FADE IN
EXT: DESERT ROAD - WESTERN QUEENSLAND - DAY
A lone CAR is rocketing along a long flat desert road. Although the road is bitumen, there is enough dust on the surface to create a dust trail that fades off to the distance. The sun blazes against a midday cobalt blue sky, beating a cruel heat on the desert pan.
RADIO (V.O.)
It’s another dry, dry day in south- western Queensland today. Hopes are high for some rain late next week but today we can enjoy 42 degrees of hot weather. Currently it’s 35 at your local radio station 4HH western FM.
INT. CAR - DAY
THOMAS PRITCHARD, 27 years old, average looking, barbered short dark brown hair, slouches back into the leather driver’s seat. He drives comfortably with the cruise control on. The open window blasts the side of his face.
He is the middle man: middle-age, middle-management, middle- income. He wears a crisp white shirt casually and uses heavy aviator sunglasses to beat the glare. It’s a practical uniform in an office but doesn’t help him beat the heat.
Midnight Oil begins playing on the radio. Tom angles himself up and begins tapping along to the beat. It’s hot, heavy music that fits the landscape.
As the music is approaching a chorus the phone chimes in to interrupt the broadcast. Indifferent to the interruption he thumbs the answer button on his steering wheel. The music is replaced by the bluetooth phone system through his cars speakers.
TOM
Hiya, Tom here.
GERRY (V.O.)
Hey, Tom. How are you travelling? I just had the site Asset Manager on the line and he’s getting a bit antsy.
GERRY, 50 years old, is not seen but his voice is aggressive and authoritative.
TOM
Not bad. I shouldn’t be faraway now. I thought I would have been there about half hour ago. This car hasn’t got the GPS but the map says
200 km from Eromanga and that was a couple of hours ago...
GERRY (V.O.)
Okay I’ll let him know. Pretty much all the mine crew are out of there. He just wants to be home in time for Christmas.
TOM
So do I. I won’t be long. This is looking to be an uncomfortable trip. The heat’s really kicking in and I’ve lost my airco. I hope the site office has air.
GERRY (V.O.)
Frosty. It shouldn’t take more than four days to wrap it up. The whole project was more trouble than it was worth. The native title claim may have been resolved in the courts but the whole stinking mess still hasn’t gone away. Can’t wait to be shot of it. If it takes longer than four days let me know.
TOM
What do you mean longer? That would push me into Christmas Eve. I have things on.
GERRY (V.O.)
You’ll work it out.
Gerry hangs up before Tom can answer. The music chimes in, much quieter than before.
Tom scowls as he continues to drive, focused on the road. He taps the steering wheel while he stares straight ahead.
TOM
Bugger.
Shortly he moves forward and pushes the dash screen to speed dial a number.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Carrie here.
CARRIE, early 20s, has a thoughtless, self-indulgent sounding voice, light and chirpy.
TOM
Hi Carrie. How are you getting on with the wedding plans?
CARRIE (V.O.)
Oh, Tom. I’m still not happy with the type for the invitations. I’ve told them I’m not happy but they want to charge us anyway.
TOM
I thought you were going to wait until I got a look before you called the printer?
CARRIE (V.O.)
Something came up. Hey, the dress is getting made and I’ve gone with the Valentino. It’s a tad pricier but I think it’s worth it.
TOM
How is this all going to affect the budget? You know your father isn’t going to put in any more.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Well, we will have to talk to the bank again, but that’s okay. They were very nice the last time. I can do it.
She is obviously distracted and self-absorbed.
CARRIE (V.O.)
I have to go. ADDS is bringing over some suits to look at for the groomsmen.
TOM
Don’t let him talk you into anything before I get back. Your brother is too pushy and I’m the one that has to wear it.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Don’t be silly. Ciao.
Tom ends the call with a resigned and defeated gesture. Carefully he thumps the dash, sighs and drives on annoyed.
TOM
One day I’m going to have to learn to say ‘no’.
DISSOLVE TO: DESERT ROAD MONTAGE - DAY
Time has passed. There is still a LONG BLACK ROAD stretching in front of the car.
We see rusted, abandoned cars, dead trees and the occasional lizard as the car continues on.
INT: CAR - DAY
Tom is sitting up paying more attention. He appears agitated. He looks down at a MAP covering the passenger’s seat, then back to the road.
The phone rings again and he pushes Answer while keeping an eye directly ahead.
TOM
Hi, Gerry. I’m still travelling
GERRY (V.O.)
Still? You must have made a wrong turn. Are you able to pull in to a petrol station?
TOM
Petrol. Shit. If there was one out here I’d be in it. Can't see how I could take a wrong turn; it’s only one damn road. I’m a bit worried Gerry; I’m low on fuel. I should be there.
GERRY (V.O.)
Are you able to turn around?
TOM
Nah I’m way past the point of no return. If I turned around I’d definitely be out of fuel.
GERRY (V.O.)
Well, at least you have the phone. Keep it charged.
(MORE)
GERRY (V.O.) (CONT'D)
I’ll let the mine and the police know you’re out there.
TOM
Thanks - talk soon.
EXT: DESERT ROAD - DAY
The car continues speeding across the barren red landscape.
Under the car a BLACK PLASTIC CYLINDER has come lose and is beginning to flap. It is precariously attached to the car by two thin black wires. Shortly the car hits a bump and the cylinder, which is part of the electrical system, breaks off.
Back in the cabin Tom’s attention is locked on the road.
EXT: DESERT ROAD SIGN - DAY
Tom is roaring along the desert road when he spots in the distance a large ROAD SIGN. Approaching, it reads, ‘Big Q Mine site 10km’. There is broken down machinery nearby.
Visibly relieved, Tom wipes his head and pulls over in front of the sign, turning the engine off. He gets out of the car with his phone and dials a number while adjusting a twiggy, bluetooth ear-piece in his right ear.
TOM
Hi, Gerry
There is static and dropouts in the call.
GERRY (V.O.)
Hi, Tom. How’s it going? Are you there yet?
TOM
No, but I’ve found the sign. I’m only 10 min or so. Boy, that had me going.
GERRY (BREAKING UP)
Tom? Err.. That’s good to hear. Sounds like your mobile range is dropping out. There’s a SAT phone on the site. Give me a call when you get there.
TOM
No problem. Listen I... Gerry?
The phone goes dead with static. Tom hangs up and walks back to the car. Finally things are going right. He looks relieved.
Tom slides into the driver’s seat and prepares to drive. Leaning in he twists the key and nothing happens but an isolated clunk.
Frowning Tom tries again and again but the engine fails to break the silence.
Tom gets out of the car like it offended him. Contemplating his next move he pops the bonnet then walks around to lever it up.
Leaning heavily over the engine, he prods and wriggles some wires looking for a loose connection. He doesn’t appear to know what he is doing.
Having pushed at some connections he gets back in the car and tries the ignition again. Nothing.
Resigned to not getting the car started he gets out. Tom sits on the bonnet and tries his phone again.
TOM (CONT'D)
Gerry?
There is only a loud static on the phone.
Looking at the phone and then to the sign he considers his options.
EXT: DESERT ROAD - LATER THAT DAY
Tom has gathered about him a hat, sunglasses, a large two litre water bottle and his phone.
He inserts the bluetooth ear piece into his ear then checks himself over, finally coming to his phone. Worried and agitated he tries to dial a number again only to hear the static. He holds it up looking for a signal but nothing is coming through.
Placing the phone in his breast pocket he picks up the water bottle and looks up at the sign one more time.
Tom stands there for a beat then moves off. His fingertips gently slide off the car bonnet. He begins to stride down the road past the monolithic sign, ominous in the foreground - ‘Big Q Mine site 10km’.
EXT: DESERT ROAD - DAY
Tom, looking like he has been running a marathon in dust, staggers down the road. His water bottle is three-quarters empty.
His phone rings. It takes him a moment to realize that it’s ringing but once he does, some life comes back into him. He stops and answers. Listening intently, two fingers on his ear- piece.
TOM
Gerry? Damn, Gerry. I’ve been on this road for hours. It’s not right. The sign said only 10 K’s and I’ve not seen anything but car wrecks. You have to send someone out for me.
GERRY
Tom. Tom?
Tom stands in the middle of the bitumen road, sun glaring, the middle of the desert.
TOM
I don’t understand it. I’ve been walking for like 4 hours and the day doesn’t seem to be getting any cooler.
TOM (CONT'D)
Gerry? Gerry?...
The phone has turned to static without any response. Tom is dejected and walks on.
EXT. BITUMEN END
Tom staggers on, sweat dripping off him. His office shoes are clapping the bitumen rhythmically and his face shows he is barely thinking about what is around him.
Shortly his feet begin to make a different sound. The clapping has changed to a crunch of gravel. Tom takes several steps before he realizes there is a change.
Stopping abruptly he looks down to see hard dirt below his feet.
Tom’s head snaps up. Looking up, directly ahead there is nothing but a vast desert. No road before him. Tom turns around to see the bitumen streaking away behind him.
TOM
This cannot be right. I must have made a wrong turn.
Tom takes a moment to collect himself. He looks distrustfully at the vast open desert before he takes a swig of water and heads back toward the car, now out of sight on the bitumen road.
EXT. MONTAGE DESERT - DAY
Wide images of Tom and the desert. Wispy clouds in the sky. Random car wrecks and barrels pocked marked with shot gun pellets. No life, plant or animal, can be seen.
EXT. BITUMEN END 2 - DAY
Tom staggers along the road exhausted and beaten. The sound of his shoes tapping on the bitumen has become disjointed and shuffling.
Again the sound of the bitumen changes to gravel. Tom looks down and finds desert at his feet. Looking slowly up stretching before him is nothing but hard red desert, empty and vast. He spins around and there is no bitumen behind him.
Tom continues to spin, looking for a landmark until we see him small in the vast empty landscape. He is in the middle of the desert. He is truly lost.
The phone rings and he clutches his earpiece like a lifeline.
GERRY (V.O.)
Tom, where are you?
TOM
I’m in the desert. I lost the road, Gerry. I’m lost.
GERRY (V.O.)
Listen carefully. I have people looking for you. Stay where you are.
TOM
I have no point of reference, Gerry; it makes no sense. It should be getting darker and cooler. The road just disappeared.
GERRY
(static)
TOM
Gerry? Gerry?
EXT: DESERT - DAY
Tom staggers on into the desert. The heat is beating down on him from directly above. The horizon is a distorted haze with smears of smoke in every direction. He has lost his hat and the drink bottle is empty. He drops it as he trudges forward.
The empty water bottle rolls backwards away from Tom and stops against discarded car parts. There is an arm attached to an engine by a rusted bolt. The arrangement is unobserved by Tom, but as he walks away there is a small and sudden movement of the arm pivoting on the bolt.
EXT: DESERT FLOOR -DAY
Some distance behind Tom the wind is sweeping across small sharp stones on the hard desert floor. The wind’s brushing sound is slowly accompanied by a broken rumbling.
A pebble jumps on the hard surface as the ground gives a sharp vibration.
Tracking across the desert floor, another and another disturbance builds on the ground until a ripple and then a wave forms. The desert wave, stretching from horizon to horizon, tracks and cracks with increasing speed toward a dazed and unsuspecting Tom.
EXT: DESERT WAVE - DAY
Tom is hit. He crashes backwards onto the ground as his feet are taken out from under him.
TOM
Gerry?
Tom staggers to his feet in time to see the next wave coming. The horizon is rippling and lost in dust. He turns and starts to stagger away but there is no getting away from the wave.
He falls to the ground again but rolls to all fours.
The ground has become a rolling ocean of waist high waves that are increasing in size as he stumbles across the undulating surface.
EXT. DESERT OCEAN - DAY
As Tom struggles across the desert ocean a dust storm is building on the horizon.
The great dust storm is rolling in, stretching from horizon to horizon and hundreds of metres high. The storm hits Tom as he staggers across the rolling surface.
It is like trying to move on the wavy walk in a carnival fun house. More often than not he falls scraping and bruising his already battered body on the hard surface.
As he fights his environment the waves become bigger and the space between them longer, making it easier to hold his feet. The dust storm is merciless, tearing at his clothes.
His phone rings again
GERRY
Tom, how are you doing?
TOM
The desert, Gerry. It’s an ocean. I’m in a dust storm.
GERRY
Ocean? Listen, you probably have heat stroke. Stay where you are.
Again the line goes dead in a buzz of static.
TOM
Damn, I’ve got to get out of here.
Off in the distance a mechanical scream is heard. It is so odd that it gives Tom pause, even in this strange environment.
The air is gritty and the dust storm has dimmed and changed the light to a sinister orange hue. He seems to be in the eye of a cyclone.
The phone rings again.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Hi Tom. Gerry called. He told me you were lost. You really should stay put, you know.
TOM
Carrie.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Listen, I put a deposit on the dress. I have an appointment with the bank. I hope that’s okay.
TOM
Anything, Carrie. Just get me out of here.
CARRIE (V.O.)
Sure, sure. Just stay put. That’s not too hard, is it?
The phone turns to static again
A great metallic scream sounds. This time closer.
Tom looks deep into the storm. A dark shape is violently throwing up dust in the obscured distance.
He doesn’t know what made the sound, but it can not be good. He begins to run in the opposite direction.
Looking back over his shoulder he sees a great snake-like shadow coming closer.
Tom runs and scrambles up and down troughs in the undulating surface. To his left and right he sees dusty disturbances streaking along beside him. Each disturbance throws up dirt that briefly become dust devils, snapping in the wind.
As he runs, the dust trails come closer revealing sculpted, mechanical horses streaking gracefully across the surface. They run like they were born to it.
They are made up of the metallic refuse from the desert. Springs, cogs, bolts and engines violently working in a jarring rusted magic.
As Tom runs, one of the horses spies him and tracks a path to where he struggles. It stops before him and waits, looking from Tom to the approaching doom behind.
Tom hesitates before approaching the horse. With a last look back over his shoulder he decides to mount the back of the mechanical animal.
No sooner has he taken his seat than the horse leaps forward away from the giant snake that has emerged out of the dust storm.
It is a train. A giant mechanical snake, patched together from the parts of derelict trains.
It whips across the mountainous waves the desert has now become. It is by far the most suited to this environment. It moves with a fluid economy that flows with the rolling ocean, sometimes plunging below the surface only to erupt from the other side of a wave.
Behind the serpent the dust storm rages with only a hint of the hard sun behind its ochre curtain. It is a world in motion, violent and unforgiving.
In the sky a great shadow floats past the sun.
EXT. DESERT CHASE
The horse carries Tom at speed away from the serpent but it has finally spotted them.
With a new purpose the serpent concentrates on catching the fast moving horse and his passenger.
Through the roaring storm and the screaming machinery Tom hears his phone ring. His ear-piece in, it answers automatically.
Yes!
TOM (YELLING)
GERRY
Tom, are you alright? We’re looking for you.
TOM
I’m on a horse. We’re being chased by a train. There’s a storm.
GERRY
You’re delusional. You need to get it together. Ignore all this and just stay put.
TOM
I’ve no choice.
GERRY
Just...
Gerry’s call ends in static as Tom fights to maintain his seat.
The serpent is gaining on the horse and Tom is looking panicked.
EXT. DESERT ISLAND - DAY
The serpent is almost upon them. It is crushing and consuming other horses as it pursues Tom. The monster leaves their debris behind before it melts away into the desert.
Galloping over the crest of a wave Tom is elevated enough to see further ahead.
Tom spies a break in the storm. Ribbons of light streak down to luminate a TREE standing in the middle of the ocean.
The bright tree is an ISLAND where the waves cannot go. It is solid ground that stands as a beacon of hope for Tom as he pulls the horse toward it.
GERRY
Tom, are you staying still? You need to stay put.
TOM
No, I see the tree. It’s my only hope.
GERRY
Rubbish. It’s an illusion. We have people out looking. Do as you’re told.
The serpent sees the tree and Tom. With a burst of speed the snake has swept in behind a mountainous wave. It places itself between Tom and the tree, just as Tom and the horse turn toward it.
GERRY (CONT'D)
You don’t need to move, Tom. Do as you’re told.
Tom stops and the horse keeps its feet as he decides what to do.
TOM
NO! Not this time. I’m going for the tree. It’s my decision.
Tom and the horse pitch off the crest of a wave toward the serpent. He streaks down the face of the wave before confronting another.
As he and horse hit the crest of the next wave they launch themselves off the wave and over the snake which is too late to strike the two.
TOM (CONT'D)
We made it!
Elated on escaping the snake they race away.
The snake makes a dramatic sharp turn. The end of its tail whips out and clips the hind quarters of the horse.
The mechanical rump of the horse explodes apart. The momentum sends Tom and the rest of the broken horse forward in a tumble.
Tom recovers to see the horse DISMANTLED and sinking into the ground. Looking up he sees the tree not far away. Snapping his head around, the snake has recovered behind him, ready to strike.
The storm is raging behind the snake with the blanketed sun glowing through. A great shadow is within the sun and is emerging through the storm.
Not stopping to decipher what it means, Tom runs forward toward the tree. He is injured and struggles worse than ever.
Behind him the serpent has reared for Tom and then cowed when it spots the shadow flying in.
Tom looks back and his fear of the serpent has been overwhelmed by the fear of the giant mechanical bird that is swooping down at him. It dominates the background as Tom tries desperately to get away.
Just as he is about to be consumed he falls flat on his face, stretching out for the tree.
The monster flies over the top.
FADE TO BLACK:
EXT. DESERT - DAY
The wind is blowing gently across the desert floor, a clear blue cobalt sky glowing above.
Tom is lying flat out, a gasping, dirty sweating mess, barely conscious, bruised and bleeding.
Before him, just landed, is a small plane with the words, ‘FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE’ printed on the carriage. Its propellers are still spinning.
Two people are running to help, silhouetted against the cloudless desert sky.
In the distance, standing on a ridge of low rocky hills is a native Australian. Standing a silent watch.
FADE TO BLACK:
THE END.
