The Vail (Episode Ten: The Truth)

This one is either gonna make or break the Vail. Please comment.

The Vail

By Joey Pettine



Episode Ten: The Truth



(A basement, damp and dark. A bare light bulb hangs from the ceiling giving minor relief to the deep, pervasive shadows. Directly beneath the dim bulb is a workbench, a vise bolted into its surface, framed by a wall of power tools, one of them being a rusty circular saw. A sawed off shotgun sits ominously upon the workbench. Offstage there is the slow creak of a door opening and then the rhythmic thump of feet upon dusty wood as ANDY VAIL, ALINA WAITTS, and STEVEN TILLHOUSE come down the steps with stern, ready faces. Their attention is on the shadows around them. Andy, his eyes ablaze with anger and his body a furious tableau of calm repose, takes the shotgun off the bench, letting it dangle in his hand as if he doesn’t really need it, hid free hand shakes uncontrollably. Andy nods to Alina who unholsters a revolver. Steven is unarmed and seems a bit nervous about it. Andy stares directly into the dark.)



ANDY

I can see you, Henry. It’s no use hiding.



(HENRY enters from the shadows, locking his gaze with Andy’s and ignoring the other two. Henry stands tall and straight, his hands steady, his face an epitome of calm neutrality, his eyes soft.)



HENRY

I had no intentions of hiding. I do not believe it is possible to hide from you. I was merely waiting. It is time to tell you the truth.



STEVEN

You knew we were coming.



HENRY

I knew Andrew was coming.



ANDY

How?



HENRY

I was told. Would you like to know by whom?



ALINA

Shut up!



ANDY

I’m the strong one now. You can’t fool me anymore, Henry. I mean, Mischa.



HENRY

You have learned much and are correct, this body is not my own. I needed a vessel so that I might traverse this world. Yet Mr. Bratton, Mischa as you call him, is unharmed. His personality is buried, asleep, in his subconscious and when I exit his body he will, in a manner of speaking, wake up. Unfortunately, it seems that information is all that you have learned. I have never manipulated you, Andrew. I am sure whoever has sent you to murder me would like you to believe that I have and that the serum within your veins protects you from my influence. Remember this, Andrew; you were immune to my will before Mynot’s concoction poisoned your system. You were always special. However, you do not look so healthy anymore. How much more of the serum have you injected yourself with?



ANDY

I’m better than I ever was. I could bench press you one handed, I could find you in a pitch black warehouse, I have become one with nature and the universe.



HENRY

You have taken an experimental drug that has heightened your natural instinctual abilities. Your physical abilities, such as speed and strength, have been modified in direct association with the human survival instinct. You have also become more attune to the extraordinary phenomenon of this universe, what you might call “the supernatural”. This is how you were able to track me like a mindless beast.



ALINA

What the hell are you doing? Kill him!



HENRY

Yet it is also instinctually human to become slaves to our emotions, especially the negative ones. Your anger and grief has been exponentially heightened. I can only imagine the pain you are in. I am sorry but it is also this affliction which blinds you from what you need. For is it also not instinctually human to seek out the truth? It is why you cannot find peace, your mind has been poisoned with lies and, somewhere, you know it. Tonight, I promise you only the truth, no matter how painful.



STEVEN

What is he talking about?



HENRY

Steven, I am sorry to see that you have been resurrected. Death is a gift of life.



ALINA

I’m done with this shit.



ANDY

NO! I GOT THIS!



(Andy raises the shotgun at Henry, the barrel trembles in his face.)



ANDY

Deja fuckin’ vu. Doesn’t this seem familiar?



(Henry reaches for the saw. Andy presses the gun into his neck.)



ANDY

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!





HENRY

The saw is unplugged, Andrew. I merely want to show you something. You may keep the weapon trained upon me if it comforts you.



ALINA

Kill him, Andy!



HENRY

You are not a murderer, Andrew. I am.



(Henry presses the trigger on the saw and the blade spins. He stops. Andy’s entire bdy is tebling now, his eyes bug from his skull.)



HENRY

You know what this means.



ANDY

YOU MURDERING SHIT EATING ALIEN SON OF A BITCH I WILL EAT YOU—



(Andy fires the gun and a puff of soke explodes from the back and hits Andy in the face. He falls to his knees, dropping the gun in a daze. Henry quickly places the saw upon his neck.)



STEVEN

No!



ALINA

SON OF A BITCH!



HENRY

Do not fire, Misses Waitts. I mean Andrew no harm however if I was shot I might involuntarily power the saw.



STEVEN

You unholy bastard.



HENRY

Andrew is alright. I rigged the gun to backfire but it was loaded with tranquilizers, he is no more than dazed. You have to understand, I knew I could never physically overpower you and I need you to listen. The truth is that I did kill your brother but I did not murder him.



ALINA

Fuck this! I’m shooting, Steve.



STEVEN

No! He’ll kill him.



HENRY

And although your brother’s murder has already affected your life, it has not yet occurred in mine. I am from your future, Andrew. As a matter of fact, I am your future, I am human evolved. Leaper is not the name of my race but the name of the organization I work for, a name taken from old Earth historical documents. This explains why I am able to influence weaker minds, why I am adept at your technology, and why I can do such things as emit steady electrical charges from my palms. These are all natural capabilities humans are finally able to utilize once your brains fully evolve and are used at full capacity. This is also why the way I talk seems odd to you, language has changed quite a bit in millions of years but this body’s brain is trying to translate it into your era’s linguistic capabilities. However, human evolution is in grave danger. The time I come from is a hostile Earth, cities lie in ruins and there are only a handful of humans still alive. We live underground, in old sewers, wherever we can hide.



STEVEN

Hide from what?



ALINA

Don’t listen to this bullshit!



ANDY

Hide from what?



HENRY

From the Insects, a horrific alien race that has dominated Earth for thousands of years. No one knows where they came from or why they chose Earth but they use our bodies as vessels. They enter the brain via the ear canal, gestate inside the skull while feeding upon the brain, and then use the body as a vehicle of sorts. They run rampant in my world, hunting us remaining humans. Our intellect may be more advanced than theirs, but their numbers are staggering. Project Leaper was created to stop the Insects. We were able to use our minds, our most powerful weapon, to pinpoint the hypothetical time and location of the first Insect infestation.



ANDY

Michael?



HENRY

Yes, your brother. Once we had this knowledge we built a device that could send the consciousness of a living being back in time. Numerous units were sent back, I was only one. The girl, Savannah, was another agent sent back from even further in my future. It is from her that I received the most vital of information. Mere moments before her death she informed me of all that she knew. She told me about this confrontation that we are having, she told me that I was the one who cut open your brother’s skull, and she told me that I was the one who gave her this information. Sometime in my future, after all of this is over, I must return even further back in time to inhabit the body of Nancy Vail and I must use her to kill your brother and cut the gestating Insect from inside his skull. I must do it because if those horrible things do not happen then these things would never take place and they must take place, you must become who you are, you must become the Vail.



ANDY

The Vail?



HENRY

We never knew what the Vail was. My people had heard rumors, that in the days before humanity fell it was supposed to be the only thing that might have stopped the insects but we never knew entirely until I met you. You are the Vail, your actions stop the Insects here and now and save the future of the world.



ANDY

And Nancy loses everything.



HENRY

It is a side effect of inhabiting her body. Even though I am the murderer, her brain is telling her that she is.



(Andy stands, dazed but seemingly under control.)



ANDY

So it was you. When Nancy came into my office, told me abut Mike, it wasn’t her at all. It was you trying to help me. You told me I saved your life.



HENRY

I have no knowledge of this.



ANDY

It makes perfect sense. She even sounded like you that night.



(Andy begins to laugh, quite maniacally, and then they turn into sobs. Steven looks dumbfounded, Alina looks pissed.)



ANDY

Oh, God, it’s true isn’t it?



ALINA

Yes, actually, but we were hoping you wouldn’t figure that out. Guess I gotta do this myself.



(Alina aims at Henry and fires.)



ANDY

No!



(Andy jumps in front of the bullet, Henry catches him from collapsing. Alina goes to fire again but Steven knocks the gun out of her hands. She punches him hard and then bolts up the steps. Steven looks after her then runs over to Andy to look after him. Henry holds Andy, blood soaking him, looking quite confused.)



HENRY

Andrew, you saved my life.



ANDY

You fucker. I knew you killed my brother.





(Andy’s eyes close. Steven and Henry look worried. The lights fade.)