She sits on a stool, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes staring emptily. MELINDA HATCHER leans into the frame. She's got a damp cloth and begins to wipe the SPATTERS OF BLOOD from CAT'S face.

She does this gently and kindly.


SONNY BRAUTIGAN

I don't know as you're supposed to do that, Mrs. Hatcher. It's evidence, or somethin'.

During this, THE CAMERA PULLS BACK, and we see a crowd of lookie-loos lined up against the kitchen walls and crowding in through the door. Next to SONNY an aspiring Archie Bunker with a big belly and a sour disposition is his friend UPTON BELL. We also may see LUCIEN FOURNIER and the others from the shed, plus JONAS STANHOPE and young ANNIE HUSTON. MELINDA looks at SONNY for a moment in wordless contempt, then goes on cleaning the eerily silent CAT'S FACE.


MRS. KINGSBURY is at the stove, ladling broth into a coffee mug. Now she crosses with it to where CAT sits.

194 STEPHEN KING

MRS. KINGSBURY Katrina, have a little broth. It'll warm you up.

UPTON BELL


Ought to spike it with rat poison, Missus Kingsbury . . . that'd warm her up, all right.


There's a little RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT . . . and SONNY laughs out loud at his friend UPTON'S

sophisticated wit. MELDINDA gives them both a smoking look.

MRS. KINGSBURY Upton Bell, you shut up your ignorant mouth!

SONNY


(sticking up for his pal)


You're treatin' her like she saved his damn life instead of sneakin' up behind him and bashin' his brains out!

Another RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT. MOLLY ANDERSON pushes through the crowd. She looks at SONNY with a withering contempt he can't stand up to, then at UPTON, then at the others.


MOLLY Get out of here, all of you! This isn't a sideshow!

They shift around a little, but don't really move.

MOLLY

(a little more reasonable)

Come on you've known this girl all your lives. Whatever she did, she deserves a chance to breathe a little.

JONAS STANHOPE

Come on, folks. Let's go. They've got it in hand.

JONAS is some sort of professional man a lawyer, perhaps and has enough moral weight to get them moving. SONNY and UPTON resist the tide for a moment.


160

1


STORM OF THE CENTURY 195


JONAS STANHOPE Come on, Sonny . . . Upton. There's nothing here you can do.


SONNY


Can take her down to the constable's and throw her murder-in' ass in jail!


UPTON BELL

(what a great idea) Yeah!

JONAS STANHOPE

I think they've already got a guy in there . . . and she doesn't exactly look like she's going to break loose, now does she?


He gestures to the girl, who is (pardon the pun) just about CATatonic. She has totally ignored the whole thing, may not even know it's happening. SONNY sees what STANHOPE means, and shuffles out, UPTON after him.

MOLLY

Thank you, Mr. Stanhope.

MRS. KINGSBURY, meanwhile, sets the cup of broth aside it's a lost cause and looks at CAT

with tired perplexity.

JONAS STANHOPE

(to MOLLY) Not a problem. Where's my mom, have you seen her?

MOLLY

I think she's getting ready for bed.


JONAS STANHOPE Good. Good.


He leans back against the wall, his face and body language saying, "Good God, what a day."


130 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL NIGHT.


The benches and the speaker's podium are empty, but a few people in nightwear are going up and down the side aisle. The only woman is old


196 STEPHEN KING


CORA STANHOPE, Little Tail's self-appointed queen. She has an overnight bag in one hand.

^

An older gent named ORVILLE BOUCHER passes her going the other way. He's wearing a bathrobe, slippers, white socks. In one hand he's got his plastic toothbrush case.


ORVILLE

Say, there, Cora! Just like camp, ain't it? Someone oughtta put a bedsheet up on the wall and show cartoons!


CORA sniffs, raises her nose slightly into the air, and passes by without a word . . . although she cannot help a horrified glance at ORV'S white and hairy old-man's shins, a generous portion of which are on view above the tops of his socks and below the hem of his robe.


161

131 EXTERIOR: REAR OF THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.


There's a small brick structure in the foreground, and the ENGINE ROAR identifies it as the generator shed. All at once the STEADY ROAR FALTERS; the engine COUGHS.

132 INTERIOR: RESUME TOWN MEETING HALL SIDE AISLE, WITH ORV AND CORA.

The lights FLICKER ON AND OFF; we see the two old folks looking up (any others that have been using the town hall's bathroom facilities, as well) through intervening shutters of darkness.


ORV Relax, Cora, it's just the gennie clearing her throat.

133 EXTERIOR: THE GENERATOR SHED NIGHT. Settles down to a STEADY ROAR again.

134 INTERIOR: RESUME MEETING HALL SIDE AISLE, WITH ORV AND CORA.

ORV

See? Bright as you could ever want!


STORM OF THE CENTURY 197


He just wants to be friendly, but she acts like he's trying to lure her onto one of those hard New England benches so he can do the dirty boogie with her. She hurries on without a word, nose higher than ever. At the end of the aisle are two doors marked with male and female icons. CORA pushes open the one with the woman on it and goes inside. ORV watches her, more bemused than offended.


ORV

(strictly to himself) Cora, friendly as ever, ayuh.

He heads back to the stairs leading to the area below.

135 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.

HATCH comes in from the market area, holding a tray carefully in front of him. Loaded on it are nine Styrofoam cups of coffee. He sets it down on MIKE'S desk, looking nervously at URSULA, who is sitting in MIKE'S chair with her hood back and her coat unzipped. She still looks stunned. At first, when MIKE offers her one of the cups, she doesn't seem to see it.

MIKE Go on, Urse. It'll warm you up.

URSULA I don't think I'll ever be warm again.

But she takes two of the cups and hands one to JOANNA, who is standing behind her. MIKE takes another. ROBBIE hands cups to JACK and KIRK; HATCH gives one to HENRY. When all have been passed out, there's one cup left. HATCH looks toward LINOGE.


HATCH Oh, what the hell. Want a cup?


No reply from LINOGE, who sits in his usual posture, watching.


ROBBIE


(with an edge) Don't they drink coffee on your planet, mister?

198 STEPHEN KING

MIKE

(to JOANNA) Tell me again.

JOANNA


162

I've told you half a dozen times already.

MIKE This'll be the last. Promise.

JOANNA

She said, "I think it was the cane with the wolfs head that made me do it. I wouldn't touch it, if I were you."


MIKE But you didn't see a cane. With or without a wolf's head.

JOANNA

No. Mike, what are we going to do?

MIKE Wait out the storm. It's all we can do.

URSULA


Molly wants to see you. She told me to tell you that. Said for you to set a guard and get back to her. Said you could have as many men as you need; none of 'em are doing much tonight, anyway.

MIKE

That's for sure, (pause) Hatch, step out here with me. Want to talk to you a minute.

They start toward the door leading into the store. MIKE hesitates and looks back at URSULA.


MIKE


You going to be all right?


URSULA


Yes.


STORM OF THE CENTURY 199 MIKE and HATCH go out. URSULA realizes LINOGE is looking at her.


URSULA What are you looking at?


LINOGE goes on looking. And smiling slightly. Then:


LINOGE


(sings) "I'm a little teapot, short and stout. . . ."

136 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL LADIES' ROOM NIGHT.

ANGELA CARVER, in a soft and pretty nightgown, is at one of the basins, brushing her teeth.

From one of the CLOSED STALLS behind her, we hear THE RUSTLE OF CLOTH and the SNAP OF

HEAVY ELASTIC as CORA changes into her own nightwear.

CORA


(sings from the stall) ". . . Here is my handle, here is my spout!"


ANGELA looks in that direction, puzzled at first and then deciding to smile. She gives her teeth a final rinse, picks up her overnight bag, and leaves. As she does, CORA comes out of the stall she changed in, wearing woolly pink all the way down to the tips of her toes . . . and a nightcap on her head. Yes! She puts her own overnight bag on one of the sinks, unzips it, and brings out a tube of cream.


163

CORA


You can pick me up and pour me out . . .


137 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


The four men and two women watch LINOGE in surprise and perplexity. He MIMES CREAMING

HIS FACE.

LINOGE


(sings) "I'm a little teapot, short and stout!"


HENRY BRIGHT He's totally crazy. Got to be.


200 STEPHEN KING


138 INTERIOR: BY THE MEAT COUNTER OF THE STORE, WITH MIKE AND


HATCH.

It's shadowy and spooky here, with just the fluorescents in the meat counter for illumination.

MIKE

I'm going to leave you in charge here for a little while.

HATCH Oh, Mike, I wish you wouldn't do that. . .


MIKE


Just for a while. I want to take those women back to the town hall in the four-wheel drive while it'll still move. Make sure Molly's all right and let her see that I am. Give Ralphie a kiss. Then I'm going to pack every man who looks halfway useful into the truck and come back here. We'll guard him in groups of three or four until the storm's over. In fives, if that's what it takes to feel comfortable.


c~


HATCH I won't feel comfortable until he's in Derry County Jail.


MIKE I know what you mean.


HATCH


Cat Withers ... I can't believe it, Mike. Cat wouldn't hurt Billy.

MIKE I know that, too.

HATCH Who's holding who prisoner here? Can you say for sure?

MIKE considers this question very, very carefully, then shakes his head.

HATCH This is a mess.


STORM OF THE CENTURY 201


MIKE


Yeah. You going to be okay with Robbie?


HATCH


164

I'll have to be ... won't I? Say hi to Melinda for me, if she's still up. Tell her I'm okay. And give Pippa a little kiss.

MIKE I will.

HATCH How long do you think you'll be gone?

MIKE

Forty-five minutes, an hour at most. And I'll be back with a truckload of wide-bodies. Meantime, you have Jack, Henry, Robbie, Kirk Freeman . . .

HATCH

Do you really think any of us'll make a difference, if that guy starts to rock and roll?

MIKE

Do you really think the town hall's any safer? Or any place on the island?


HATCH


Considering Cat and Billy . . . no.


MIKE goes back into the constable's office. HATCH follows.


139 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.


Rubbing invisible cream into his cheeks, humming "I'm a Little Teapot."

140 INTERIOR: CORA, IN THE TOWN HALL BATHROOM.

Rubbing real cream into her cheeks she's making a night mask for herself and humming "I'm a Little Teapot." She seems really happy for the first time since being dragged to the town hall by her son and daughter-in-law. Reflected in the mirror is the ladies' room, now empty.

202 STEPHEN KING


All at once THE LIGHTS GO OUT as the gennie stutters again.


CORA (voice in the dark) Oh, drat!


The lights come back on. CORA looks relieved and begins creaming her face again. All at once she stops. LINOGE'S cane leans against the tiled wall beneath the hand dryer. It wasn't there before, but it is now, reflected in the mirror. There's no blood on it. The silver head GLEAMS ENTICINGLY.


CORA looks at it, then turns and walks toward it.

141 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

LINOGE Like Dad's!

142 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

The men are clustered near MIKE'S desk. URSULA is seated; JOANNA stands beside her. None of those in the office notice MIKE and HATCH'S return. They are fascinated by LINOGE'S new dumb show.


JOANNA


What's he doing?


URSULA shakes her head. The men are equally puzzled.


165

143 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL LADIES' ROOM, WITH CORA.


CORA


(picks up the cane) Like Dad's!


144 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


MIKE and the others watch LINOGE. He ignores them, concentrating on his business with CORA.

He grips two invisible objects, one in each hand, and turns them. He pushes something else down with his thumb, as you would a small plunger. Then he MIMES RUMMAGING IN SOMETHING and finding a small object, which he holds up gripped between the thumb and first two fingers of his left hand.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 203

145 INTERIOR: RESUME TOWN HALL LADIES' ROOM, WITH CORA.

She has laid "Dad's cane" across two of the sinks and returned to the one where she was when she saw the cane. She grips a faucet handle in each hand and turns them, starting the water. She pushes the stopper down with her thumb and the basin begins to fill. While it does, she rummages in her overnight bag and finds a lipstick. She holds it up between the thumb and first two fingers of her left hand.


146 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


LINOGE leans back against the wall behind the cot, with the air of a man who has accomplished some difficult and tiring task. He looks at the octet across the room and smiles at them a little.


LINOGE


Go on, Mike, go on we'll be fine. Give that little guy of yours a big old smackeroo for me. Tell him his pal from the market says hi.

MIKE'S face knots. He'd like to smash LINOGE'S face.

HATCH


How do you know so much? What the hell do you want?


LINOGE places his forearms on his knees and says nothing.


MIKE


Hatch, why don't a pair of you spend the time until I get back in here with him the others can hang in the market. You can adjust the mirror out there so you can see in here.


HATCH


You don't want him to be able to get at all of us at the same time. Do you?


MIKE Well . . . it's a plan.


He turns to the women before HATCH can reply.


204 STEPHEN KING

MIKE Ladies? Let's take a ride back to the town hall.

URSULA hands him a key on a key ring.

URSULA

This goes to Lucien Fournier's snowmobile, out back. Thought you might need it. Mike?


166

MIKE hands the key to HATCH, then turns back to her.

URSULA Peter will be all right out there, won't he?

MIKE

Yes. And when this is over, we'll see to him proper . . . the way we always do. Come on.

URSULA gets to her feet and zips up her coat.


147 INTERIOR: TOWN HALL AISLE NIGHT.


JILL ROBICHAUX heads down the aisle in her robe, carrying her own overnight bag. Outside, the WIND HOWLS.

148 INTERIOR: THE LADIES' ROOM, ANGLE ON THE DOOR NIGHT.

It opens, and JILL comes in. For a moment her face remains calm, the face of a woman embarked on her regular getting-ready-for-bed ritual. Then it FILLS WITH HORROR. She drops her little bag and claps her hands to her mouth to stifle a scream. She stands where she is a moment longer, frozen by whatever it is she sees. Then she WHEELS AND RUNS.

149 INTERIOR: THE SLEEPING AREA OF THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT NIGHT.

The lights have been turned low. In kid country, all of MOLLY'S day-care pupils are fast asleep; even the loathsome DON BEALS has given up. Probably half the beds meant for the adults are occupied, mostly by OLDER RESIDENTS.


MOLLY ANDERSON holds aside one of the makeshift draw curtains (perhaps they're only blankets hung up on clotheslines for this occa-STORM OF THE CENTURY 205

sion) so that ANDY ROBICHAUX can step through. ANDY has got CAT in his arms. He carries her toward one of the cots. Following ANDY comes MOLLY and MRS. KINGSBURY.


When they reach a cot fairly deep in the room and away from most of the other sleepers, MOLLY

strips back the blanket and top sheet. ANDY puts CAT down, and MOLLY pulls the bedclothes back up over her. They SPEAK LOW, so as not to disturb the other sleepers.

ANDY ROBICHAUX Whoo! She's really out!

MOLLY gives MRS. KINGSBURY a questioning look.

MRS. KINGSBURY


They're very light sleeping pills . . . any lighter, Doc Grissom said, and I could buy them right over the counter. I think it's just shock. Whatever she's done, or whatever's been done to her, she's away from it now. That's probably best.


MRS. KINGSBURY bends, and, perhaps surprising herself, puts a kiss on the sleeping girl's cheek.


MRS. KINGSBURY Sleep well, dear.


ANDY

Do you think someone ought to sit with her? Like a guard?

MOLLY and MRS. KINGSBURY exchange a bewildered glance that sums up just how out of control this has become. Put a guard on inoffensive little CAT WITHERS? It's nuts.


MOLLY She doesn't need guarding, Andy.


167

ANDY


But


MOLLY Come on.


206 STEPHEN KING


She turns to go. MRS. KINGSBURY follows. ANDY lingers by the cot for a moment, not so sure.

Then he follows.


150 INTERIOR: THE BASEMENT "LIVING ROOM" AREA OF THE TOWN HALL.


MOLLY, ANDY, and MRS. KINGSBURY come out through the draw curtains. To their left, forty or fifty people, many now in their pj's or nightgowns, are watching the fuzzy TV. To their right are the stairs. Coming down them are SANDRA BEALS, MELINDA HATCHER, and JILL ROBICHAUX. SANDRA is terrified; MELINDA is frightened and grim; JILL is on the verge of hysterics but holding it in ... at least until she sees her husband. She throws herself into his arms, CRYING.


ANDY

Jill? Honey? What's wrong?

A few of the TV watchers look around to see what's up. MOLLY looks at MELINDA'S pale face and knows something else has gone wrong . . . but this is no time to stir up the others, who are finally settling down for the night.

MOLLY Come on. Upstairs. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it there.


They go up, ANDY with his arm around his wife's waist.


151 EXTERIOR: THE INTERSECTION OF MAIN AND ATLANTIC NIGHT.


The Island Services vehicle comes along, trudging through the snow. It's making progress, but it's also crashing through drifts that are nearly hood high. It won't be making many more trips through this blizzard.


152 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH MIKE, URSULA, JOANNA.

JOANNA

I'm so scared.

MIKE So am I.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 207


153 INTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE TOWN HALL LADIES' ROOM.


Standing back from the door, arms around each other, are ANDY and JILL ROBICHAUX. Closest to the bathroom are MELINDA HATCHER and MOLLY. SANDRA BEALS stands between the two pairs.

SANDRA

I'm sorry ... I can't. I can't take any more.


She brushes past JILL and ANDY and hurries back down the aisle.


154 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE NIGHT.


SANDRA, weeping now, hurries into this area, meaning to go downstairs. Before she can, the front doors open and MIKE comes in, covered with snow and stamping more snow off his boots. He is followed by URSULA and JOANNA. SANDRA stops and gives the new arrivals a wild, startled glance.


168

MIKE Sandra, what is it? What's wrong?

155 INTERIOR: THE LADIES' ROOM, ANGLE ON THE DOOR.

It opens slowly . . . reluctantly. MOLLY and MELINDA come in together, huddled shoulder to shoulder for comfort. Behind them, we see ANDY and JILL ROBICHAUX. MOLLY and MELINDA look, faces filling with horror and wonder.

MELINDA


Oh, my dear God.


156 INTERIOR: THE WASHBASINS, FROM MOLLY AND MELINDA'S POINT OF VIEW.


Kneeling in front of one of them is CORA STANHOPE. The basin is full of water, and CORA'S white hair floats on its surface. She has drowned herself in the basin. Written above it in lipstick, on the line of mirrors, is the same old song: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY." Flanking it at either end, CORA has drawn BLOODY LIPSTICK CANES. Of the real cane, the one with the wolf's head, there is no sign.

FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 4.

Act 5

157 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.

Waves still crash against the headland rocks hard enough to splatter the lighthouse with foam, but the tide is on the ebb, now, and things are better than they were. Temporarily only, however, because:


158 INTERIOR: LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM NIGHT.


The lights still BLINK and FLASH, but some of them are now BEADED WITH ICE from the spray, and little drifts of snow are piling up in the corners of the room. The WIND WHISTLES, and the anemometer is still topping sixty MPH.


SOUND: A HIGH-PITCHED COMPUTER BEEP. THE CAMERA MOVES IN on a computer screen that has gone RED. White letters appear on the screen: "NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURGE

WARNING FOR ALL OUTER ISLANDS, INCLUDING CRANBERRY, JERROD BLUFF, KANKAMONGUS, BIG TALL, AND LITTLE TALL. HIGH TIDE AT 7:09 AM. MAY PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT FLOODING AND

LOWLAND DAMAGE. OUTER ISLAND RESI-

208

STORM OF THE CENTURY 209


DENTS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO MOVE TO INLAND AREAS OF HIGH GROUND."


As if to punctuate this, an especially powerful wave SPLASHES IN through the broken windows and splatters this computer screen with foam.

159 INTERIOR: LOWER ATLANTIC STREET NIGHT.

Godsoe Fish & Lobster is totally gone, except for the ragged stump of the building. So is the town dock. The waves slap the rocks where the dock was. Splintered pieces of lobster traps float back and forth . . . and a single waterlogged bale of pot BOBS AND SURGES.


160 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE NIGHT.


URSULA is comforting SANDRA. MIKE is heading for the meeting hall section of the building, when JOANNA steams past him. He grabs her arm.

MIKE Slow down, Mrs. Stanhope easy does it.


169

The door between the meeting hall and the office area opens. MOLLY and MELINDA HATCHER

come through. MOLLY'S distress turns to gladness when she sees MIKE, and she almost hurls herself into his arms. He hugs her hard. JOANNA, meanwhile, doesn't give a shit about "easy does it." She dodges past MELINDA and heads down the aisle that leads to the toilets. URSULA and SANDRA walk to where MIKE and MOLLY are drawing apart a little.

161 INTERIOR: TOWN MEETING HALL NIGHT.

ANDY and JILL are sitting on a bench about halfway down. ANDY has got an arm around his wife, offering what comfort he can, when JOANNA hurries past toward the ladies' room.

ANDY

Joanna, I wouldn't

She pays no attention, simply hurries on down the aisle.

210 STEPHEN KING


162 INTERIOR: LADIES' ROOM, FEATURES THE DOOR.


It opens. JOANNA stands there, eyes widening, mouth dropping open. After a moment, MIKE

joins her. He takes one look and then moves her away. As the bathroom door starts to close on its pneumatic hinge:


MIKE Moll. Help me.


163 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL.

MIKE gently passes the stunned JOANNA to his wife, who walks her up the aisle as far as ANDY

and JILL There JOANNA stumbles and utters a little CRY OF BEWILDERMENT AND GRIEF.


JILL Let me.


JILL sits her down and puts an arm around her. JOANNA begins to WEEP.


MOLLY starts back toward the ladies' room. MIKE comes out, his arms wet almost to the elbows.

MOLLY looks at him questioningly. MIKE shakes his head and puts his arm around her shoulders. As he leads her past the trio on the bench:

MIKE Andy? Can I borrow you a minute?

ANDY looks questioningly at JILL, who nods. She's busy comforting JOANNA.

164 INTERIOR: RESUME TOWN OFFICE AREA.


MIKE, MOLLY, and ANDY come in. URSULA and SANDRA stand nearby, looking the expected question at MIKE.

MIKE

She's dead, all right. Sandra, can you get me a couple of blankets to wrap her in?

T


STORM OF THE CENTURY 211


SANDRA


(making a big effort) Yes. I can do that. Two shakes of a lamb's tail.


MIKE is struggling hard to stay calm and do as many of the right things as he can. There's a sense of him making up the procedure as he goes along, but why not? What kind of procedure is 170

there for a situation like this?


SONNY BRAUTIGAN and UPTON BELL come up the stairs, curious about what's going on now.

MIKE spies them.

MIKE Billy Soames you're sure he's dead?

SONNY

Yeah. Now what?


MIKE Old Mrs. Stanhope is dead, too. In the ladies' room.


UPTON BELL Holy God! She have a heart attack? Stroke?


MOLLY


Suicide.


MIKE Is Billy still out there in the supply shed?

SONNY

Yeah. Seemed like the best place. We covered him up. What the hell SANDRA comes up the stairs with an armload of blankets. Someone else needs covering up now.

MIKE


Andy, you and Sonny cover Mrs. Stanhope. Take her out and put her with Billy. Use the back door of the meeting hall. I don't want folks to see a corpse going through, if I can help it.

212 STEPHEN KING

SONNY

What about Jonas? Her son? I seen him downstairs, gettin' ready to turn in MIKE


Let's hope he does. His wife can tell him in the morning. Upton Bell?


UPTON


Yessir.


MIKE

Go downstairs and pick out five or six men from those that are still up. Guys who can walk through half a mile of deep snow without having a heart attack, if it comes to that. Don't tell 'em anything except that I want to see 'em. Okay?

UPTON

Okay!


Hugely exited, UPTON heads back downstairs.


165 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND MARKET NIGHT.


HATCH, JACK CARVER, and KIRK FREEMAN are sitting at a card table they've set up in the canned goods aisle and are playing gin rummy. HATCH looks up at: 166 INTERIOR: THE SECURITY MIRROR, FROM HATCH'S POINT OF VIEW.


171

The mirror is now positioned in such a way that HATCH can see into the constable's office. HENRY

is behind MIKE'S desk, leaning back in the chair, chin down on his chest, arms crossed, dozing.

ROBBIE sits off to one side, watching LINOGE, who is back in his same old position heels up, knees apart, head down.


167 INTERIOR: RESUME CARD PLAYERS.


Satisfied, HATCH draws a card, smiles, and spreads them out faceup.


HATCH Gin!

r

STORM OF THE CENTURY 213 KIRK

Aw, boogersnot!

168 INTERIOR: THE CONVEX ANTITHEFT MIRROR, CLOSE-UP.


ROBBIE looks up into the mirror, trying to ascertain if he is being watched. He decides he isn't.

Now he reaches over to the corner of the desk, picks up the pistol that's still lying there, and GETS

UP.


169 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


HENRY is dozing. The men in the market are playing cards. ROBBIE approaches the cell with the gun. LINOGE sits where he is, watching him come. When LINOGE speaks, he does so in the voice of an OLD WOMAN ROBBIE'S MOTHER.

LINOGE

Where's Robbie? I want to see my Robbie before I go. He said he'd be here. Where are you, Robbie? I don't want to die without someone to hold my hand.


HENRY stirs a bit in his doze, then sinks deeper. ROBBIE reacts with surprise, horror, shame . . .

and then his face hardens.


ROBBIE I think this town's had enough of you.


He raises the gun and points it through the bars.


170 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.


A side door opens, and a number of MEN come out, ready to augment the crew already at the store. As promised, they're wide-bodies: UPTON, SONNY, JOHNNY HARRIMAN, ALEX HABER, and STAN HOPE-WELL, DAVEY'S father. STAN is a lobsterman we saw briefly in Part One, battening down for the storm on the now nonexistent town dock. They head for the Island Services vehicle, fighting their way through the snow. Two more figures linger in the doorway: MIKE and MOLLY.

MOLLY'S wearing a shawl and hugging it to her against the cold.


MOLLY


Is it that man? The one who grabbed Ralphie in the market? It is isn't it?


214 STEPHEN KING He doesn't answer.

MOLLY

(continues) You'll be all right, won't you?

MIKE Ayuh.

MOLLY


172

That man ... if he is a man ... is never going to see the inside of a courtroom, Michael. I know it.

You do, too.


(beat)


Maybe you should get rid of him. Make him have an accident.


MIKE


Go on inside, before you freeze your tail off.

She kisses him again, a little more lingeringly.

MOLLY Come back to us.

MIKE I will.

She closes the door. MIKE starts down to the truck, walking in the tracks the others have made and bending forward against the RELENTLESS WIND.

171 INTERIOR: A SUNLIT BEDROOM DAY.

This is a beautiful room, full of light. The window is open and the curtains BELL OUT LAZILY

toward the bed in a summer breeze. HENRY BRIGHT comes out of the bathroom, wearing only pajama bottoms, with a towel slung around his neck. As he crosses to the window, FRANK BRIGHT, his son, pokes his head around the side of the door.


FRANK

Mom says come downstairs and get breakfast, Daddy!

STORM OF THE CENTURY 215 Above FRANK'S head, CARLA'S now appears.

CARLA

No Mom says come downstairs and get breakfast sleepyhead Daddy!


FRANK puts his hands over his mouth and GIGGLES. HENRY smiles.


HENRY


I'll be there in a minute.


He goes to the window.


172 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM HENRY'S POINT OF VIEW DAY.

It's beautiful as only a Maine island can be at the height of summer blue sky over long green meadows that slope down to blue whitecapped water. We can see a few fishing boats out there.

GULLS CRY AND SWOOP overhead.

173 INTERIOR: RESUME BEDROOM, WITH HENRY DAY. He takes a deep breath, holds it, then lets it out.


HENRY

Thank God for reality. I had a dream that it was winter . . . there was a storm . . . and this man came to town . . .


LINOGE (voice) This scary man . . .


Surprised, HENRY turns.


173

&


174 INTERIOR: LINOGE, FROM HENRY'S POINT OF VIEW.


Although it's summer in HENRY'S dream, LINOGE is dressed as he was when we first saw him on Atlantic Street, in front of MARTHA CLARENDON'S house: pea coat, watch cap, bright yellow gloves.

He GRIMACES INTO THE CAMERA, revealing A MOUTHFUL OF FANGS. His eyes GO BLACK. He thrusts the SILVER HEAD OF HIS CANE at HENRY, and the head COMES ALIVE, snapping and snarling.


216 STEPHEN KING

175 INTERIOR: THE SUMMER BEDROOM, WITH HENRY.

He steps backward to avoid the silver wolf. His knees hit the bottom of the window, and he tumbles out, SCREAMING.


176 EXTERIOR: HENRY, FALLING.


Only it's not his house he's falling out of, and not the ground of Little Tall Island he's falling toward, hard as that ground might be. He is falling toward a BOILING RED-BLACK PIT OF FIRE. It is a pit of hell; it is also the boiling red and black we've seen in LINOGE'S EYES from time to time.

HENRY falls, SHRIEKING, away from THE CAMERA.

177 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, FEATURES HENRY.

He twitches in the desk chair, falls out of it, and gives a STRANGLED YELL as he hits the floor. He opens his eyes and looks around, dazed.

178 INTERIOR: THE MARKET, FEATURING THE CARD PLAYERS.

They look up at the sound of HENRY'S YELL and see that ROBBIE is standing by the cell. And

¬

KIRK Hatch, Robbie's got a gun. I think he's gonna shoot that guy!


HATCH bolts to his feet, knocking over the card table.

HATCH Robbie! Get away from him! Put that down!

179 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, WITH HENRY.

HENRY

Robbie? What


HENRY gets to his feet. He's soupy, still half-lost in his dream.


180 INTERIOR: THE CELL, WITH ROBBIE AND ROBBIE'S FALSE MOTHER.


She is sitting on the bunk where LINOGE sat (naturally she is LINOGE). She is very old, about eighty, and very thin. She is dressed in

STORM OF THE CENTURY 217


a white hospital johnny; her hair is wild; her face is reproachful. ROBBIE looks at her, hypnotized.


FALSE MOTHER


Robbie, why didn't you come? After all I did for you, all I gave up for you Robbie, don't!


174

HATCH (voice)


FALSE MOTHER


Why did you leave me to die with strangers? Why did you leave me to die alone?


She holds out her thin, trembling hands to him.


181 INTERIOR: THE MARKET.


HATCH, JACK, and KIRK dash for the open door of the constable's office.

182 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

HENRY, still hardly aware of what's happening, walks toward the cell. LINOGE is sitting on the bunk, holding out his hands to ROBBIE . . . and here, from HENRY'S perspective, it really is LINOGE.


LINOGE looks at the door leading into the market. It SLAMS SHUT in HATCH'S face.


183 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR, WITH HATCH, JACK, KIRK.

HATCH actually strikes the door and BOUNCES OFF. He tries the handle, but it won't turn. He slams his shoulder against the door, then turns to the other two.


HATCH Don't just stand there; help me!


184 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


We hear THUDS as the men outside try to break down the door. The 218 STEPHEN KING

FALSE MOTHER sits on the cot in her johnny, looking at her wayward son.

FALSE MOTHER

I waited for you, Robbie, and I'm still waiting for you. Down in hell, I'm waiting for you.


ROBBIE You stop. Or I'll shoot you.


FALSE MOTHER With that?


She looks at the gun contemptuously. ROBBIE follows her gaze.


185 INTERIOR: ROBBIE'S HAND, FROM ROBBIE'S POINT OF VIEW, CLOSE-UP.


The gun is gone. He's holding a WRITHING SNAKE. ROBBIE SCREAMS and opens his hand.

186 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

We see the rest of this from HENRY BRIGHT'S POINT OF VIEW, which means we see things pretty much as they are. It's the gun ROBBIE drops, not a snake, and it's LINOGE in the cell, now off the bunk and walking toward the bars.

LINOGE


I'll be waiting for you in hell, Robbie, and when you get there, I'll have a spoon. I'm going to use it on your eyes. I'm going to eat your eyes, Robbie, over and over again, because hell is repetition.

Born in sin, come on in.


HENRY bends for the gun. LINOGE looks at it, and it slides all the way across the floor. LINOGE

looks back at ROBBIE, looks hard, and ROBBIE suddenly goes FLYING BACKWARD. He strikes the wall, rebounds, and goes to his knees.


175

HENRY


(horrified whisper) What are you?


STORM OF THE CENTURY 219


LINOGE


Your destiny.


He turns and lifts the mattress of the cot. Beneath it is the cane. He takes it and raises it. As he does, a BRILLIANT BLUE LIGHT begins to shine from it.


HENRY backs away, raising an arm to shield his eyes. ROBBIE, who has managed to get up, also shields his eyes. That GLOW becomes BRIGHT, BRIGHTER, BRIGHTEST. The constable's office now SCREAMS WITH LIGHT.


187 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.


LIGHT streams through the keyhole, around the hinges, and through the gap at the foot of the door. The three men step back, afraid.


JACK What is it? What's happening?


HATCH


I don't know.


INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

HENRY and ROBBIE stand on one side of the room, cringing against that BRILLIANT FLOOD OF

LIGHT. In it, we for the first time see LINOGE for what he is: an ancient wizard whose upraised cane is his chief instrument of magic an evil version of Aaron's staff. It is shedding that BRILLIANT

LIGHT in waves.


On the bulletin board, papers come loose and FLOAT in the air. MIKE'S blotter rises from his desk and also FLOATS. The desk drawers open, slowly, one after the other, and the objects inside rise up and begin to circle the desk: pens and paper clips, handcuffs and a forgotten half of ham sandwich.

The in/out basket waltzes with HATCH'S PowerBook in midair.


On the far side of the room, the pistol ROBBIE meant to use on LINOGE (what a foolish idea that seems now) rises, turns its muzzle to the wall, and discharges six times.

220 STEPHEN KING

189 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.


HATCH, KIRK, and JACK react to the shots. HATCH looks around, sees a display of hardware, and grabs a hatchet from it. He turns and begins hacking away at the area around the doorknob. JACK

grabs at him.


JACK Hatch! Maybe you shouldn't


HATCH shoves him backward and goes on hacking. Maybe he shouldn't, but he's going to do his duty if he can.


190 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


The home-welded bars start FALLING AWAY from the cell door one by one, almost like falling leaves. ROBBIE and HENRY watch, numb with terror. The bars fall faster and faster, creating a man-shaped hole. When it's complete, LINOGE steps easily through. He looks at the two COWERING

MEN, then turns and raises his cane toward the door leading to the market.

191 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.


176

HATCH is raising the hatchet for another blow when the door suddenly OPENS ON ITS OWN.

BRIGHT BLUISH SILVER LIGHT streams out.


LINOGE (voice) Hatch.


HATCH steps into that FLOOD OF LIGHT. JACK grabs at him.


JACK Hatch, no!


HATCH ignores him. He goes into the light, the hatchet slipping from his fingers as he does.

192 EXTERIOR: THE MARKET NIGHT.

The Island Services four-wheel drive turns into the front parking area. The storm shutters are down over the market's display windows, but we can see BRILLIANT BLUE LIGHT shining through the door.

193 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE.


It's crammed with BEEFY GUYS. MIKE is at the wheel.


r


STORM OF THE CENTURY 221


What in the hell is that?


JOHNNY

(awed)

MIKE doesn't bother answering, but he's out of the truck almost before it has stopped moving.

The others follow, but MIKE is first up the steps.


194 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


HATCH sleepwalks into that BRILLIANT LIGHT, heedless of the objects floating and swirling in the air. The PowerBook bumps his head. HATCH bats it aside and it floats away like something underwater. He reaches LINOGE, who is almost blindingly bright.

LINOGE is in reality an old man, we see, with ragged white hair falling almost to his shoulders.

His cheeks and brow are carved with lines, and his lips are sunken, but it's a strong face, all the same . . . and dominated by the eyes, which SWIRL WITH BLACK AND RED. His ordinary clothes are gone; he is wearing a dark robe that gleams with SHIFTING SILVER PATTERNS. He continues to hold his STAFF UP with one hand (there is still a SILVER WOLF'S HEAD at one end, but now we see the shaft is carved with magical runes and symbols) and grips HATCH'S shoulder with the other . . . only it's not really a hand at all, but a talon full of claws.


222 STEPHEN KING


LINOGE brings his face down until his brow is almost touching HATCH'S. His lips part, revealing his pointed teeth. During all of this, HATCH stares at him with wide, blank eyes.

LINOGE Give me what I want and I'll go away. Tell them. Give me what I want. . . and I'll go away.


He turns, the hem of his robe flaring, and strides toward the door that leads to the loading dock.


195 INTERIOR: THE MARKET, LOOKING TOWARD THE MAIN DOORS NIGHT.


They burst open, and MIKE runs in, followed by his posse. He moves up the center aisle, jumping the overturned card table, and grabs KIRK FREEMAN.


177

MIKE What happened? Where's Hatch?

KIRK points numbly into the constable's office. He is beyond words. MIKE plunges through the doorway . . . then stops.


196 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.


Looks like a cyclone struck it. Papers and office supplies are strewn everywhere, fluttering in the draft from the open loading-dock door. HATCH'S PowerBook lies shattered on the floor. The jail cell is empty. A litter of bars lies in front of the door, which is still locked but gaping wide, all the same.

The hole is vaguely man-shaped.


ROBBIE and HENRY stand against the wall, their arms around each other, like small children who are lost in the dark. HATCH stands in the center of the floor with his back to MIKE and his head lowered.


MIKE approaches cautiously. The other men clog the door to the market, watching with big eyes and solemn faces.


MIKE Hatch? What happened?


STORM OF THE CENTURY 223 HATCH doesn't respond until MIKE actually touches his shoulder.


MIKE


What happened?


HATCH turns. His face has been changed in some fundamental way by his close encounter with LINOGE stamped by a terror that may never leave him, even if he survives the Storm of the Century.

MIKE (reacts) Hatch . . . my God . . . what . . . ?

HATCH

We have to give him what he wants. If we do that, he'll go away. He'll leave us alone. If we don't

. . .

HATCH looks toward the open loading-dock door, where SNOW is SWIRLING IN. ROBBIE joins them, walking slowly, like an old man.


Where did he go?


ROBBIE


HATCH

Out there. Into the storm. Now they all look toward the door.

197 EXTERIOR: DOWNTOWN, LOOKING TOWARD THE OCEAN NIGHT.

The snow is pelting, the drifts are still building, and the sea is still pounding the shore and sending up airbursts of foam. LINOGE is out there someplace, just another part of the storm.


FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 5.

Act 6

198 EXTERIOR: INTERSECTION OF MAIN AND ATLANTIC NIGHT.

The drifts are deeper than ever, and several show windows have been broken inward. The streets are impassable to even four-wheel drives now; the lampposts are buried halfway to their light globes.


178

THE CAMERA MOVES BACK TO THE DRUGSTORE, and we see the aisles have become frozen tundra. Frost twinkles on the letters spelling "PRESCRIPTIONS" at the back of the store. Nearer the front there's a sign that reads BEAT OLD MAN WINTER WITH A GENIE HEATER!, but Old Man Winter's got the last laugh this time; the heaters are almost buried in snow.


The pendulum clock is too covered with snow to read, but still working. It begins to STRIKE THE

HOUR. One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . .

199 INTERIOR: MARTHA CLARENDON'S FRONT HALL NIGHT.


We see her body, covered with the tablecloth. And hear another STRIKING CLOCK. Five ... six ...

seven . . . eight . . .

200 INTERIOR: THE WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE CENTER NIGHT.

A CUCKOO BIRD MOLLY'S kids must love is running in and out of the clock on the wall, impudent as a tongue. Nine . . . ten . . . eleven . . . twelve. With that last comment, the bird goes back into hiding. The day care itself is spotless but spooky, with its little tables and chairs, its pictures on the walls, the blackboard with "WE SAY PLEASE" and "WE SAY THANK YOU" written on it. There are too many shadows, too much silence.


201 EXTERIOR: THE LOADING DOCK BEHIND THE STORE NIGHT.


We see PETER GODSOE'S WRAPPED BODY, now just a frozen lump under the tarp . . . but those boots are still sticking out.

224


STORM OF THE CENTURY 225


202 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.


It's still littered with paper and office supplies from hell to breakfast, and the fallen bars still lie where they fell, but the place is empty. THE CAMERA MOVES through the door to the market. It is also empty. The overturned table and litter of cards in the canned goods aisle testifies that there was sudden trouble here, but trouble has departed now. The big clock over the checkout counters a battery job reads a minute past midnight.

203 INTERIOR: THE SUPPLY SHED BEHIND THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

There are two wrapped bodies here those of BILLY SOAMES and CORA STANHOPE.

204 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL KITCHEN NIGHT.


Neat as a pin clean counters, swept floor, washed pots heaped high in the drainers. A small army of town ladies with too much time on their hands (no doubt generaled by MRS. KINGSBURY) has put things to rights, and the place is all ready for breakfast pancakes for two hundred or so. On the wall, the clock reads two past midnight. Like Wee Folks Day-Care, this place feels spooky, with the minimal lighting supplied by the gennie and the WIND SCREAMING outside.


Sitting on stools by the door are JACK CARVER and KIRK FREEMAN. They have HUNTING RIFLES

across their laps. Both are close to dozing.


KIRK How're we supposed to see anything in this?


JACK shakes his head. He doesn't know.


205 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE NIGHT.


The CB radio CRACKLES SOFTLY AND MEANINGLESSLY. There's nothing on it but static. At the door, HATCH and ALEX HABER are watching, also armed with hunting rifles. Well . . . HATCH is 179

watching. ALEX is dozing. HATCH looks at him, and we see him debating whether or not to elbow ALEX awake. He decides to have pity.

THE CAMERA SLIPS to URSULA'S desk, where TESS MARCHANT sleeps with her head pillowed on her arms. THE CAMERA STUDIES


226 STEPHEN KING


HER for a moment, then turns and FLOATS down the stairs. As it does, we hear a FAINT VOICE

THROUGH STATIC:


PREACHER (voice)


You know, friends, it's hard to be righteous, but it's easy to go along with so-called friends who tell you that sin is all right, that neglect is fine, that no God is watching and you can go ahead and do whatever you think you can get away with, can you say "hallelujah"?


MUTTERED RESPONSE Hallelujah.


There are about ten people left in the TV area. They have gravitated to the few comfortable chairs and a couple of old rummage-sale-quality sofas. All but MIKE are asleep. On the TV, barely visible through the interference, is the slicky-hair PREACHER, looking every bit as trustworthy as Jimmy Swaggart in the courtyard of a triple-X motel.


MIKE


(speaks to the TV) Hallelujah, brother. Tell it.


He's in an overstaffed chair a little apart from the rest. He looks very tired and probably won't be awake for much longer. He's already started to nod out. On his hip he's wearing his revolver in a holster.

PREACHER

(continues)

Brethern, tonight I'd like to speak to you especially of the secret sin. And tonight I'd like to remind you, say hellelujah, that sin tastes sweet on the lips but sour on the tongue, and it poisons the belly of the righteous. God bless you, but can you say "amen"?


MIKE cannot, as it happens. His chin has drifted down to his chest, and his eyes have closed.


PREACHER


(continues) But the secret sin! The selfish heart that says "I need not STORM OF THE CENTURY 227

share; I can keep it all for myself, and no one'll ever know." Think of that, brethern! It's easy to say, "Oh, I can keep that dirty little secret, it's nobody else's business, and it won't hurt me," and then try to ignore the canker of corruption that begins growing around it ... that soul sickeness that begins to grow around it ...


During this, THE CAMERA PANS some of the sleeping faces among them we see SONNY

BRAUTIGAN and UPTON BELL, SNORING on one sofa with their heads together, and on the other, JONAS and JOANNA STANHOPE with their arms around each other. Then we FLOAT AWAY AGAIN, toward those makeshift draw curtains. Behind us, the PREACHER'S VOICE fades. He continues to talk about secrets and sin and selfishness.

We DRIFT THROUGH the draw curtains. Here, in the sleeping area, we hear DORMITORY SOUNDS

OF REPOSE: COUGHS, WHEEZES, SOFT SNORES.


We pass DAVEY HOPEWELL, sleeping on his back with a frown on his face. ROBBIE BEALS, on his side, reaching across to SANDRA. They are holding hands in their sleep. URSULA GODSOE sleeping 180

with her daughter, SALLY, and her sister-in-law, TAVIA, close-by, the three of them drawn as tightly together as they can in the wake of PETER'S death.

MELINDA HATCHER and PIPPA are sleeping with their cots pushed together, forehead to forehead, and RALPHIE is cradled in his sleeping mother's arms.


We drift to the area where the kids were initially put to bed, and quite a few of them are still there BUSTER CARVER, HARRY ROBICHAUX, HEIDI ST. PIERRE, and DON BEALS.

The residents of Little Tall are sleeping. Their rest is uneasy, but they are sleeping.


206 INTERIOR: ROBBIE BEALS, CLOSE-UP.


He MUTTERS SOMETHING INCOHERENT. His eyeballs move rapidly behind his closed lids. He's dreaming.

228 STEPHEN KING

207 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET, LITTLE TALL ISLAND DAY.


Standing in the street actually above it, as Main Street is buried under at least four feet of snow is a TV REPORTER. He is young and conventionally handsome, dressed in a bright purple Thermo-Pak ski suit, matching purple gloves, and wearing skis . . . the only way he could get to his stand-up position, one assumes.

There's four feet of snow in the streets, but that's only the beginning. The stores have been all but buried under MONSTER DRIFTS. Downed power lines disappear into the snow like torn strands of cobweb.


TV REPORTER


The so-called Storm of the Century is history in New England now folks from New Bedford to New Hope are digging out from beneath snowfall amounts that have added not just new entries but new pages to the record books.


The REPORTER begins to ski slowly down Main Street, past the drugstore, the hardware store, the Handy Bob Restaurant, the Tie-Up Lounge, the beauty parlor.


TV REPORTER


They're digging out everywhere, that is, except here, on Little Tall Island a little scrap of land off the coast of Maine and home to almost four hundred souls, according to the last census. About half the population sought shelter on the mainland when it became clear that this storm was really going to hit, and hit hard. That number includes most of the island's schoolchildren in grades K through high school. But nearly all the rest . . . two hundred men and women and young children . . . are gone. The exceptions are even more ominous and distressing.


208 EXTERIOR: THE REMAINS OF THE TOWN DOCK DAY.


Teams of grim-faced EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS are carrying four stretchers down to the POLICE BOAT that has tied up to the stump of the dock. Each stretcher bears a zipped body bag.

TV REPORTER (voice-over) Four corpses have been found so far on Little Tall Island.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 229


Two of them may have been suicides, police sources say, but the other two are almost certainly murder victims, bludgeoned to death by what was probably the same blunt object.

209 EXTERIOR: RESUME MAIN STREET, WITH REPORTER.

Oh-oh. He's still wearing the purple ski suit, still clean-cut and as chipper as a chickadee, but the purple gloves have been replaced by bright yellow ones. If we didn't recognize LINOGE before and hopefully we didn't we do now.


181

TV REPORTER

(LINOGE)

Identities of the dead have been withheld pending notification of next of kin, but all are said to be longtime island residents. And baffled police are asking themselves one question, over and over: Where are the other residents of Little Tall Island? Where is Robert Beals, the town manager? Where is Michael Anderson, who owned the island market and served as Little Tail's constable? Where is fourteen-year-old Davey Hopewell, who was at home, recovering from a bout of mononucleosis, when the big one hit? Where are the shopkeepers, the fishermen, the town selectmen? No one knows. There has only been one case like this before, in all of American history.


210 INTERIOR: MOLLY ANDERSON, SLEEPING, CLOSE-UP NIGHT. Her eyes move rapidly back and forth beneath her closed lids.

211 INSERT: A DRAWING OF AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VILLAGE.

WOMAN TV REPORTER (voice-over)


This is how the village of Roanoke, Virginia, looked in 1587, before everyone disappeared every man, woman, and child. Their fate has never been discovered. A single possible clue was discovered, a word found carved on a tree


212 INSERT: A WOODCUT OF AN ELM TREE. Carved into the bark is the word "CROATON."


WOMAN TV REPORTER (voice-over) this word. "Croaton." The name of a place? A misspelling?


230 STEPHEN KING

A word written in a language lost over the centuries? No one knows that, either.

213 EXTERIOR: RESUME MAIN STREET, WITH WOMAN TV REPORTER.

She is very pretty in her purple Therma-Pak ski suit; it goes well with her long blonde hair, flushed cheeks . . . and her BRIGHT YELLOW GLOVES. Yes, it's LINOGE again, now speaking in a woman's voice and looking very pretty. This isn't transvestism played for laughs, but a guy who really looks like a young woman and speaks with a woman's voice. This is deadly serious.

This reporter has picked up exactly where ROBBIE'S version left off, now doing a walk-and-talk (a walk-and-ski, in this case) up Main Street, toward the town hall.


WOMAN TV REPORTER


(LINOGE)


Police continue to assure reporters that a solution will be found, but even they are not able to deny one essential fact: hope is dimming for the missing residents of Little Tall Island.


She skis on toward the town hall, which is also buried in drifts.


WOMAN TV REPORTER


(LINOGE)


Evidence suggests that most or all of the islanders spent the first and worst night of the storm here, in the basement of the Little Tall Island Town Hall. After that ... no one knows. One wonders if there was anything they could have done to change their strange fate.

She skis onto what would be the town hall lawn in summer, toward the little cupola with the bell inside. THE CAMERA REMAINS STATIONARY now, watching her go.


214 INTERIOR: DAVEY HOPEWELL, CLOSE-UP.


182

Sleeping uneasily. Eyeballs moving. Dreaming while the WIND SHRIEKS OUTSIDE.


*

STORM OF THE CENTURY 231


215 EXTERIOR: IN FRONT OF THE TOWN HALL DAY.


The REPORTER in the purple ski suit reaches the cupola, and even with his back to us, we can tell that DAVEY'S version of the REPORTER is a man. He turns. He is BALDING, BESPECTACLED, wearing a MUSTACHE ... but it's LINOGE again.

TV REPORTER

(LINOGE)

One wonders if, in their insular selfishness and Yankee pride, they refused to give something . . .

some simple thing . . . that would have changed matters for them. To this reporter, that seems more than possible; it seems plausible. Do they regret it now? (pause) Are any of them alive to regret it? What really happened in Roanoke, in 1587? And what happened here, on Little Tall Island, in 1989? We may never know. But I know one thing, Davey you're too damn short to play basketball . . . and besides, you couldn't throw it in the ocean.

DAVEY'S version of the REPORTER makes a half-turn and reaches into the shadowy cupola. Here is the memorial bell, only in DAVEY'S dream, it's not a bell. What the REPORTER brings out is a BLOODSTAINED BASKETBALL, and he heaves it DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA. As he does this, his lips part in a grin, revealing teeth that are really FANGS.


TV REPORTER

Catch!

216 INTERIOR: RESUME DAVEY, IN THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT NIGHT.

Moaning, he turns back the other way. His hands come up briefly, as if to ward off the basketball.

DAVEY No ... no ...


217 INTERIOR: THE TV AREA OF THE BASEMENT, FEATURING MIKE NIGHT.


His head is dropped and limp, but his eyeballs are moving behind his closed lids, and like the others, he is DREAMING.

232 STEPHEN KING

PREACHER (voice)


Be sure that your sin will find you out, and that your secrets will be known. All secrets will be known . . .

218 INTERIOR: PREACHER ON SNOWY TV, CLOSE-UP.

Yes, now we see it; the TV PREACHER is LINOGE, too.

PREACHER


(continues)


. . . can you say "hallelujah"? Oh, brethern, can you say "amen"? For I ask you to behold the sting of sin and the price of vice; I ask you to behold the just end of those who bar the door to the wandering stranger who comes, asking so little.


THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the SNOWY TV. THE PREACHER melts into DARKNESS ... but a snowy DARKNESS, because the wind has blown down the town hall antenna and there's no good reception.


183

Only now a PICTURE starts to appear, anyway. The snow is real snow now, snow that's a part of the Storm of the Century, and PEOPLE are moving in it a dark snake-dance line of PEOPLE floundering their slow way down Atlantic Street Hill.


219 INTERIOR: ATLANTIC STREET, CLOSER NIGHT.


PREACHER (voice-over) For the wages of lust are dust, and the wages of sin are death.


Passing us is a nightmare procession of DAZED, HYPNOTIZED ISLANDERS in their nightclothes, oblivious of the HOWLING WIND and SHEETING SNOW. We see ANGELA with little BUSTER in her arms; followed by MOLLY, in her nightgown and carrying RALPHIE; followed by GEORGE KIRBY . . .

FERD ANDREWS . . . ROBERTA COIGN . . . well, you get it. They're all here. And tattooed on each forehead is that strange and ominous word: CROATON.

PREACHER (voice-over)

For if the supplicant is turned away and the seeker given no respite, shall not the hard-hearted be sent hence?


STORM OF THE CENTURY 233

220 INTERIOR: MIKE, CLOSE-UP.

MIKE

(sleeping) Hallelujah. Amen.

221 INTERIOR: THE STUMP OF THE TOWN DOCK.


They march toward THE CAMERA and their death in the frigid ocean like lemmings. We don't believe it ... and yet we do, don't we? After Jonestown and Heaven's Gate, we do.

ROBBIE

(first in line) I'm sorry we didn't give you what you wanted.

He topples off the jagged end of the dock and into the ocean.


ORV BOUCHER


(second in line) Sorry we didn't give it to you, Mr. Linoge.


He follows ROBBIE into the ocean. Next is ANGIE and BUSTER.


ANGIE CARVER I'm sorry. We both are, aren't we, Buster?


With the child in her arms, ANGELA steps from the pier. Next is MOLLY, with RALPHIE.

222 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE, IN THE TV AREA.

He is growing steadily more restive ... as who would not, if subjected to such an awful dream as this?


MIKE No . . . no, Molly . . .


PREACHER (voice-over)

For so little is asked of you, can you say "hallelujah" . . . and yet if you harden your hearts and stop up the porches of your ears, you must pay. You must be branded as one of the ungrateful and sent hence.

234 STEPHEN KING

223 EXTERIOR: MOLLY, ON THE PIER NIGHT.


184

She is as hypnotized as the rest, but RALPHIE is awake and afraid.

MOLLY

We hardened our hearts. We closed our ears. And now we pay. I'm sorry, Mr. Linoge RALPHIE

Daddy! Daddy, help!


MOLLY we should have given you what you wanted.


She goes over the edge and into the black water with RALPHIE SCREAMING in her arms.


224 INTERIOR: THE TV AREA, WITH MIKE NIGHT. He snaps awake, GASPING. Looks at the TV.

225 INTERIOR: TV, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.


Nothing but snow. The station has either lost its tower to the storm or ceased broadcasting for the night.

226 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.

He sits upright, trying to get his breath back.

SONNY BRAUTIGAN


Mike?


SONNY lumbers over, looking disheveled and puffy with sleep, his hair sticking up in the back.


SONNY


Man, I just had the most awful dream . . . this reporter . . .


Now UPTON BELL joins them.

UPTON

On Main Street . . . talkin' about how everybody was gone . . .

STORM OF THE CENTURY 235 He stops. He and SONNY look at each other in mutual amazement.


SONNY

Like in this little town in Virginia, a long time ago.

MELINDA (voice)

No one knew where they went . . . and in the dream, no one knew where we went.

They look toward the draw curtains. MELINDA is standing there in her nightgown.


MELINDA


They're all dreaming it. Do you understand? They are all dreaming what we dreamed!


She looks back toward:


227 INTERIOR: THE SLEEPING AREA NIGHT.


185

The sleepers are in SLOW, TWISTY MOTION on their cots. They moan and protest without waking.

228 INTERIOR: RESUME TV AREA.

MELINDA But where could two hundred people disappear to?

SONNY and UPTON shake their heads. TESS conies halfway down the stairs. Her hair is mussed; she still looks half asleep.


TESS MARCHANT

Especially on a little island, cut off by a big storm . . .

MIKE gets up and snaps off the TV.

MIKE

Into the ocean.


What?


MELINDA (shocked)


236 STEPHEN KING


MIKE


Into the ocean. Mass suicide. If we don't give him what he wants.

SONNY

How could he

MIKE I don't know . . . but I think he can.

MOLLY comes through the draw curtains, holding RALPHIE in her arms. RALPHIE is fast asleep, but she can't bear to let him go.

MOLLY

What does he want, though? Mike, what does he want?

MIKE I'm sure we'll find out. When he's ready.

229 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.


The light swings around and around, briefly cutting through the DRIVING SNOW on each swing.

In one of the shattered windows at the top, a SHAPE stands.

THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON LINOGE, who stands looking out at the town with his hands behind his back. He has the air of a ruler surveying his kingdom. At last he turns away.


230 INTERIOR: LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM NIGHT.


LINOGE, little more than a shadow in the RED LIGHTS of the control panels, crosses the circular room and opens the door to the stairs. THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the computer screen we saw before. Marching down from the top, replacing the storm surge warning for the morning's high tide, is this message, repeated over and over: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT."


231 INTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE STAIRCASE NIGHT.


We're looking down this dizzying spiral at LINOGE, who is descending rapidly.


186

STORM OF THE CENTURY 237


232 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE NIGHT.


LINOGE comes out, wolfs head cane in hand, and moves off into the snow, headed God knows where to do God knows what mischief. We HOLD on the lighthouse, then FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 6.

Act?


233 EXTERIOR: THE DOWNTOWN AREA MORNING.


The snow is falling as fast and hard as ever. Buildings are half-buried. Power lines disappear into the snow. It looks like the newscast walk-and-ski we saw in the dreams, only with the storm still going on.


234 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL MORNING.


The cupola with the memorial bell in it is almost buried, and the brick town hall building itself looks ghostly. The WIND HOWLS, unabated.


235 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL MORNING.


About half of the folks who took shelter in the town hall are here, sitting on the hard wooden benches with plates on their laps, eating pancakes and drinking juice. A kind of buffet has been set up at the back of the hall, with MRS. KINGSBURY (wearing a brilliant red hunter's cap with the bill turned around backward gangster-style) and TESS MARCHANT officiating. There's juice, coffee, and cold cereal in addition to the pancakes.

The folks eating breakfast are very quiet . . . not sullen, but introspective and a little afraid. All the families with small children are up of course they are, wee folks rise and shine early and among them we see the HATCHERS and the ANDERSONS in a sleepy morning party of six. MIKE is feeding RALPHIE bites of pancake, and HATCH is doing about the same with PIPPA. The wives drink coffee and talk quietly.

The side door OPENS, letting in a HOWL OF WIND, a SWIRL OF SNOW, and an excited JOHNNY

HARRIMAN.

JOHNNY

Mike! Hey, Mikey! I never seen such a storm surge in my life! I think the lighthouse is gonna go!

I really do!


The ISLANDERS STIR and MURMUR. MIKE puts RALPHIE on 238

STORM OF THE CENTURY 239

MOLLY'S lap and gets up. HATCH gets up too, and so do most of the others.

MIKE

Folks, if you go out, stay close to the building! We've got whiteout conditions, remember!


236 EXTERIOR: ANGLE ON THE HEADLAND AND THE LIGHTHOUSE MORNING.


The tide is coming high, and huge waves pound the rocks. The headland is almost inundated with each one. The base of the lighthouse is drowned with each incoming surge of water. The lighthouse survived last night's high tide; it probably won't survive this one.


237 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.


187

ISLANDERS spill out, CHATTERING, some buttoning their coats, some knotting scarves under their chins, some pulling up hoods and yanking down ski masks.

238 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING ROOM MORNING.

The last of the people going out are just slipping through the easing clog at the side door. What's left in here are a few people who don't want to quit eating, plus SEVEN MOMMIES and ONE DADDY

(JACK CARVER) coping with little kids who are exceedingly reluctant to be left out of the excitement.

RALPHIE


Mommy, please can't I go see?


MOLLY exchanges a look with MELINDA it's exasperated and a-mused at the same time, a look that only the parents of preschool children know.

PIPPA

(picking up on it) Please, Mommy, please can't I?


DON BEALS, meanwhile, is employing a more masterful approach with SANDRA.


240 STEPHEN KING


DON


Put my coat on! I wanna go out! Hurry up, you slowpoke!


MOLLY

(to RALPHIE) Oh ... all right.

(to MELINDA) Hey, I want to see, too.

(to RALPHIE) Come on, Ralphie, let's find your coat.

Most of the other parents LINDA ST. PIERRE, CARLA BRIGHT, JACK CARVER, JILL

ROBICHAUX are doing the same. URSULA GODSOE, however, is resisting SALLY'S imploring.

URSULA Mommy can't, honey she's too tired. I'm sorry.

SALLY Daddy will take me . . . Where's Daddy?

URSULA can't think of an answer and is on the verge of tears. The other ladies who overhear are melting with sympathy. SALLY doesn't know yet that her father is dead.


JENNA FREEMAN I'll take you out, hon. If it's okay with your mom.

URSULA nods gratefully.

239 EXTERIOR: THE SIDE LAWN OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

About seventy ISLAND RESIDENTS are clustered in a loose line, all standing with their backs to us, all looking toward the ocean. The PARENTS come from the side door, either carrying young, bundled-up children or leading them by the hand. They occasionally sink hip deep in the new snow and have to help each other out of the drifts. There is some LAUGHTER; the excitement has helped to stir them out of their post-dream introspection.


In the foreground, the black barrel of a CANE comes down, burying itself in the snow.


STORM OF THE CENTURY 241


240 EXTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.


188

LINOGE is standing here, watching the townsfolk through the heavy snow. They don't see him, because their backs are turned.

241 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF

VIEW MORNING.


From here, the lighthouse is almost obscured by the snow . . . from time to time it will be obscured . . . but right now we can see both it and the GIANT WAVES surging around it.

242 EXTERIOR: MIKE AND HATCH MORNING.


HATCH


Is it gonna go, Mike?


MOLLY and MELINDA, accompanied by RALPH and PIPPA, join their husbands. MIKE bends to pick up RALPHIE without taking his eyes off the lighthouse.

MIKE I think it is.


243 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.


A huge wave smacks the headland and surges around the lighthouse. Then the WIND HOWLS, the SNOW THICKENS, and the lighthouse is hardly there, only a dim white ghost in the swirling snow.


244 INTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM.


Water POURS IN through the shattered windows and inundates the electronic gear. Sparks fly; the computers SHORT OUT.


245 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.


Except we really can't see much at all now except for a couple of houses and some ghostly trees down the hill from where the people stand. The snow has thickened and the wind is swirling it up, creating WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS.


242 STEPHEN KING

246 EXTERIOR: THE TOWNSFOLK, A PANNING SHOT MORNING.

We see the little family groups and clusters of friends (SONNY and UPTON BELL are together; KIRK and his younger sister, JENNA accompanied by little SALLY GODSOE are standing near the BEALSES), but some folks stand a bit apart from the others. Behind them all, the snow provides a SHIFTING WHITE BACKDROP. The town hall itself is only a pink shadow.


As we PAN:

KIRK

I can't see a thing!

FERD ANDREWS

It's a damn whiteout!


DON BEALS Daddy, where's the lighthouse?


ROBBIE (to DON) Wait for the wind to drop, honey.


DON


Make it drop now!


189

DAVEY HOPEWELL


(to MRS. KINGSBURY) Look! There's the light, just coming around! It's still there!


247 INTERIOR: LOOKING INTO THE WHITEOUT, FROM THE ISLANDERS' POINT OF

VIEW MORNING.

In all that swirling snow, the SEARCHLIGHT gleams fitfully, brightens, then revolves out of sight again. As it does, we begin to see the headland once more.


248 EXTERIOR: RESUME PANNING TOWNSPEOPLE MORNING.

HATCH

It's lifting!

STORM OF THE CENTURY 243

MRS. KINGSBURY is standing to the left of the HOPEWELLS, her RED HUNTING CAP now turned around so the bill faces front. BRIGHT YELLOW GLOVES (LINOGE must have had another pair of them stashed somewhere) come out of the snow. One clamps over MRS. KINGSBURY'S mouth; the other grabs her by the neck. She is JERKED BACKWARD into the whiteout. The HOPEWELLS are quite close-by, but none of them see; they are peering into the snow as hard as they can.


249 EXTERIOR: HEADLAND AND LIGHTHOUSE, FROM THE TOWN HALL'S POINT OF VIEW.


A GIGANTIC WAVE smashes into the headland, humps up, and CRASHES INTO THE LIGHTHOUSE.

And now we can see it beginning to TILT.


250 EXTERIOR: SONNY BRAUTIGAN AND UPTON BELL.


SONNY


She goin'! Holy God, she surely goin'!


Near them is a MALE RESIDENT bundled up in a grease-stained parka with "ISLAND E-Z PUMP"

written on the left breast. A SHAPE LINOGE looms behind him. It pauses for a second or two, and then the CANE comes down across MR. E-Z PUMP'S throat, gripped at either end by BRIGHT

YELLOW GLOVES. MR. E-Z PUMP is yanked backward into the whiteout. Neither SONNY nor UPTON

notice; they are thrilled by the destruction taking place below.

251 EXTERIOR: THE WHITEOUT, LOOKING BACK TOWARD THE TOWN HALL.

We see TWO BLACK SHAPES the soles of MR. E-Z PUMP'S boots. They float briefly in all that white, then disappear.


252 EXTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE MORNING.

Another of those huge waves buries the lower half. We hear the RUMBLE OF WATER and the GROAN of crumbling bricks. The lighthouse's tilt becomes more pronounced.


253 INTERIOR: THE LIGHTHOUSE CONTROL ROOM MORNING.


It's tilting . . . tilting . . . water pouring in ... the tilt becoming more 244 STEPHEN KING

pronounced as equipment conies unanchored and begins to slide down the steepening slope of the floor . . .


254 EXTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS OUTSIDE THE TOWN HALL MORNING.


THE CAMERA is behind them, PANNING from left to right. From between them, or over their shoulders, we can see the tottering lighthouse. .Jfc 190

255 EXTERIOR: JACK, ANGIE, AND BUSTER CARVER MORNING.

JACK is highly excited. He sweeps BUSTER into his arms and lunges forward a little through the snow.


JACK


Look, Buster! The lighthouse is falling down!


BUSTER Falling down! Lighthouse falling down!

ANGELA is about four steps behind them. Neither JACK nor BUSTER see the YELLOW GLOVES as they float out of the snow, grab her, and yank her backward into the WHITE CURTAIN.


256 EXTERIOR: RESUME LIGHTHOUSE MORNING.


The inundating wave retreats. For a moment it seems the lighthouse might endure yet a little longer . . . and then it goes CRASHING DOWN, the light above the shattered control room still revolving valiantly. As it falls, another wave strikes, drowning the ruins.

257 EXTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS, PANNING.

They are silent, their brief excitement gone. Now that it's actually happened, they wish it had not.

We end up on JACK and BUSTER.


BUSTER Where's the lighthouse, Daddy? Did it go bye-bye?


JACK (sadly) Yeah, honey, I guess so. Lighthouse went bye-bye.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 245

(turning) Angie, did you see it? Did you . . .

But there's no one where she was standing.

JACK Angie? Angela?


He looks up and down the line of ISLANDERS, puzzled but not yet worried or afraid. He doesn't see her.

JACK Hey, Ange ...

BUSTER Hey, Mommeee . . .

JACK looks at ORV BOUCHER, who is standing nearby.


JACK Did you see my wife?


ORV


Gee, Jack, I didn't notice. Maybe she got cold and went back inside.


258 EXTERIOR: THE HOPEWELL FAMILY: STAN, MARY, AND DAVEY MORNING.


DAVEY'S parents are still looking down at the place where the lighthouse stood (as if expecting an instant replay), but DAVEY is looking around, frowning.


DAVEY


Mrs. Kingsbury?


MARY HOPEWELL


191

(hears him) Davey?


DAVEY


She was just here.


246 STEPHEN KING


JACK comes slogging along, now holding BUSTER by the hand.


JACK Angie . . .?

(to BUSTER)

I guess Orv's right she must've gotten cold and gone back inside.

Nearby are ALEX HABER and CAL FREESE.

CAL


(looking around) Hey, where's old George Kirby?


259 EXTERIOR: THE ANDERSONS AND THE HATCHERS MORNING.


Along the ragged line of ISLANDERS who have come out to watch the lighthouse go down, CAL

and ALEX are calling for GEORGE KIRBY, JACK and BUSTER are calling for ANGELA, DAVEY

HOPEWELL is calling for MRS. KINGSBURY, and a couple of other folks are calling for BILL the real name of MR. E-Z PUMP, one assumes.


A kind of sick realization is dawning on MIKE'S face. He looks at HATCH and sees much the same look there. MIKE sets RALPHIE down and turns to the ragged line of ISLANDERS.

MIKE Back inside! Everyone back inside!

MOLLY Mike, what's wrong?

f


MIKE ignores her. He begins RUNNING down the line of ISLANDERS, looking frantic.


MIKE Inside! Everybody! Now! And stay together!


His fear communicates itself to the ISLANDERS, who begin to turn and go inside. ROBBIE comes over to MIKE.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 247 ROBBIE


What the hell's this?


MIKE


Maybe nothing. For now, just go inside. Take your wife and your boy and go inside.


As he gets ROBBIE turned around and begins shepherding him back to SANDRA and DON, JACK

CARVER comes floundering up through the snow, holding BUSTER.


JACK


(now beginning to be afraid) Michael, have you seen Angela? She was right here.


ROBBIE begins to understand. He goes to SANDRA and BUSTER, suddenly not wanting them out of his sight.

MIKE Take your boy on inside, Jack.


192

JACK But

MIKE Go on, now. Do it.

260 EXTERIOR: HATCH, ON THE SNOWFIELD BESIDE THE TOWN HALL.

Around him, people are hurrying back to the side door. Most look fearful. HATCH ignores them, trying to look everywhere at once ... an impossible trick, given the thick snow.


HATCH

Mrs. Kingsbury? . . . George? . . . George Kirby? . . . Bill Timmons, where you at?

He sees a BRIGHT SPLASH OF RED and goes to it. He picks up MRS. KINGSBURY'S hat, dusts the snow from it with his gloved hand, and looks at it gravely as MIKE comes up to him, herding people along. MIKE'S eyes also move everywhere. They are shepherds trying to guard a diminishing flock.

248 STEPHEN KING


MIKE takes the hat from HATCH and looks at it for a moment.


MIKE


Inside! Inside now! Stick together!


261 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL, FEATURES JACK AND BUSTER.


BUSTER

Where's Mommy? We left Mommy outside! Daddy, we left Mommy outside!

JACK

(beginning to cry) Come on, big boy. Mommy's fine.

He almost drags BUSTER up the aisle and toward the door leading to the town office and the stairs.

262 INTERIOR: MONTAGE OF ISLANDERS, MEETING HALL MORNING.

They shuffle up the aisles MOLLY and RALPHIE, the STANHOPES, JOHNNY HARRIMAN, TAVIA GODSOE, KIRK and JENNA FREEMAN, all our new acquaintances and every face is stamped with fear.

DISSOLVES TO:


263 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL AFTERNOON.


TITLE CARD: 2:00 P.M.


The snow is still SWIRLING DOWN, and the WIND is still HOWLING. Parked by the side door is the biggest Sno-Cat on the island, its engine idling.

264 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL'S SIDE DOOR, CLOSER AFTERNOON.


Bundled up in the doorway are MIKE, SONNY, HENRY BRIGHT, and KIRK FREEMAN. There to see them off, clutching sweaters against the chill, are MOLLY, HATCH, and TESS MARCHANT. Once again, they all shout to be heard over the storm.


MOLLY


Are you sure this is necessary?


193

STORM OF THE CENTURY 249


MIKE


No but we're fresh out of weather forecasts, and it's best to be safe. Besides, there's stuff at the market that'll just go over if we don't use it.

MOLLY Fresh orange juice isn't worth risking that psychopath!

MIKE


He's not going to take on four of us.


MOLLY


Promise me you'll be careful.


MIKE I promise.


(shifts his attention to HATCH) Buddy system, right? No one gets left alone.

HATCH Right. Be careful, you guys.

SONNY

You better believe it.

As they turn away toward the Sno-Cat:


MOLLY


Mike . . . since the house is right on your way . . .


She stops, a little embarrassed to ask what has come to her mind, but his eyes are kind and encourage her.

MOLLY


Well . . . the kids are being as good as they can, but if you could just maybe grab a handful of games and two or three boxes of Slip-Stix or something, it'd be a lifesaver.

MIKE

(kisses her on the cheek) Consider it done.

250 STEPHEN KING


He goes to the Sno-Cat and slides behind the controls. He guns the engine. They all wave, and the Sno-Cat buzzes away into the storm.

Will they be all right?

Sure.

TAVIA


HATCH


He looks worried, though. They go back inside and shut the door against the storm.


265 EXTERIOR: THE ANDERSON HOUSE ON LOWER MAIN AFTERNOON.


The Sno-Cat pulls up in front. The picket fence is totally buried. The WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE

CENTER sign is lying on top of a ten-foot drift.


194

266 INTERIOR: THE SNO-CAT AFTERNOON.

MIKE

(to the others) Just be a minute.

He opens the door on his side and gets out.

267 EXTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE ANDERSON HOUSE, WITH MIKE AFTERNOON.


He slogs around the front of the Sno-Cat, bent over against the SNOW and WIND, and almost runs headlong into KIRK FREEMAN. Once more, they SHOUT over the WIND to be heard.

MIKE Get back in and stay warm; I'll be fine!

KIRK Buddy system, remember?

He points into the Sno-Cat at HENRY and SONNY.


KIRK


We buddy up in there; they buddy up out here; we all buddy up together in the market.


STORM OF THE CENTURY 251


MIKE


Okay . . . come on.

I!

They start slogging up what used to be a path to a porch wallowing under the drifts like a slowly sinking boat.


268 INTERIOR: CAT WITHERS, CLOSE-UP.


She sitting on a folding chair and looks pretty vacant. She's got a mug of something in one hand and a sweater pulled over her shoulders. She's still bombed on shock and tranquilizers.


In the background, children sing:


CHILDREN AND SANDRA BEALS "I'm a little teapot, short and stout. ..."


CAT reacts to this, but doesn't overreact; she may not remember the song. THE CAMERA PULLS

BACK to show us the DAY-CARE KIDS. They are being monitored by ROBBIE and SANDRA BEALS buddy system. SANDRA is leading the singing and trying to look vivacious. ROBBIE sits on another wooden chair, looking almost as lost as CAT.


The KIDS are being teapots as they sing, they make handles of their arms and tug their noses to show they know where their spouts are.

252 STEPHEN KING

Around them at this end of the common room, which is between the stairs and the wall, is a litter of makeshift amusements: books, paste, magazines with lots of cutout pictures and scraps, a few toys.


Beyond them is a closed door with a plaque on it that reads CUSTODIAN.


CHILDREN AND SANDRA


"Here is my handle, here is my spout."


195

FERD ANDREWS comes down the stairs and stands next to ROBBIE.


ROBBIE I hate that song.


FERD


Why?


ROBBIE


I just hate it. How's Jack Carver?

FERD

Quieted down some. It's just good the women got the kid away from him before he cracked.

(nods at BUSTER)

There ought to be a search party made up to look for Angela and them others. If Alton Hatcher won't lead it, you could.

ROBBIE

And if the search party didn't come back, what then? Send out another one?

FERD

Well ... we can't just sit here . . .


ROBBIE


Sure we can. And that's just what we're going to do. Sit here and wait out the storm. Pardon me, Ferd. I need a coffee.

Giving FERD a contemptuous look, ROBBIE gets to his feet and heads upstairs. FERD goes after him.


FERD

I was just thinkin' we ought to do somethin', Robbie . . .

i I

STORM OF THE CENTURY 253 THE CAMERA returns to CAT. Her eyes flicker. She sees: 269 INSERT: LINOGE'S CANE.


It SWINGS toward THE CAMERA, silver wolfs head seeming to SNARL.


270 INTERIOR: RESUME KIDS' PLAY AREA AFTERNOON.


CAT drops her mug and puts her hands over her face, beginning to SOB. The KIDS stop singing and turn to look at her. PIPPA and HEIDI start to sniffle in sympathy.

FRANK BRIGHT


What's wrong with Katrina Withers?


SANDRA


Nothing, Frankie . . . she's just tired . . . You kids, pick up a little, okay? Mr. Anderson'll be bringing back some new things to play with, I think, so just . . .

DON


196

I'm not gonna pick up! My dad'll give me a doughnut!

He dashes for the stairs.

SANDRA

Don! Don Beals! You come back and help the others

RALPHIE We don't need him. Monkeys can't pick up.


The others SNICKER that's a pretty good one. And when RALPHIE starts picking up the litter, the rest join in. SANDRA goes over and begins comforting CAT.

271 INTERIOR: ISOLATE ON RALPHIE.

He works his way a little apart from the others, picking up magazines. He's moving toward the door marked CUSTODIAN, and when it COMES OPEN, he looks up.


254 STEPHEN KING

LINOGE (voice) Ralphie! Hey, big boy!

The others do not hear, but RALPHIE does.

272 INTERIOR: WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE CENTER, WITH MIKE AND KIRK.

KIRK has an armload of games and those kid puzzles with the great big pieces. MIKE has the Slip-Stix and a few other simple crafts.

KIRK

That it?

MIKE Yep, should do. Let's . . .

Something catches his eye. It's a scatter of alphabet blocks on a low worktable. MIKE kneels beside it, looks thoughtfully at the blocks, then begins to pull some of them together into a line.

KIRK

(over to have a look) What you doing?

MIKE has used six of the blocks to spell out "LINOGE." He looks at them, then swaps them around to make "NILOGE." No, that's nonsense. Next comes "GONILE."


KIRK

Go Nile. Sounds like an ad for a vacation in Egypt.

273 INTERIOR: THE KIDS' PLAY AREA.

SANDRA is busy with CAT, and the other kids have grouped together around some baskets in the corner, where they stow the toys, books, and magazines. They are having a good time. No one notices RALPHIE as he gets up and walks hesitatingly toward the half-open door of the custodian's closet. |K

LINOGE (voice) Got something for you, big boy a present!

RALPHIE reaches for the door . . . then hesitates.

*

STORM OF THE CENTURY 255


197

LINOGE (voice)

(teasing) Not afraid, are you?

RALPHIE reaches for the door again, this time more decisively.

274 INTERIOR: WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE, WITH MIKE AND KIRK.

KIRK is interested now. He moves the blocks himself, making "LINOGE" into "LONIEG." And suddenly, MIKE sees it. His eyes WIDEN WITH HORROR.

MIKE

Jesus and the disciples in the country of the Gadarenes. Book of Mark. Oh my God.

KIRK

Huh?


MIKE


They met a man with an unclean spirit; that's what it says in the Gospel. A man with demons inside of him. He lived among the tombs, and no man could bind him, not even with chains. Jesus cast the demons into a herd of pigs that ran into the ocean and drowned themselves. But before he cast them out, Jesus asked their names. And the thing inside said KIRK is watching him with increasing fright as MIKE manipulates the blocks.


MIKE "Our name is Legion, for we are many."


Now the blocks that spelled "LINOGE" spell "LEGION." MIKE and KIRK stare at each other, wide-eyed.

275 INTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE CUSTODIAN'S CLOSET.

RALPHIE opens the door and looks up at ANDRE LINOGE. In one hand, LINOGE grips his wolf's head cane. The other is behind his back. LINOGE is smiling.

256 STEPHEN KING

LINOGE It's a present for the fairy-saddle boy. Come and see.

RALPHIE enters the custodian's closet. The door swings shut.

THIS ENDS PART TWO.

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