Eh, Bored so I Started Another Story. (Not Zombie.)

**UnluckyXIII** · 07-21-2009, 06:56 PM

This is in script format. The person talking is labeled above the dialogue.

Basically, it's Ayn Rand's post-Atlas Shrugged World meets the Dystopian future of Bladerunner mixed with the Maltese Falcon or something.

Darkness.

The NARRATOR speaks. His voice has Shakespearean eloquence as he begins the history lesson.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Since the Dawn of Humanity, when his primitive mind first recognized the concept of individuality, Man has dreamed of freedom and liberty.

Images of Plato, Samaria, and other ancient icons of freedom appear.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Great thinkers of their times brought forth the ideas to set the foundations for truly free men.

Thomas Hobbes', John Mill's, and Benjamin Franklin's portraits are seen.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Others continued the philosophy through the ages. And some, created the path to end tyranny; destruction of the monarch and the chance for every man to pursue his own destiny.

The Magna Carta and images from the French and American Revolutions fill the screen.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Blood was shed. Many died in the name of Liberty and hope that their lives should be forsaken so others may live in freedom.

Darkness creeps back.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

But it was not to be. Nations grew, slavery lingered, and Man remained corrupt.

Scenes of the Civil War, murder, and greedy politicians wind into the 21st century.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

He remained jealous of his neighbor. Wanting to take from him what was not earned.

Stalin, Hitler, Chavez and Napoleon appear.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Others tried to destroy the formidable but narrow idea of the individual, pressuring cultures into the ideology of the Greater Good.

Poverty, homeless and the starving contrast the previous images and invoke a sense of guilt.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

A worldwide cry for equality came upon the early twenty-first century. The mantra of suffering so others may benefit became commonplace.

Bags of grain marked "U.S.A." are distributed off of an aid truck to refugees of a war.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The great nations of their time gave without question for they believed the Greater Good must be served.

Fertile farms of the Heartland growing magnificent crops. Wheat blowing in the wind like a golden sea.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The richest among them, America, lead the way. For she had more than she needed and altruism was the essence of her idea.

The United Nations main hall appears during a news broadcast. The headline reads, "Global Economic Summit."

NARRATOR (V.O.)

America's good deeds did not go unnoticed. While feeding the world, she consumed many resources.

A THIRD WORLD DICTATOR in a military uniform speaks at the U.N. podium while a translator for the news broadcast duly repeats his words in English.

TRANSLATOR (V.O.)

...and my people need oil to prosper. The Americans waste it to watch movies and holiday on beaches while we cannot power our hospitals...

Another news broadcast shows OPEC leaders at a conference with the headline, "Breaking News: OPEC Embargo of Exports to U.S."

NARRATOR (V.O.)

While cutting off the lifeblood of American Industry, the Despots and Dictators who ruled infertile lands with an iron fist, used their newly found wealth not to feed their starving...

Tanks roll across a battlefield. Child Militia fire machine guns.

NARRATOR (V.O.)
...but to war against other people of lands as empty as their own. All in the name of the Greater Good, they claimed.

Darkness returns.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

And the world demanded more from the Americans. In a single breath, leaders would condemn them for their industrial prowess and then demanded they give more.

A gas station sign shows unleaded is $9.45 a gallon. Cars line up for fuel as National Guardsmen police the mob.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The Great Democracy began to crumble under the will of thugs continents away. Its citizens forced to choose between heating their homes or feeding their families.

The PRESIDENT of the United States, a man with New England charm, speaks at a news conference labeled: "Executive Order on Hyperinflation."

PRESIDENT

We must endure these hard times. Our nation has suffered much worse and we will prevail again.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The American leaders provided solutions.

PRESIDENT

On my order, all prices of goods are to be fixed at their current levels. Minimum wage is to be doubled and all pay above one hundred thousand dollars is hereby suspended.

A strip mall in Anytown, USA lays vacant. There is an "Out of Gas" sign on a closed service station.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The solutions failed.

Riots grip the streets.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

In order to maintain its ideas of the Greater Good, freedom was destroyed. Productive citizens punished for their skill.

The President appears in another conference. The headline reads, "Solution for Food Shortage."

PRESIDENT

All farmers are to increase output immediately. The prices of their goods will remain the same, however there will be a tax placed on the items to enforce this order.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

And so it was that government sanctioned slavery returned to the world.

PRESIDENT

Failure to increase production will lead to seizure of the farms and imprisonment for their owners.

Ears of corn as withered and dry as the stalks they are on, bleach in the hot sun.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

With no fuel for their tractors, and the value of the dollar failing, the crops rotted in the dirt. The leaders grew more desperate.

A NEW PRESIDENT, Southern and folksy, speaks while the broadcast reads, "Agricultural Recovery Act."

NEW PRESIDENT

All unemployed citizens are to report to their city halls for summary placement in state-owned farms. Dispensation during the crisis will consist of room and board.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

People were torn from their families.

A tent city lay on the edge of a farm, guarded by soldiers and barbed wire. The populous are filthy and angry.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

It took an individual to stand up against the oppression. One man made his voice heard.

A stylized painting of a handsome man, garbed in gray coveralls, is leading laborers in the burning of a field.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Knowing each man's destiny is his own, Paul R. Henry began the Revolution of Liberty. His leadership was the downfall of America.

The title of this archived newscast reads, "Terrorist Leader Henry Demands Oil for Food."

PAUL R. HENRY, confident and inspiring speaks to a large group of Revolutionaries who fly banners of black and gold and carry hunting rifles, shotguns and torches. The crowd has the same passion and attention of any seen at a war rally.

PAUL R. HENRY
...And where are the nations we have fed for so long when it is our time of need? Nowhere to be seen! Yet they want us to keep *giving* them food for nothing in return? I will fill their bellies with grain when my tractor is full of oil! Until then, the fields will burn and the soil will be salted!

The crowd cheers this edict.

PAUL R. HENRY
I will work for no need but my own! If you join me, I ask no oath of you! I ask you to go no farther than you are willing to go for your freedom! But if you want to be free, if you want control of your life, you must fight this Tyranny called The United States!

The audience erupts into frenzy. Henry pumps a fist into the air and the crowd follows.

PAUL R. HENRY

My Need Before Theirs!

The crowd repeats the slogan.

PAUL R. HENRY

My Life First! My Life First!

Swept up in his tirade, the mob chants the Dogma as Henry proudly watches.

Fighting in the streets of America. Bodies in the rubble, vehicles burn and insurgents dodge the guns of the Army.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

As each day passed, many fell to the American guns. But for each of the Revolution that died gloriously in battle, two new members replaced them. All over the continent, the slaves of Uncle Sam took to arms for their freedom.

A map of Midwest America shows the battles. From Detroit, to Cleveland, Fort Worth, into the Corn Belt and beyond.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

From the blood of individuals like you, those who took from producers were crushed and victory gave us our nation of free people!

The map turns black and gold from much of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, through to Iowa and North into Wisconsin while a patriotic instrumental begins to play.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

This June Thirteenth, we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Huron Confederation!

A parchment, not unlike the US Constitution, preserved under glass symbolizes the crowning achievement of the Huron Nation.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

For it was on this day the Codex Libertas was signed by Paul R. Henry and the Free Men of the Revolution, guaranteeing your own life without regulation.

INT. INDEPENDENCE RESTAURANT -Day

This propaganda drifts into the background as JOSH MASON sits in a booth of the cafe, watching it on a television as worn and ragged as his surroundings. The interior design predates the Revolution.

Mason is a man of unremarkable build or look, but carries an aura of intimidation under his suit with his gun. He is a Codex Praetorian; a private contractor who enforces the few laws of Huron for a fee. Police, prosecution, and judge.