Love, Death and Robots. Volumes 2 & 3

JUMP CUT, in a moment of bro’vado Steve has climbed to the top of the ANGEL STATUE and positioned himself to… fuck it right in its disapproving face. He turns back to Autumn who is giggling and filming with her phone.

STEVE

(In a sped up mini voice that mostly

sounds like gibberish)

Hehe... check it out babe… uh… uh… uh… uh…

Steve proceeds to thrust awkwardly into the angel’s face with the same drunken rhythm he gave to Autumn. The entire statue shifts slightly with each thrust. Autumn continues to film and cheers him on – this video will get so many likes.

Steve’s thrusting gets harder and faster… he might be enjoying this. The statue continues to rock back and forth until it SNAPS off of its base. It falls hard against the church with a loud crash and PINS Steve against the entrance.

LIGHTNING flashes. Music intensifies.

Autumn is in shock. Steve is dazed and maimed, his arm pinned between the statue and the church. There’s blood everywhere but he looks alive.

AUTUMN

BABE!!!!!!!

Suddenly the structure of the church begins to shift and crack from the damage at its base. The church steeple sags and tilts forward. The steeple’s CROSS dislodges and plummets off of the church. Like a sacrilegious lawn dart, it sticks UPSIDE DOWN into the pedestal where the statue used to sit. An intensely bright bolt of lightning hits the upside down cross and IGNITES it with an other-worldly GREEN FLAME, that now lights the scene. The music takes a turn.

AUTUMN

Oh my god!!!

We see the old dirt around the graves churn up into fresh mounds, and up from the ground emerges the LIVING DEAD. Decomposed, skeletal, and with purpose.

Steve frantically struggles to free himself from the statue. Autumn freaks out and clumsily runs in all directions, surrounded. The zombies close in on the couple and attack them both. We hear gargled death screams, and then silence. The zombies shift their collective focus and make their way toward the road.

We see the bloody bodies of the couple. They lay lifeless on the ground – lit by the green flame and distant lightning flashes – the bodies begin to twitch. We hear growling, and slowly Autumn and Steve rise from the dead – vicious and hungry for blood. Lighting flashes and the music swells.

SMASH CUT:

MONTAGE – MORNING IN THE CITY

An abrupt shift in the music, we see Los Angeles in the morning. The city is waking up for the day. We see sunrise over the skyline, shots of traffic, people on their morning commute. It’s business as usual.

EXT. RUNYON CANYON – MORNING

A hiking trail in the hills above the city. Two socialites jog into frame, eager to be seen in their latest athleisure hauls. They stop to stretch and catch their breath. A few stumbling zombies emerge from the trail behind them, the women notice late on the approach. The bitchier of the two savagely shoves her friend into the lead zombie, who bites through her neck, throws her to the ground, and starts ripping into her flesh. In utter shock the friend turns to run but is overtaken by the other zombies. The brutal attack leaves both joggers dead. They twitch, rise from the bloody dirt as zombies, and follow the others down the hill.

EXT. DOWNTOWN INTERSECTION – MORNING

A downtown intersection surrounded by high-rises. A group of young creative professionals, inspired to make a positive difference for the future, cross the street toward a COFFEE SHOP to get their daily macchiato and croissant. A Prius screeches around the corner through the intersection, smearing the pedestrians across the road like jelly on toast. The driver jumps out and runs away. A crowd of zombies in pursuit emerges and pours into the intersection. Bystanders scatter as the horde rushes into the coffee shop courtyard. They collide with the patio tables, cute cafe umbrellas fling about.

EXT. DOWNTOWN SIDE STREET – TRACKING – DAY

Sirens blasting. The camera follows an ambulance speeding down a side street. The driver swerves to avoid a group of zombies, only to take out a few others. It finds a clearing in the road then guns it ahead. Amid the pandemonium in the city we see blood on the sidewalks, smoke plumes and scattered fires in the streets.

EXT. HOPE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL – DAY

An ER at Hope Memorial Hospital in the middle of the city. The ambulance screeches into frame, jumps a median, and smashes through a way-finding sign before careening straight through the emergency room entrance doors. There’s a small but powerful explosion, we see tires and ambulance debris fly everywhere. A flaming wheelchair rolls out of the blast.

The chaos seems to be over. A plume of smoke rises from the site of the crash. A beat goes by… then suddenly a large crowd of zombies emerges and flows from the hospital, some wearing scrubs, others bare-assed in only patient gowns. The crowd is never-ending. Zombies start to pour out from the windows and off the rooftops, then exit frame in every direction.

EXT. AMERICAN SUBURB – DAY