Here we go. The second to last episode of the Vail. I should be posting the final episode this week. Oh, and have a Happy Valentine's Day. Here's to hoping your significant other isn't evil.
The Vail
By Joey Pettine
Episode Twelve: Family
(A small mortician’s basement. Along the back wall, a strange green liquid percolates through a massive chemistry set of pipes and tubes. ALINA WAITTS sits in a chair, flanked by ZED and ZOD, her literally brainless lackeys. She is enjoying a cigar and holds a revolver at the ready. STEVEN TILLHOUSE, HENRY, and ANDY VAIL enter. Henry has his trusty sawed off shotgun at the ready. Neither of them really seem afraid of the gun.)
ANDY
Mr. Waitts.
ALINA
They told you.
ANDY
Where's Nancy? Tell and I won't rip out your throat.
ALINA
Still having trouble with the temper, I see.
STEVEN
Answer his question.
ALINA
Why? He doesn't need me to figure it out. He tracked Henry down just fine.
STEVEN
She... He makes--
ANDY
It! Don't let it fool you, Steven. Whatever resides in that poor girl's body stopped being human a long time ago.
STEVEN
It's a good point. Can you track her like you did Henry?
HENRY
Andrew is still weak. You were recently shot. It might expel too much energy to utilize your advanced skills.
ALINA
But you have to. It's the only way. I sure as hell ain't gonna give up the ghost.
ANDY
It's right.
ALINA
Oh, stop it! Couple weeks ago you were ready to be my Valentine, now I'm not even human?
STEVEN
He's right. To call you a monster wouldn't be enough.
ALINA
Ooh. Harsh, Deadman.
STEVEN
You were afraid to die. It's natural, I can't blame you for that. But you sacrificed your own family for a few more years. You're just wrong.
ALINA
A few more years? I'm over a hundred. That's what family's for. To carry on your legacy. I was smart. They all had the chance, I took it. Survival of the fittest. You morons must realize that. Look what's happened to your lives because of what you did for your family. Especially you, Vail, your brother didn't even like you.
HENRY
That is enough.
ALINA
And you are the most pathetic of all. The whole of time and space at your fingertips and you come back here. Fighting for a hopeless future.
ANDY
It's what's right.
ALINA
It's what's right. For the good of humanity. To avenge your families. Blah diggity fuckin' blah. It's always some excuse. Right and wrong is the bullshit weak people came up with to trick the stronger creatures into leaving them alone. Creatures like you. A zombie, a body snatcher, and “the Vail”. Like you guys are human.
ANDY
More human than you.
ALINA
You sure, Vail. Lemme ask you something. Where is Nancy? Who's with her?
HENRY
Do you know, Andrew?
ANDY
Yes.
ALINA
How? How the hell could you know ? Can you smell it? Sense it? Can you read my mind? What? Because none of those things are human.
ANDY
I can find them.
STEVEN
Who's them? Dr. North?
ANDY
Yes. But...
(Andy breathes in deep, letting the world soak into him, and then his eyes go wide.)
ANDY
No!
ALINA
Surprise, surprise.
HENRY
What is it?
ANDY
Mike. Mr. Skinner. I can't tell.
HENRY
The Insect.
ALINA
The very one that killed your brother.
STEVEN
I died killing that thing.
ANDY
It survived.
ALINA
Dr. North rescued it, actually. He has plans.
ANDY
We have to go.
ALINA
Yeah, right.
ANDY
Put down the gun.
ALINA
Shut it!
STEVEN
You've already proven you're a lousy shot.
ALINA
I don't need to kill you.
(She pulls out a cell phone.)
ALINA
One ring and they'll kill Nancy. So why don't we just have a sit and wait. Then you all can go on your merry way.
(Henry points at the cell. It sparks and explodes. Alina yelps and drops it to the ground. She looks angry and fires. Steven steps in front of them, taking the bullet in his chest. It looks like it hurt but he shakes it off.)
STEVEN
Go. I got this.
(Andy and Henry don't hesitate. Alina fires twice more into Steven's back.)
STEVEN
That stings! I'm already dead idiot!
ALINA
I can shoot you in the head. Can't work without a brain.
STEVEN
Think you're a good enough shot.
(Alina fires the remaining three rounds but Steven is moving. One of them hits the wall and two of them hit Steven's torso. Alina tosses the empty gun.)
ALINA
Kill him!
(Zed and Zod move forward to attack. Steven prepares to fight back but the two zombies have already stopped. They sniff the air then just stop.)
ALINA
What are you doing! Kill him!
(Steven takes the chance to try and fight back. He goes to throw a punch at Zod but stops short. He also sniffs the air.)
STEVEN
I'm sorry brothers. I didn't know.
ALINA
What's going on?
STEVEN
We're all part of the same undead family. Except for you.
(Zed and Zod turn back to Aline. For the first time ever, their faces are filled with anger. They grab her arms and hold her in the chair then look to Steven.)
ALINA
Get off me! Let me go! Steven.
STEVEN
Don't worry. You won't be dead for long.
ALINA
No. Please, no. I've worked so hard.
STEVEN
You're getting what you wanted. Immortality. My brothers, give your baby sister a kiss.
(They both sink their teeth into her flesh with relish. They rip and tear like animals and she screams as the flesh comes off of her body.)
ALINA
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
(Steven goes to the elaborate chemistry set, looking quite calm, and begins to whistle “Innocent When You Dream” by Tom Waits. He starts smashing the set to pieces and a thick green steam begins to jet from the broken pipes and beakers, obscuring the stage until nothing can be seen. Alina screams and pleads a few moments longer and then just stops. Steven continues to whistle his song as the lights fade.)
We are slowly nearing the end of this season of the Vail. Not too many episodes left. This one was a personal favorite of mine though because I feel it is more about the characters than any of the others plus it totally flowed from my fingertips. You might have another point of view, though, and that's awesome. Please comment and tell me what you think. Otherwise, enjoy.
The Vail
By Joey Pettine
Episode Eleven: The Visitors
(A white room. In the center of the room, someone lies unconscious in a hospital bed, their face hidden under a white sheet. The steady rhythm of the heart monitor counts away. Two chairs sit against the wall. ANDY VAIL enters. He is calm and a curious, approaching the figure in the bed as if he isn't sure what he's looking at. STEVEN TILLHOUSE enters and takes one of the seats.)
ANDY
I know you.
(Steven pays him no mind, patiently waiting beside the bed. HENRY enters, looking surprised for the first time in his life.)
STEVEN
They had to move him. I didn't want to wake you. You looked like you needed the sleep.
HENRY
I had not realized my exhaustion.
STEVEN
Yeah. You sorta nodded off.
HENRY
If you require sleep I can watch over him.
STEVEN
I don't think zombies sleep. Laying down makes me anxious now.
ANDY
What's going on here?
(NANCY VAIL enters. She looks better than she has in decades, rested and at peace.)
NANCY
Hello, Andrew.
ANDY
Nancy.
NANCY
You remembered me.
ANDY
I could never forget you.
NANCY
People say that, but it's not always the truth.
HENRY
How is he?
STEVEN
The doctor said he was stable but not entirely out of the woods.
ANDY
What's happening here? Who's in the bed?
NANCY
Don't you know?
(Andy's hand instinctively slides to his stomach.)
ANDY
I was shot. Am I dead?
NANCY
I don't think so. Unless I'm dead.
ANDY
No. No, you're just... Where are we?
NANCY
I'm not sure but it's not bad. It might be Purgatory.
ANDY
I don't think so. You're not dead, Nan. Not even close. Have you ever heard of astro projection? It's an out of body experience. We're not dead, we're just not all there.
NANCY
How do you know?
ANDY
A lot's happened lately. I've learned some things about myself. I think I might be ubermensch. How did you get here? What do you remember?
NANCY
That doesn't work. It's hard to remember here.
ANDY
You remembered me.
NANCY
And you remembered me.
(Andy smiles and kisses her.)
NANCY
You're always so impulsive.
ANDY
I love you, Nan. I always have.
NANCY
I know. I love you too.
(ALINA WAITTS flanked by ZED and ZOD, dressed in dirty scrubs, enter. Henry and Steven put themselves in between them and the hospital bed.)
ALINA
Relax, gentlemen, I came to talk.
ANDY
She shot me. I could rip her throat out. Although, I don't feel like doing that.
NANCY
It's hard to get angry here. Things make too much sense.
HENRY
We have nothing to discuss.
STEVEN
I suggest you leave.
ALINA
Or what? You wanna fight in a hospital? Right next to helpless ol' Andy? No telling what could happen but I'm sure my boys would be more than happy to oblige. Stop being dramatic and listen. I've got a message from the boss.
STEVEN
Dr. North.
ALINA
No, the real boss.
ANDY
What is she talking about?
NANCY
Listen.
HENRY
The Insects.
ALINA
Bingo.
(Alina reaches pulls out a cigar. She smiles as she clips the end and prepares her smoke.)
STEVEN
You can't smoke in here.
(She ignores him and lights up.)
ALINA
It's harder to kill you guys than we thought. Andy was real close to taking you out, though.
ANDY
I'm sorry, Henry.
HENRY
It is alright. Andrew was manipulated.
ALINA
But we don't need to kill you guys. No one has to die at all.
STEVEN
Tell that to Andy.
ANDY
She is.
ALINA
He'll be fine. It's a gut shot. Those beefed up instincts of his will heal him up nice and fast. He'll be out of here before fart. A dandy Andy. And we mean him no harm. We just want him out of our business.
HENRY
Destroying humanity.
ALINA
Boo hoo hoo. So you were born in a sucky time. Deal. You think those who lived through the Black Plague had fun? What about the Holocaust? Horrible things always happen. You're just pissed because they're happening to you.
HENRY
Both the Holocaust and the Bubonic Plague were preventable. So is this.
STEVEN
Why help them? What do you get when alien insects destroy humanity?
ALINA
Secrets, secrets.
HENRY
I cannot allow you to terminate the future.
ALINA
You can't stop me. Only one person can.
NANCY
The Vail.
HENRY
Andrew.
ALINA
The Vail. An ancient prophecy believed to be the one thing that can stop the Insects and save humanity. Yet the Vail was lost in the Early Years. So your kind, humanity evolved, theorizing time travel was possible, developed Project Leaper. Whose sole purpose is to travel into the past and locate the Vail. You project your minds into different time periods, moving from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and, finish it up for me.
STEVEN
Hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home?
HENRY
Hoping against hope that we can save our future. How do you know this?
ALINA
You aren't the first Leaper we've met, Henry. They're easy to spot, jumping throughout history like grasshoppers, and most of them break easily after a few hours of torture. Told us everything. The historical documents. You guys crack me up.
HENRY
Is it not enough that you destroy us in my time? Must you plague us in your own as well?
ALINA
I think I struck a chord.
STEVEN
Historical documents?
HENRY
The only information my time has about yours. Records left behind by your people.
ALINA
He means movies and TV shows. We were confused at first, thought maybe we weren't torturing them right, but these nincompoops actually think movies are historical documents. Project Leaper is based off of Quantum Leap. Isn't that ridiculous?
ANDY
It worked.
STEVEN
You've made your point but you wasted your time coming here. Andy will not let the world go to Hell.
ALINA
We have Nancy Vail.
ANDY
No.
STEVEN
You lie?
NANCY
Yes, it's true.
ANDY
How do you know?
NANCY
I can feel it.
ALINA
Check for yourself. Andy admitted her to this hospital.
HENRY
Do as she says, Steven. I will wait with Andrew.
(Steven exits.)
ANDY
I'm gonna kill you.
ALINA
Would you like a cigar, Henry? I find smoking to be one of the better things about this world. Enjoy what you can. Screw home. You don't really need to go back. You've got a healthy body, you can have anything you want. Live in the here and now, I say.
HENRY
I will not abandon my people and this body does not belong to me.
ALINA
So what? There may be fairies and little elves but God helps those who help themselves.
HENRY
I doubt it was the workings of any God that made you what you currently are.
ALINA
You wouldn't be wrong. Have you known? You future types are pretty good at figuring things out.
HENRY
No, I must admit that you had me fooled until just now. I only had suspicions.
ALINA
Don't feel too bad. I use a lot of seduction spells. Gets people to trust me.
ANDY
That's why I kissed her.
NANCY
You kissed her?
ANDY
I was magically seduced.
HENRY
It must have been hard to trick Andrew. His mind was keen even before his instincts.
ALINA
It took a lot to keep him in line. So much he'd actually black out. He doesn't even remember the sex.
ANDY
We had sex?
HENRY
Another blessing. Andrew will be quite disgusted when he learns you are a man.
ANDY
She's a man. Oh, jeez, I'd barf if I could.
NANCY
It's alright.
ALINA
Men, women, young, old, you people and your labels. We're all humans. Every one just as good as the next. But I won't hold it against you. I also have a problem telling the difference between people and new suits.
HENRY
How could you do this to your own family?
ALINA
Who do you think I am?
HENRY
Dr. Thomas Waitts. An aging physician who understood the ramifications of his own mortality and was driven to steal the identity and body of his poor granddaughter.
ALINA
You think too small, my friend. Tom hadn't been himself for a long time. Neither had his father or his father's father or even his great grandfather.
ANDY
What are you?
ALINA
The name's E. Zephyrm Waitts. Born 1867. Dabbler in science, master in the occults.
HENRY
You have been stealing your family's youth for quite some time.
ALINA
It's easiest that way. You need a physical connection to attain the transfer of consciousness. Family genes are the best. An exchange of bodily fluids works just as well, though. Couple more days and Andy's gorgeously adept body could have been mine.
ANDY
She/he wanted my body?
NANCY
Good thing you were shot.
HENRY
Over a hundred years of body swapping must cause extreme identity issues. I have only been in three bodies and have trouble.
ALINA
You stop thinking of yourself in physical terms. I'm not a man or a woman. I'm not gay or straight. I just am and whatever physical urges arise I either accept and enjoy or I get a new suit. I will admit, my scientific side has found this very interesting, I am inclined to masculine actions. Even as a woman I find myself scratching down there or peeking down blouses.
(Steven reenters.)
STEVEN
She's gone.
ALINA
Told you.
ANDY
No.
NANCY
It'll be alright, Andrew.
ALINA
Here's the deal. If Andy leaves us alone, Nancy will be fine. Better than fine because Dr. North's formula doesn't just resurrect dead flesh. Mrs. Vail is brain dead now but if Andy stays away, she'll be better than ever. Might not even remember all the horrible things that have happened these recent months. Andrew can go back to his normal life. As for you, Henry, and Zombie Steve over there. We could care less, go on your merry way and that'll be that.
STEVEN
But Henry's world.
ALINA
Is hundreds of years in the future. We can all live out our lives to the fullest and never have to deal with a single Insect. Let the problems of the future remain the problems of the future. If Andy Vail does come after us, though. We'll kill the catatonic bitch.
(Alina puts out her cigar against Zed's cheek. He flinches a little and grunts.)
ALINA
Such dead beats.
(Alina exits with Zed and Zod.)
STEVEN
What do we do?
ANDY
What do I do?
HENRY
We have to tell Andrew.
(Henry and Steven sit back in the chairs, anxiously waiting.)
NANCY
You know what you have to do.
ANDY
Nancy, did you know this was happening? Is that why you came to see me?
NANCY
No, I came because I missed you.
(They hug.)
ANDY
This could be our chance, Nancy. If I let it go.
NANCY
You won't.
(This time she kisses him.)
ANDY
If you ever wake up, will you remember this?
NANCY
I'll try.
ANDY
I love you, Nan.
NANCY
You have to go now.
ANDY
I'm gonna save you.
(Andy climbs into the bed, underneath the sheets. The heart monitor skips a beat and the body rustles and groans. Henry and Steven get up and wait by his side. Andy kicks the sheet off him and tries to sit up. Steven helps him. Andy has bloody bandages around his abs.)
STEVEN
Take it easy.
ANDY
No time. I have to save Nancy.
STEVEN
How did you know?
HENRY
Because he is the Vail.
ANDY
Don't be so ominous.
(Henry and Steven help Andy hobble out of the room. Nancy watches them go, still smiling. Then she turns and exits. Blackout.)
