ARMORED VEHICLES. Racing side-by-side down the road.

  The lead vehicle comes to a halt. A door opens and Redridge gets out. MORE ARMED MEN emerge from the other vehicles and follow him as he marches into the wasteland by the roadside.

  The DEAD BRIGANDS are splayed out in the dirt where Eli slew them. A FLOCK OF BUZZARDS is picking their bones clean.

  REDRIDGE

  He’s been here.

  Redridge looks at the footprints in the dirt headed from the bodies and back onto the road. Two sets of tracks.

  REDRIDGE

  The girl’s with him.

  He moves back to the cars.

  REDRIDGE

  Move out!

  The other men hold for a moment, still looking at the half-eaten bodies in the dirt. Redridge turns back.

  REDRIDGE

  I said move out!

  CARNEGIE GUNMAN

  I heard this guy’s protected somehow, some... power from up above. That there ain’t nothing on this earth can touch him.

  REDRIDGE

  He’s just a man. You put a bullet in him, he’ll go down like any other. I don’t want to hear no more of this superstitious horseshit!

  82.

  Hesitantly, they make their way back to the vehicles. The cars gun their engines and move on down the road, past the abandoned Chevron station. Dust pluming in their wake.

  EXT. ROAD - DAY

  Eli and Solara walk together, passing by a few burned-out buildings. It appears we might be headed toward a town.

  Solara looks up at the sweltering sun. Then around at her surroundings. Nothing but devastation and decay.

  SOLARA

  You say you’ve been walking for twenty-five years. Have you ever considered that you might be lost?

  ELI

  No.

  SOLARA

  But how can you know? How can you know this is the right way?

  ELI

  I told you. My path has been laid out before me.

  SOLARA

  Yeah, but laid out by who?

  ELI

  By Almighty God.

  SOLARA

  Well if this God guy’s so mighty, how come it’s taking you so long to get where you’re going? Doesn’t he know the way?

  Eli wheels around and jabs a scolding finger at her.

  ELI

  You want to stay on this road with me, don’t ever let me hear you take his name in vain like that again.

  Solara is surprised by the severity of his reaction.

  SOLARA

  Sorry.

  Eli resumes walking.

  83.

  ELI

  God has a reason for everything being the way it is. It’s not always apparent to us. But it is his plan nonetheless.

  SOLARA

  So, is he talking to you right now?

  Telling you where to go?

  ELI

  It’s not like that. It’s kinda hard to explain. I’m guided by faith.

  SOLARA

  I don’t know what that word means.

  BEAT as Eli thinks on how to explain it.

  ELI

  It means you know something even though you don’t know it.

  Solara thinks about this, shakes her head.

  SOLARA

  That doesn’t make any sense at all.

  ELI

  It doesn’t have to.

  They walk on.

  EXT. HOUSE - DAY

  On the outskirts of a small town that lies in ruins. Almost every building burned or reduced to rubble.

  Except for one SMALL HOUSE. The building is damaged and worn but in mostly decent condition. It stands out among its surroundings for being the only structure still intact.

  The windows are BARRED. The outer structure fortified with SHEET METAL and other custom patch-ups. The whole plot surrounded by a CHAIN-LINK FENCE TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE.

  Eli and Solara crouch behind a pile of rubble nearby.

  SOLARA

  I don’t get it. It looks almost...

  normal. Like nothing ever happened.

  How can it still be out here?

  84.

  ELI

  I don’t know.

  SOLARA

  Maybe we should look inside. There might be food.

  BEAT as Eli considers. Then stands and unhooks his shotgun.

  ELI

  Stay behind me.

  They approach the house cautiously. Arrive at the perimeter fence. There’s a gate held in place by a PADLOCK.

  Eli pulls a pair of BOLT-CUTTERS from his belt and snips the padlock free. Swings open the gate with a metallic SQUEAK.

  They move inside, up the garden path. Though the soil in the yard is dead, it’s been carefully raked and tended. WEEDS

  arranged in thoughtful patterns, like real flowers.

  SOLARA

  This is weird.

  ELI

  Yeah.

  Eli steps forward, his foot planting on a CRACKED PAVING

  STONE that shifts almost imperceptibly under his feet.

  Accompanied by a barely audible SOUND. He looks down.

  ELI

  Shit.

  SOLARA

  What?

  A ROPE NOOSE suddenly whips around their feet, tightening at their ankles and YANKING THEM UPSIDE-DOWN INTO THE AIR. Eli drops his shotgun to the ground.

  They hang there for a moment, twisting in the breeze.

  The front door to the house SWINGS OPEN to reveal...

  AN ELDERLY COUPLE. The woman’s gray hair tied into a neat bun. The man bald, squinting through wire-frame glasses. They look like the couple from Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.” Instead of a pitchfork the man holds a 12-GAUGE RIOT SHOTGUN

  which he keeps trained from the hip on Eli and Solara.

  85.

  They step outside, regarding their new visitors carefully.

  The man seems more suspicious than his wife. He drags Eli’s shotgun toward him with his foot, hands it to his wife.

  ELDERLY MAN

  Who are you?

  ELI

  My name is Eli. This is Solara.

  We’re travelers, that’s all. We don’t mean you any harm.

  ELDERLY MAN

  You cut my padlock. I saw you.

  Trying to break into our house.

  ELI

  I’m sorry. We didn’t think anybody lived here. We thought it was abandoned, like all the rest.

  This seems to annoy the man.

  ELDERLY MAN

  Take a look around you. Look at this yard. Does it look abandoned to you?

  Clearly he’s proud of the work he’s done with the pitiful means at his disposal.

  ELI

  No, sir. I... like what you’ve done with the place.

  ELDERLY MAN

  What’s your business here?

  ELI

  No business. We’re sorry to have troubled you. If you’ll let us down we’ll happily be on our way.

  The wife steps forward, she’s much warmer, less guarded.

  ELDERLY WOMAN

  George, look at them! They’re not robbers or road agents! One of them’s just a girl!

  ELDERLY MAN

  Seen that before. Oldest trick in the book.

  86.

  ELDERLY WOMAN

  Oh, stop! It’s no trick. Let them down!

  The woman glares at him. The husband reluctantly accedes and moves to the concealed trap apparatus. Releases the rope, dropping Eli and Solara to the ground in a heap.

  The old woman helps them to their feet. They shake off the noose from their ankles.

  ELDERLY WOMAN

  I’m so sorry about my husband. We so rarely get visitors these days, he’s suspicious of everybody.

  (beat)

  I’m Martha and this is my husband George. Would you care for some tea?

  Eli and Solara exchange a look. What the hell is this?

  INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY

  It’s like something out of the world before. The interior is almost perfectly preserved. Chintzy couches. A mahogany table. A TV set in the corner. Lace curtains. Unreal.

  Eli and Solara sit on the couch, feeling self-conscious and looking entirely out of place in this cozy environment.

  George sits across from them on the couch, scowling at them inhospitably. The shotgun resting across his lap.

  Martha emerges from the kitchen, carrying a tray laden with a tea pot and old china cups. Cracked and faded, but intact.

  She places the tray on the coffee table and sits.

  MARTHA

  I’m afraid we don’t have any cake or biscuits for the tea. They ran out some time ago.

  She lifts the tea port and pours into the cups. But it’s not tea, only water. Somewhat murky water. Eli and Solara stare at the cups, unsure. Martha gestures toward them.

  MARTHA

  Please.

  They raise their cups and take a sip. Martha watches eagerly.

  It’s clearly a thrill for her to be doing something as civilized and elegant as serving “tea” to guests.

  87.

  MARTHA

  How do you like it?

  ELI

  It’s.. uh...

  SOLARA

  It’s very good.

  Martha smiles, delighted. She lifts her own cup to her lips.

  HER HANDS TREMBLE, the cup rattling against the saucer.

  ELI

  Have you always lived here?

  MARTHA

  For almost forty years now. This home is our pride and joy, isn’t it, George?

  George just grunts. Not interested in conversation.

  MARTHA

  We refused to leave, even during the troubles. We said, didn’t we George, we said if we’re going to die anywhere, we’re going to die right here, in our own home.

  ELI

  I don’t understand how you’ve survived out here this long.

  MARTHA

  Well, George is something of a handyman, aren’t you, dear? He did a lot of work on the place, making it safe. We may be old, but we’re resilient. We’ve had more than a few who’ve tried to take this place from us. Haven’t we, George?

  GEORGE

  Yes. Yes we have.

  He stands and moves toward the back door. Opens it up and beckons Eli and Solara to come look.

  EXT. HOUSE - BACK YARD - CONTINUOUS

  Eli and Solara stand in the doorway, looking out on the yard.

  Solara is horrified by what she sees.

  88.

  The entire back yard is a GRAVEYARD. Maybe twenty human graves dug shallow into the earth. Some were dug long ago, others look like they’re very recent.

  SOLARA

  Are these... graves?

  MARTHA

  Of course. It would be uncivilized not to bury them. We’re not

  barbarians.

  GEORGE

  Plus, it’s good for the soil.

  MARTHA

  Come on back inside. I think I might be able to rustle up some sandwiches.

  George and Martha go back inside, leaving Eli and Solara gazing at the little graveyard.

  ELI

  We have to get out of here.

  SOLARA

  They look so sweet... I would never have believed they were killers.

  ELI

  They’re worse than that.

  SOLARA

  What?

  ELI

  They didn’t just kill these people.

  (beat)

  They ate them.

  Solara is stunned.

  SOLARA

  They what?

  ELI

  There’s a disease in the outland.

  Spread by eating human meat. It affects the brain. Dementia, loss of motor function. Did you notice the old woman’s hands shaking?

  She’s got it. They’ve both got it.

  89.

  SOLARA

  Oh my God...

  INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

  Eli and Solara re-enter. Solara looks at George nervously.

  He’s still carrying that shotgun.

  Martha’s voice drifts in from the nearby KITCHEN.

  MARTHA (O.S.)

  I found some meat for those

  sandwiches! Are you hungry?

  SOLARA

  No! Thank you!

  ELI

  We really must be going.

  GEORGE

  So soon?

  An unnerving glint in his eye. Eli moves toward the door.

  ELI

  Yes, I’m afraid so.

  As he gets to the door, George moves to intercept. Hard to tell if he’s blocking his path or moving to open the door for him. A tense BEAT.

  Martha emerges from the kitchen.

  MARTHA

  Are you sure you won’t stay?

  ELI

  Yes. Thank you again for the tea.

  Eli stares George down. Reluctantly, George steps aside. Eli opens the door and escorts Solara outside.

  EXT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

  Eli and Solara emerge into the sunlight. Walk down the garden path. And FREEZE IN THEIR TRACKS.

  THE ARMED VEHICLES ARE COMING. Driving toward them out of the horizon in a hazy cloud of dust.

  SOLARA

  Oh no... it’s my dad. It’s his men.

  90.

  ELI

  Are you sure?

  SOLARA

  I recognize the cars.

  ELI

  Back inside.

  Eli bundles Solara back into the house. George stands in the doorway, squinting at the approaching convoy.

  INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

  George follows them back in, furious.

  GEORGE

  What did you bring upon us?

  MARTHA

  George? What’s wrong?

  GEORGE

  A whole convoy of armed

  degenerates, that’s what’s wrong!

  Coming here for them! And they led them right to us!

  Martha rushes to the window, pulls aside the lace curtain.

  Outside she sees the armored vehicles SCREECHING TO A HALT.

  The men spill out from the vehicles and take cover behind them, locking and loading weapons.

  MARTHA

  Oh no they don’t...

  She rushes across the room, teeth gritted with determination.

  GEORGE

  Martha, what are you doing?

  MARTHA

  I finally got this house just the way I want it. I’m not going to let anybody tear it apart!

  She goes to the couch and yanks off the seat cushions.

  Underneath is a WOODEN LID which she throws open to reveal: A HUGE CACHE OF WEAPONS. Automatic rifles. Shotguns. Pistols.

  Grenades. And enough ammunition for everything.

  91.

  She pulls out an M-60 MACHINE-GUN, slings the strap over her shoulder and locks in a CHAIN OF BULLETS. She looks like a post-apocalyptic Martha Stewart.

  SOLARA

  Where did you get all this stuff?

  George pulls out an AK-47, slots in a magazine.

  GEORGE