[THE YEAR IS 3021 A.D. PANNING DOWN FROM A BEAUTIFUL RING IN THE SKY, AN ABUNDANCE OF VEGETATION COMES TO VIEW. THE SUN IS RISING AND A DEW COVERS MUCH OF THE LANDSCAPE. THE PAN REACHES A CLEARING, WHERE A GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE, ALL WELL GROOMED, AND ENGAGED IN LEVITY-RESPECTFUL, AND WHOLESOME FUN. A MAN EMERGES INTO THE AREA, HE IS EATING GRAPES THAT HE PULLED OFF THE VINE ON HIS WAY IN]
CHRIS ALLEN
Mornin’ all [as he tilts back to bite the grapes from the vine]
STUDENTS
Good Morning, Mr. Allen
CHRIS ALLEN
Everyone is looking well, we all here?
STUDENTS
Yes.
CHRIS ALLEN
Are you sure? Where is Scott?
STUDENT 1
He was here.
CHRIS
Where do you think he might have wondered off to?
STUDENT 1
To get those flowers, those ones, that smell really good…for you
CHRIS
Isn’t that sweet, but that wont raise his test score.
STUDENT 2
Scott is so stupid
STUDENT 3
Yea, thinking flowers are going to help, ha
CHRIS
Who among us can afford to be presumptuous?
Who among us to make judgments?
Those that measure the stupidity of others are only insecure of how it matches up to their own intelligence, or lack thereof.
And, to conclude Scott’s motive to be anything but sincere, is how humans used to think.
Both of you…sounded like our species did a little over a millennium ago.
STUDENT 3
You are talking about the BEFORE the Great Tribulation, huh?
STUDENT 1
Tell us about it again
STUDENTS
Yeah..tell us..c’mon
CHRIS
It is a good lesson, no matter how many times you hear it. Okay, I am up for it…Let me see the year was 2007. It was a state called Ohio
Let’s see, I was forty years old, and was a…guess, anyone?…right a teacher.
[FADES TO 2007]
SCENE II
[OPENS IN A TYPICAL, SUBURBAN CLASSROOM FILLED WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF VARIOUS NATURE. THE STUDENTS WERE TYPICAL OF TODAY, HAD LITTLE RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY FIGURES, BUT WERE SOMEHOW ENCHANTED BY MR. allen. HIS CLASSES WERE MORE ORDERLY THAN MOST, AND IT SEEMED TO COME FROM A CERTAIN RESPECT HE HAD GAINED IN HIS TENOR]
CHRIS ALLEN
…So, then, what do you think the thinking was behind the South’s attack on Union Forces that clearly had the high ground and the advantage in this epic Battle of Gettysburg… they fearlessly charged up the hill again and again and were slaughtered again and again, so…?
Yes, Jolanda.
Jolanda
Man, they was whacked
[laughter erupts]
I mean what the [Mr Allen gives a glance]…I mean they was just stupid or something.
CHRIS
Well, that is debatable, but you do have a valid point. There exists a thin line between bravery and stupidity
[BELL RINGS]
Let’s see, you have your assignments, and don’t forget the test on Friday. Now get out of here…and study
Students
[Respond with playful sarcasm]
Yea, watch me…see Mr. A
[THE CLASS EMPTIES AND CHRIS BEGINS PACKING HIS TOTE BAG. HIS CELL PHONE RINGS]
HELLO?
[it is his wife and she is weeping and bordering on hysterics]
LARA ALLEN
Chris? Get home now! You won’t believe what just happened. [sobbing]
CHRIS
What? Honey, what’s the matter? What is it?
Honey, what happened?
LARA
Oh my G…I can’t believe this is happening?
CHRIS
What is it baby? What has happened?
LARA
Just get home now…!
CHRIS
But honey, what has you so upset!
LARA
Just get here will you!
[she hangs up]
[AT THAT TIME, ANOTHER TEACHER, JENNY MYSON ENTERS THE DOOR. SHE IS OBVIOUSLY TRAUMATIZED]
JENNY
Chris, did you hear? Oh my God, did you hear what happened to the Vatican and the entire East Coast?
CHRIS
Lara just called, but she didn’t go into it, what, for heaven’s sake, what?
JENNY
I can’t believe it [weeps uncontrollably, Chris embraces her] and not just the U.S., but England, and much of Europe…
CHRIS
What has happened? Jenny? What is going on here!
JENNY
Terrorists…[still sobbing]
CHRIS
Terrorists? Was there another attack?
JENNY
She can only look at him with terror in her eyes
SCENE III
[Chris runs to his car and tires screech has he exit’s the parking lot.]
SCENE IV
[HE TURNS ON THE RADIO AS HE SPEEDS HOME]
RADIO BROADCAST
All survivors should evacuate the cities…Repeat, all survivors should evacuate the cities at once…the Military is on hand and require that you remain calm as we transport you Westward to a safe location…please do not panic
[Chris reaches his driveway and bursts out of the car and runs to the front door]
CHRIS
[he bursts through the door]
Lara? Lara?
[he hears her crying in the kitchen and rushes to find her on her knees with the phone still in her hand]
CHRIS
Honey! Oh, baby, what is it? I heard something on the radio…
LARA
Oh, Chris…Chris, I…[she breaks out into crying again]
CHRIS
There, now, it’s going to be okay…whatever happens…do you understand?
LARA
No Chris, it’s not going to be okay [still emotional]
Chris…The Vatican in Rome has been leveled, the Pope, his counsel, all dead.
CHRIS
Oh my…wow… that is…
LARA
That is not the half of it. [sob] NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Miami [emotions again cause her to break down]
CHRIS
Yea, what about these cities? I…don’t get it.
LARA
They were devastated
CHRIS
Wait…all of these cities have been attacked?
LARA
Attacked? didn’t you hear me? They have been devastated--all simultaneously [again emotions take over] The water supply has been compromised, Christian Churches and Synagogues have been targeted specifically. The financial districts…millions of people have lost their lives and millions more are displaced--this is the end of life [harder crying] Muhammed Kharma’er…..he’s organized everything….
CHRIS
But who is?
LARA
That’s his real name…he was that columnist from USA Today, Ian Wells--Oh my God they have been planning this for three decades
[Chris releases Lara and leans back against the table. They both are on the kitchen floor of their home. Chris sighs and his confusion and fear apparent in his face]
CHRIS
For God’s sake, what is going on? How can this happen? Why is this happening?
LARA
Why? Why? That tyrant is trying to wipe out Christiantiy…from the entire globe--and he has convinced Moslem leaders that he is the final prophet and that his God has commanded him and all Moslems to destroy us…what are we going to do? Huh? [sobbing ensues]
[Chris remains silent, looking up at the ceiling in despair]
SCENE V
[TAYLOR BROWN AND HIS WIFE MONICA ARE AMIDST A CROUD SURROUNDING A TV BROADCAST.]
TV JOURNALIST/JOEL
The scene is beyond imagination!. The Most powerful country in the world is collapsing like a domino. Refugees from the big cities hit by the suicide bombers, the poison water supply, the toxic chemical and biological weapons, now are headed West in a wave of misplaced.
We think about Katrina and the fall out, what can we expect is going to happen as this migration grows increasingly desperate? President Garrison has called back all of the military world-wide to deal with this chaos. We can only pray Americans remember who they are.
So, who has launched this massive, well organized assault on the USA and Christianity?
Let’s turn to Cliff Magadan…Cliff, we thought we had our bases covered agains this kind of attack, what happened that Homeland Security failed so miserably?
CLIFF MAGADAN
Joel, this plot has been in development for two and a half decades. That’s 25 years, Ian Wells, a German-born and now US citizen-he was a writer for the USA Today, and evidently talked to his followers through his columns somehow.
Most of the insurgenece are or became American Citizens, sometimes decades in a life that is only a front, that they patiently waited it out
They worked at the Post Office, was the nice waiter at the restaurant, they were, as it looked to the eye, true blue American citizens.
What kind of evil would make a man plan this atrocity so far in advanced?
JOEL/ANCHOR
Thank you Cliff. What truer words have been spoken? Let me turn now to chief correspondent Jessica Simms. Jessica, what have we learned about our assailants so far? Was it really the entire nation of Islam behind these attacks on Christiandom?
JESSICA
To say that the entire Islamic Faith supported an all out war against Christianity. So, it cannot be dismissed as a possibility. Having some insight into the beliefs of the average Moslem would not suggest that these attacks were sanctioned.
JOEL
But who is Muhammed Kharma’er? I know he posed as Ian Wells, but has be been running things all along, even back to 911? And using his column to delegate and communciate with his radical followers….
JESSICA
That’s how it appears Joel. This man claims to be the final prophet sent by Allah and bring an end to false religion.
JOEL
And he lived in New Jersey for 22 years and wrote for the publication 18 years. Hist German heritage, even his light complexion--he is not the guy you used to be afraid of on a plane.
JESSICA
What frightens me is just how many of my neighbors would be culprits in this gastly and senseless attack!
Stay tuned to WASS for more news as it comes in. we will be following this around the clock to give you the latest
[END TV AS PRIMARY AUDITORY]
MONICA
I cant believe this is real--it’s like some upcoming film
[AFTER A PAUSE] Taylor? What is this gonna mean?
Are we gonna be forced to be Moslem?
TAYLOR
[appearing anxious and confused] Baby, I don’t know. It is not how Islam, true Islam is practiced. Peace is the life they seek. Like Christians, we all have our deviants. But the hatred drives those radicals. I guess it is just the scope of it that our protection seemed to have been drastically underestimated.
MONICA
On American soil, in our communities, amongst us, and all along they felt no remorse that you would die at their hand on a scheduled date.
TAYLOR
Think about this….[he searches the air for the words]
We are days from encountering great numbers of displaced, hungry, and desperate enough, and selfish enough …I can see the chaos getting much worse as the migration Westward of angry, displaced regugees. They will be like locust and just devour anything left of the US. Let’s go see Chris and Lara, hurry.
SCENE VI