..:S...P...I...D...E...R...B...I...T...E...S:..

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

PIGIRON


a screenplay


© 2007 David James Keaton





FADE IN:

SUPER:

"And the notches on his pistol numbered one and nineteen more..."
- Johnny Cash - "Big Iron"

AGUA FRÍA, NEW MEXICO, 12:03 p.m.

EXT. DESERT - DAY
Over a hill rides a man on a horse. The horse has a ray of sunlight shining through a hole in its head. The hole is between the horse’s eye and ear and, impossibly, it runs completely through its skull. Sunlight flickers on and off through this hole as the horse shakes its head and snorts. The man on the horse is impossible to see, just a dark silhouette from the glare of the sunset behind him. He slowly rides towards a group of four cowboys gathered around a fence. Their hats are down over their eyes and faces. This, combined with the mud covering their similar attire, makes them all completely indistinguishable from each other. The FIRST COWBOY laughs and steps forward to take the horse by the nose.

FIRST COWBOY
Damn. You’re the first man in history
to ride a dead horse.

The shadow on the horse says nothing. A SECOND COWBOY slides off a fence post and walks up. He puts a hand under the horse’s nostrils. The horse is pale white, diseased red and yellow around its vacant eyes, ribs visible. Its legs are all bone. Flies buzz around its haunches, and its tail doesn’t even chase them away. A THIRD COWBOY gets up off the ground, pulls his hat
further down over his eyes and walks over, too.

SECOND COWBOY
It ain’t dead. It’s still breathin’.

The third cowboy starts to put a finger in the hole in the horse’s head, then stops. He grips it under an ear instead.

THIRD COWBOY
It’s dead. There ain’t no heartbeat.

SECOND COWBOY
There ain’t no heart in its head, stupid.

THIRD COWBOY
I know where its heart is. This is where you’re supposed to grab a horse to feel its heart.

SECOND COWBOY
Says who?

THIRD COWBOY
Someone. I don’t remember.

SECOND COWBOY
You’re telling me that you came across another
walkin’, talkin’ horse with a hole in its head
and someone told you that it was still alive,
proving this fact by pickin’ its ear?

THIRD COWBOY
No, this is the first time I’ve ever seen one, but...

SECOND COWBOY
But nothin’. It ain’t dead. The bullet
just drilled out some memories, that’s all.
If it could talk, maybe it wouldn’t be able to tell
you about its first pair of shoes, that’s all.

THIRD COWBOY
Or the last place it dropped a shit.

SECOND COWBOY
Can you?

THIRD COWBOY
Can I what?

SECOND COWBOY
Remember the last place you shit.

THIRD COWBOY
Yeah. Thursday. In yer last pair of shoes.

A FOURTH COWBOY leaning on the fence laughs loud at this, then trails off nervously and look to the silhouette high on the horse. This rider is still just an eclipse with the glare of the setting sun a harsh halo around his body. The third cowboy releases the horse’s ear and walks around the animal to ask the rider a question.

FOURTH COWBOY
Why did you buy a dead horse?

The rider says nothing and reaches down to stroke the horse’s head. All the cowboys step back and groan in disgust when the rider’s hand runs affectionately over the hole in its skull.

SECOND COWBOY
So, you finally bought this animal?
I gotta say, interesting way to drive down the price.

THIRD COWBOY
Why the hell would you want a dead horse?
And even if it ain’t dead, which it is, it
ain’t strong, it ain’t fast, it ain’t...

SECOND COWBOY
I reckon the man on this horse is fast enough
for both of them.

THIRD COWBOY
Hold on. I thought you said he swore
he’d never sell it to you.

SECOND COWBOY
(after a moment)
I’m guessin’ by the silence around here
that no one sold nothin’.

THIRD COWBOY
I’m guessin’ you may be right.

The rider turns the horse away from the third cowboy and backs it up a couple steps. The third cowboy laughs and suddenly drops to start clawing at the dirt, looking for something.

THIRD COWBOY
Listen, boys. I’ll bet you a bottle I can
throw a rock clean through that horse’s head...

The fourth cowboy on the fence jumps down and stands up straight, suddenly interested in the scene. The rider backs his horse up another step and his hand stops stroking its head and starts drifting toward the gun on his hip. The third cowboy doesn’t’t see this and keeps on talking.

THIRD COWBOY
(louder and laughing)
Why the fuck you buying dead horses, boss?!
Wait! I know why! Because it’s the only
thing you ever shot that didn’t die!

This comment causes the all the men to take a collective step backwards. The third cowboy looks around nervously, realizing that he may have said too much and angered the rider. The shadow on the horse is still blocking the sun, now completely motionless except for a hand hovering over his gun, his first two fingers casually walking in the air above the trigger. The third cowboy holds up both palms to apologize.

THIRD COWBOY
Whoa, I didn’t mean nothing calling your
new horse dead ‘n’ all.

THE RIDER finally speaks. His voice sounds surprisingly young, high, and very amused.

THE RIDER
No, you’re right. It is dead.
It just don’t know it yet.

CUT TO:

SUPER:

DONA AÑA, NEW MEXICO, 12:03 p.m.

The Ranger’s rusted revolver explodes in his fist, showering him with blood from his hand and shrapnel from the barrel.

RANGER
Jesus Christ!

He stumbles back and sits in the dirt, watching the raccoon blink at him in confusion then turn and run off. A man approaches from behind the Ranger and stands staring at the Ranger’s back for a moment. Then he steps from the shadows and speaks. He’s a young man in his 20s named
TOM McMASTER.

TOM
Got a letter for you, Ranger.
(scoffs)
You know, I pulled my gun and put it
back six times. You never flinched.

The Ranger doesn’t turn around. He just holds a hand back over his shoulder and Tom slaps the letter into his palm.

RANGER
You did no such thing.

TOM
You swearing us in tomorrow?

RANGER
Everybody but you, Tom.

INT. AGUA FRÍA - HOUSE - DUSK
A MEXICAN WOMAN is breast-feeding her baby in a house full of howling cats. Outside her open door, in the dying light of the day, the man on the white horse with the hole in its head can be seen riding up to the house and dismounting. The man walks through the door, his face and features visible for the first time. His name is RED, a young man with blond hair and a surprisingly innocent-looking face. He has flecks of blood on one cheek and an amused look in his eyes. He walks toward the woman with the baby. He stops in front of them, his boot coming down heavy on top of the tail of a large tomcat. It screeches and howls, and Red doesn’t even blink. The cat twists around his boot, biting and clawing at the leather, its back legs rapidly kicking at Red’s boot in vain. Red takes no notice of this at all.

RED
(smiling)
Put that baby away, it’s my turn.

The woman stares at Red’s foot on the cat’s tail in horror, then quickly moves to lay the baby in its crib. The cat’s howls are almost deafening. It bites hard into his boot, eyes crazed. Red crosses his arms, still oblivious to the animal.

RED
That baby don’t need that much. You have
to conserve like the rest of the town.

The woman hands him a bottle of whiskey, and he laughs and drains half the alcohol instantly. The cat strains to get to Red’s bare leg above his boot and stretches up to sink its teeth into his calf. He blinks slow and seems to notice the cat for the first time, but he still doesn’t take his foot off its tail. He smiles wider and absently throws the half-empty bottle against the wall. It lands in the crib and shatters. The baby starts screaming along with the cat. The woman runs to the crib. Red turns to leave, suddenly disgusted.

RED
Too goddamn noisy in here.

MEXICAN WOMAN
(thick accent)
What did you do?!

RED
Relax, that baby ain’t had nothing but
rocks for toys since it’s been born.
You’d think it would need a drink.

MEXICAN WOMAN
Get out!

Red turns and leaves, laughing. The woman runs to the baby and comforts it. After a moment, she pulls a small flask of whiskey from her dress and takes a drink. Then, still crying, she leans down to put the flask to the screaming baby’s mouth.

FADE OUT

EXT. BISBÉE - FLASHBACK - HILL
A young Ranger and his father, SAM FORD, are sitting on a hill, taking aim into the distance. The Ranger’s dad is a large man, his sunburned face making it impossible to determine his age. He is putting a large revolver in his son’s hand, but the young Ranger’s hand is too small to reach the trigger. A rabbit is grazing nearby, and Sam is getting angry as the Ranger keeps dropping the gun before he can fire it. In disgust, Sam takes the gun, and in one smooth motion, turns and fires. The rabbit explodes in a flash of blood and fur. The Ranger blinks in shock at his father’s speed and casual cruelty.

INT. GUN STORE - LATER THAT DAY
Sam and his son are standing over a long line of 12 guns on top of the display case in Sam’s gun store. Sam is giving his son a fast history of each weapon and moving him down the line to see if his small hand can hold one successfully.

SAM
See these 12 guns? These are my prize 12.
And they make my calendar, boy. I take one
out each month and get to know it again.
It helps me remember what month it is.

He picks up what looks like the shell of an unfinished revolver.

SAM
This is always my first gun of the year.
I take it out every January. It’s called the
"Skeleton Revolver," made in 1880. All the
springs and gears are visible, revealing that
there ain’t much to guns after all. It was
a prototype, created as an instructional tool
to sell to the Mexican army. D.B. Wesson
made it so you could finally see all the organs.
Legend has it that this skeleton of a gun
was fired into the skeleton of a dog,
so that they could study the inside of
the gun and the target at the same time.

The Ranger’s hand is too small for it. They move down. Sam holds up a long, strange pistol with an large row of teeth surrounding the cylinder in its center.

SAM
February. This is the first .44. It
was first made in 1870 and called the
"Model 3 American." This weapon was
a prototype where the firing pin rotated
instead of the cylinder. No more guessing
what chamber had a bullet in it, if you
were one of those boys that liked to spin
it after loading. This particular gun
killed 27 people...all during games of
Russian Roulette.

Sam laughs at his own joke and doesn’t even let the young Ranger hold it. The move down to a large, silver revolver.

SAM
March. This is the ".45 Auto Loader,"
originally built for government testing.
You can take it apart into pieces that
can then be taken apart into smaller pieces
and so on and so on and so on. It’s about
that time to get this one out, I think.

In a flurry of hand movements and grunts, he quickly dismantles and reassembles the weapon.

SAM
I like playing with this gun every March
because that’s when your grandpa would
usually finish putting together the jigsaw
puzzle he’d started during the winter. That
always made sense to me. Oh yeah, one more
thing. They say you can get it down to small
enough pieces that you could swallow it...
if you had to. Of course, that feat don’t
mean much. Hell, a man could eat an entire
gun factory if he just kept shittin’.

RANGER
It ain’t March, is it? It’s too cold.

CUT TO:

EXT. DONA AÑA - PRESENT DAY - BACK YARD
Tom is kicking around the pieces of the exploded gun. The Ranger is sitting on the ground. The letter Tom delivered rests on the Ranger’s knee. The name on the envelope says "Wendler" in large childish script.

TOM
Ain’t it a little early to be sitting on
ground?

RANGER
Not really. March is the first official
month for sitting back on the ground.
Last icicle fell three weeks ago.

TOM
Well, aren’t you gonna read it?

Tom reaches down to pick up the cylinder from the exploded gun. Then he picks up the hammer.

TOM
You could still salvage this thing. Not
that anyone should want to.

RANGER
Why don’t you just tell me what it says.

TOM
I don’t read your mail. I just bring letters
around when it’s on my way is all and...
(awkward pause)
Well, it was open already. It’s from a
sheriff's wife. She says that they won’t have
any more water in Agua Fría in about two weeks.
Not even one drop.

RANGER
Well, that’s two years longer than I thought
that town would last.

TOM
She says that the wells are drying up. She
says in two weeks anyone who ain’t left town
will be dead because she says that it takes a
week in every direction to get anywhere else.
She says they have a bell in the town that’s
going to chime when they’re past the point of
no return. She says when the bell tolls,
it’s too late to even try to leave. She says
a lot of people are gone or going, but some
people are staying, too. Including her.

RANGER
What? How long ago was the letter sent?

TOM
A week ago. That bell she’s talking about
probably started ringing today.

RANGER
Why the hell would anyone stay where there
ain’t any water?

TOM
Oh yeah. One more thing. She says there
ain’t any sheriff there anymore either.

Hearing this, the Ranger turns around scowling. He stares at Tom a moment, then starts to pick up the remaining pieces of the exploded revolver, too.

TOM
(laughing at him)
Yeah, don’t forget your gun!

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - OUTSIDE A BURNING CHURCH - DAY
A group of people are standing next to a blazing church. A tall, gaunt, frazzled-looking PREACHER appears from out of the smoke to stand in front of a congregation staring into the flames. The Preacher is holding a large Bible high above his head. Johnny Cash’s song "The Singer," sung by Nick Cave, is playing.

SONG
"With my guitar in my hand,
suddenly I realize nobody knows me..."

He launches into a sermon, his eyes wide, the towering cross on the church steeple in flames over his shoulder.

PREACHER
Brothers and sisters, it’s getting to
where everything in this town is dry enough
to catch fire without warning. Including me.
Including you. Now, there’s going to be
the urge to drink something, anything, with
the water gone. I’m here to tell you that
the water in your outhouse is better for
you than the bottle. I know there’s still
plenty of whiskey around, and I know it seems
like that’s the answer. But it’s not. Drink
the water from your toilet instead. Amen.

The Preacher tries not to laugh but can’t contain himself.

PREACHER
I’ll tell ya, if someone would have told
me that I’d have said those words in a
sermon when I was first getting sworn in...

The crowd looks around at each other. A couple of them smile nervously. This angers the Preacher.

PREACHER
I think y’all are under the mistaken
impression that I’m using metaphors or
allusions here. I’m not saying that
whiskey is bad by jokingly comparing
it to drinking your own piss, knowing
that no one would ever really do that.
That’s not what I’m saying. Listen close
this time... drinking the whiskey will kill
you faster than drinking from the
bucket under your own ass.
Your body will die faster from whiskey than it
would from ocean water. So I’m telling you, find
the water that’s left, no matter what the
color. Start in the horse troughs, then
move to the pig’s, then check where it’s
dumped under the outhouse. Then check
the buckets used to clean those buckets.
Drink from these buckets and live.
Also, I saw someone eating an apple today.
Even though it seems like a good source
of fluids, that just don’t seem right. Don’t do it.
Amen.

The congregation mutters a half-ass "Amen" but looks confused and horrified. Satisfied, the Preacher claps the Bible hard.

PREACHER
Now! Who knows any songs...
He cocks a thumb behind him to the burning church.

PREACHER
...because the goddamn hymnals were in there.

An OLD WOMAN in the back of the crowd raises her hand.

OLD WOMAN
Don’t you know any?

PREACHER
Not any more!

EXT. DONA AÑA - CENTER OF TOWN - DAY
The Ranger is unrolling his stack of wanted posters. He is standing in front of a line of young men who have one hand in the air and one over their heart. All except for one.
Tom McMaster, at the front of the line, is picking his ear with his raised hand. The Ranger glares at Tom for a moment, then slaps the roll of posters hard enough against Tom’s chest to make him cough.

RANGER
Okay, you’re all sworn in. We’re out of
badges, so go ahead make one if you want.
Anything will do, really.

The men steal glances at each other, not sure if they believe him.

RANGER
(impatiently waving them over)
Well, don’t just stand there.
Come grab a poster. Then I need you to...

He trails off, staring down at one of the wanted posters in the pile. The men look around anxiously, waiting for him to speak. He waves them forward again and flings the roll of posters at their feet. A pile of crude drawings of armed men scowling under various dollar amounts spreads wide across the dirt. The men quickly swarm around to grab them up. The Ranger walks away from the mob holding one poster from the top of the stack like a card he didn’t deal out. Tom walks over to him to see which poster he kept.

TOM
Kept the best one for yerself, eh?
Let me see who you got there...

The Ranger catches Tom’s reaching hand at the wrist, and with his other hand quickly folds the poster into a square to stuff away inside his coat.

RANGER
Don’t ever grab for me like that, boy.

TOM
Relax, Ranger. I just wanted to see how much
that reward was. Is it more than 500?
I haven’t seen any posters more than 500.
How come you get to keep the best one...

The Ranger releases Tom and turns away. Tom stands rubbing his wrist, watching him go. Then he runs back to the men fighting over the posters. The Ranger picks a jangling bag up off the ground and claps his dusty hands together to get the men’s attention.

RANGER
Let’s go! Back in line! Grab your target
and get back in line!

The men line up again in the street, and The Ranger moves through the rows of newly-sworn-in rangers, handing out badges from his bag. The men are quickly pinning them to their coats. Tom McMaster looks at his badge in contempt and puts it in his pocket instead.

TOM
I thought we weren’t getting these yet.
I thought we were supposed to make one out
of a busted pocket watch or a bird’s nest
or some shit? When did the real one’s come in?

RANGER
I had ‘em hid. I figured you guys weren’t
ready. And you still ain’t. But now I have
to leave, so we’re cuttin’ lessons short.

TOM
Where to?

RANGER
(looking past Tom)
Agua Fría.

TOM
(laughing)
Sounds familiar. Hmmm. Heard that town’s
dry as bone. Hell, I hear even the mail
don’t run no more! Must be a lot of money
waiting for you out there, huh, boss?

RANGER
There ain’t nothing out there for you.
A loud VOICE calls out from the crowd.

VOICE
Bullshit!

RANGER
Who said that?

TOM
The man in back.

RANGER
Did you say "the man in black"?

TOM
No. The man in back.

The Ranger walks around the men until he comes to a small
MAN IN BACK, the source of the heckling.

RANGER
You had something to say.

MAN IN BACK
Well, I heard they found gold after the
first well ran dry. And that’s why there’s
still people there. I heard that story, too.

TOM
No, I don’t think it’s gold our ol’ Bob is
looking for, is it! Is it, boss?

The Ranger ignores Tom and continues around and down the line of men, searching their eyes with each step.

RANGER
I’m going out there to swear in a new sheriff.

TOM
You’re kinda big on this "swearing" thing, ain’t ya?

He angrily walks back to Tom and reaches into Tom’s pocket to pull out his new badge. He opens the pin and jams it into his coat over his heart. Tom flinches in pain.

RANGER
Yes. I am.

CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - CAMPFIRE - DAY
Red’s gang is standing around Red and a blazing campfire. Their hats are now in their hands and their faces are visible. One cowboy, a skeletal, nervous man named NED PARKER, aka EGG, is hissing in pain as a hot branding iron comes away from his neck. Smoke clears from around Egg’s head and the number "13" is revealed branded into his skin just below his ear. Red stands in front of him grinning and playfully flipping the branding iron around in his hand. The song "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash plays.

EGG
And why did I just endure that again, Red?

Red ignores him and turns back to fire. He holds the iron in the flames and studies his men to pick his next victim. He points to AL MUTTERS, aka MUD.

RED
Mud, you’re next. Wipe the dirt off your
neck. If you can.

Mud walks over, head down, leaning in to offer his neck like a submissive dog to its master.

SONG
"And it burns burns burns, the ring of fire..."

MUD
Why the hell do we need to...AH! FUCK!

Red sinks the brand into his neck, holding it on a different angle this time. When he pulls it back and the smoke clears, the number "3" is visible.

RED
Next.

JACK HICKS, aka JACKASS, steps forward and receives the brand at yet another angle. The number "1" is revealed burned into his throat.

RED
Next.

LITTLE JOE, smallest member of the gang, a thin boy about 15 years old, is the last one to step forward. Red ruffles his hair affectionately before he sinks the brand into his neck. The boy closes one eye but doesn’t flinch like the rest of the cowboys. When the smoke clears, he’s been branded with the number "13" just like Egg. Egg angrily steps forward.

EGG
Hey, wait, we’re out of numbers.
We got "1," "3," "13"...and "13."
How the hell’s that gonna work?

MUD
(rubbing his neck)
I know it’s your birthday n’ all, boss,
but I think we deserve to know why we’re
letting you brand us like animals.

Red turns to look at Mud, glaring, jaw muscles tense. Then he relaxes and throws the smoking branding iron into the dirt.

RED
If you men are going to stay here and look
for that gold with me, you’re gonna start
dyin’. That’s just a fact. There’s no
getting around that. This town has dried up,
and from what they’re sayin’, once that bell rings,
we’re all gonna have three days to live.
Now, I’m gambling that I can find that
gold and ride out of here before I die.
You’ve all decided to take this gamble with
me. The problem is, and I realized this
today after looking at all your fuckin’ mugs
too fuckin’ long, is that after about two
days, your faces are gonna be nothin’ but
skin stretched over skulls, a buncha dried
apples on windowsills. And I ain’t gonna be
able to tell y’all apart! And it’s hard enough
as it is. Y’all look like identical squawkin’, talkin’
stacks of shit when you’re healthy.
So, to make things easier, in case there’s
an emergency where I really need to know your
fuckin’ names, I thought I’d give you boys
some numbers instead!

Red claps Egg hard on the back. The men exchange glances.

RED
You should be on board with this, Egg.
Don’t I see you putting your goddamn
initials on every tree in this county?
We’re talkin’ about the same concept here.

Egg’s eyes flash in anger, then he looks at the ground.

RED
Don’t look at me like that, Egg. You should
have heard my first three ideas about how to
keep track of all of you. Ever see a dog
with its ears bobbed?

Red pulls a knife from his belt, then reaches over and flicks Egg in the ear. Egg jumps back rubbing his neck and his ear.

EGG
But you still got two number "13s."
This shit don’t make no sense.

RED
How long do you think I’ll have two?

EGG
(nervously nodding at Little Joe)
As long as he lasts. I ain’t goin’ nowhere.
And how can his name be "Little Joe"
when there ain't no fuckin' "Big Joe" anywhere?

Red studies him a moment. Then he walks slowly towards Egg, and, in a quick burst of motion, tackles Egg and pins him to the ground. He twists Egg’s head sideways to expose the red, angry brand on his neck, then waves the boy over.

RED
Little Joe! Come here.

Little Joe runs to him, and Red hands him the knife, still crouching on a terrified Egg’s chest. Red squints and studies the number on Egg’s neck, cocking his head, deep in thought.

RED
(to Little Joe)
I’m thinking...if you take the "3"...cut
another "3" backward over top of it...
you should get something like an "8."
See how deep you can cut without
killing...

Egg screams as the tip of the blade sinks into his throat.

EXT. CENTER OF TOWN - DAY
A line of people are walking their horses and belongings out of town. The horses are all overloaded with bags and clothes, while weary families scrape alongside looking lost hopeless. A skinny, black dog slinks behind the line of people, circling their heels, sniffing for food. Someone kicks at it in anger, and the dog backs off for a moment then creeps back to the line. It starts snorting around the dust kicked up by a short, TOOTHLESS man. Little Joe comes around a storefront corner and yells at the long line of marching townspeople.
The Mexican woman Red visited earlier is shuffling along at the end of the line carrying a dead, gray baby upside down.

LITTLE JOE
Why bother leaving now?! The bell ain’t rang
yet! I don’t see no water where you’re headed!

TOOTHLESS
(patting the nearest horse)
The water’s walking right along me side, boy.
If this horse makes it halfway, then I can
make it the other half.

LITTLE JOE
(scratching his head)
Hold on. You talking about
drinking a horse?

The toothless man ignores him and keeps walking. Understanding seems to dawn on Little Joe, and he pulls his gun and fires. The horse staggers and falls over.

LITTLE JOE
You can’t drink a horse, you crazy bastard!
That’s cruel!

The toothless man blinks in shock at the dead horse, then notices the dog. He pets it and it starts to walk next to him again. They walk past Little Joe, the toothless man avoiding any eye contact. Little Joe sighs and runs forward to grab the scruff of the black dog’s neck and pull it away from him.

LITTLE JOE
You’re staying here, boy. Crazy bastards
will try to drink you, too. Never trust
a man that’s that thirsty...

CUT TO:

INT. DONA AÑA - DOCTOR’S OFFICE - DAY
The Ranger is hunched forward on a stool while a doctor stares at him with his arms crossed. The song "My Shit’s Fucked Up" by Warren Zevon plays.

DOCTOR
I give you about three weeks.

SONG
"He said, ‘your shit’s fucked up’..."

The Ranger stands up and walks over to stare out a nearby window for three long minutes. Then he abruptly slaps his hat on his knee and heads for the door through a swirl of dust.

SONG
"...’you know that shit that used to work?
Well it don’t work now.’"

RANGER
That’s more time than I need.

EXT. BARN - DAY
The Ranger walks to his barn and drags the doors open. The doors are rotten and sagging, and they dig long trenches in the dirt as he struggles. He steps inside and stands staring at his horse. It’s a young, black Mustang pacing restlessly and neighing, anxious to be loose. It stops, snorts and sprays him with mucus, then lets loose a long stream of urine in the Ranger’s direction. He crosses his arms and waits for it to finish. When it’s done, he grabs a saddle and starts walking towards it. When he’s behind it, its tail lifts, and a long log of feces stretches out and wraps around the horse’s back leg. The Ranger sighs and drops the saddle in disgust.

RANGER
(muttering)
Explain to me again why there’s so many
songs about you goddamn things.

He picks the saddle back up and throws it over the horse’s back. After a couple slips and muttered curses, he’s saddled it and he’s up on its back. He spits at a spot of dirt on its neck and roughly rubs a burr from its tangled mane. He squints up at the sun, down at a pocket watch, then rides off.

INT. AGUA FRÍA - HOUSE - DAY
The distant, ominous sound of church bell echoes through the house. McKENNA WENDLER, a young, attractive woman, is standing in front of a large, open chest at the foot of her bed. It’s empty except for a framed picture upside down on the bottom. She pulls it out and stares at it thoughtfully. Her 9-year-old boy, ROBBY runs in with a handful of wooden toys and stands next to her. He’s a small, healthy, brownish red-haired child in an oversized shirt, hyper but smiling. After shuffling his feet impatiently a moment, he nudges his mother with a shoulder.

ROBBY
Ain’t we packin’, ma? This is all my
things. Where’s your things?

McKenna doesn’t speak for a moment, then turns to look down.

McKENNA
Go ahead and keep playing with those toys.
We’re not leaving.

She closes the empty chest, and Robby drops everything except for a splintering toy wooden gun. He sees the picture she’s holding and reaches for it. A dead black rose hanging from the corner of the picture falls to the floor between them.

ROBBY
That dad?

McKENNA
(hesitating)
Yes. That’s him.

ROBBY
He’d have made us leave quicker.

McKENNA
You’re probably right.

The boy pulls the picture in her hand closer so that he can see it. It’s a blurry, black-and-white photo of a stern-looking man wearing a sheriff’s badge. Scrawled on the photo is the word "GRAY" in childlike script.

ROBBY
How come dad was named after a color?

McKENNA
Don’t you remember? You named him.

ROBBY
Huh?

McKENNA
You wrote "Gray" instead of "Gary" on that
photo when you were about 5. And he liked
it so much, the name stuck. He said it made
more sense than we knew. You know that story.

ROBBY
How’d he die again?

McKENNA
(suddenly angry)
You know how he died. You were there.
Why do you want to
keep hearing about it?
Why do you keep acting like it didn’t just...

She calms herself and sets the picture down on a table. Suddenly there’s a loud knock on their door. Before she or Robby can respond, Red walks into their house like he owns it.

RED
Why the hell haven’t you left?
Can’t you hear the goddamn bell?

McKENNA
Get out.

Robby points his toy gun at Red’s face, glaring with one eye as he aims it. Red smiles at him.

RED
Holy shit! That boy’s the first creature
I’ve seen in this town in weeks healthy
enough to look angry!
(looking around the room)
Why is that, I wonder?

McKENNA
I said to get out.

RED
I said to get out.

He flips open the chest and sees that it’s empty. He shakes his head in disbelief.

McKENNA
Out.

Red smiles wider, then turns to leave. He stops at the door as he notices Gray’s picture on a table. He picks it up, and his features narrow in anger. He side-arms the picture against the wall and the glass in the frame shatters.

RED
You still don’t know who what the fuck he
was up to, do ya?

Robby moves to pick up the picture from under the shards of glass. He keeps his toy gun carefully aimed at Red the whole time, slowly moving his thumb like he’s cocking it. They stare at each other, the church bell still ringing in the distance. Then the bells stop. Red turns to McKenna.

RED
Time’s up. Pack your shit and leave,
or you’ll be dead in three days. Or maybe
you’re the first person in history that
don’t need water? I know you don’t need
anything else.

Red cranes his head toward the back door.

RED
Is it those horses out there? I know you’re
hiding horses out back. You afraid to leave
them horses to dry up? Is that it?

He turns to stare at Robby, who still has Red in his sights. Still smiling at Robby, Red slowly reaches out towards McKenna and flicks a droplet of sweat off the end of her nose.

RED
Did you know your mama here is the only
person around town healthy enough to sweat?
Everyone else is sweating sand and smoke
out there right now. But not you two.
You’re mad...she’s sweating. It’s just like
any other day around here, ain’t it?

Robby’s toy gun wavers a second, the lowers slightly.

ROBBY
Why are you named after a color?

RED
(turning back to McKenna)
Ask your ma.
(turning back to Robby)
Son, don’t you know a toy gun can kill?

In a flash, Red is suddenly pointing his finger at the boy. He cocks his thumb like a hammer. Robby and McKenna flinch, thinking for a moment that he actually drew his revolver.

RED
And a finger is just as dangerous, boy.
(pause)
It’s not the gun that kills. It’s my hand.

His smile stretching even wider, Red quickly snatches the wooden gun from out of Robby’s hands and turns and walks out while he tucks the toy into his belt. Robby reaches down and picks up the dead rose from off the picture. He plucks the biggest thorns from its stem and puts them in his pocket.

EXT. EDGE OF TOWN - DAY
Jackass and Mud are watching people ride past them. Families of blacks, Indians, and Mexicans make up most of the caravan.

JACKASS
You know why they’re leaving and
we’re staying?

MUD
Why?

JACKASS
I’ll tell you why. Because the only
documented cases of suicide ever
recorded are of white people.

Red approaches from the distance, walking toward them, smiling like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

MUD
That true?

RED
Hell, yeah. Check any newspaper. Or the Bible.

Red laughs, then stops and quickly draws on Mud. Mud flinches, then sees that Red is holding a wooden toy gun. Red tosses it to Mud and just aims his finger instead. One eye shut, Red laughs even harder.

EXT. EMPTY FIELD - DAY
Robby is kicking his way through a dead cornfield, looking for something. He kicks at a half-buried rock and stumbles when it doesn’t move. Crouching down, he wrestles loose the large stone, then pulls a smaller stone out of the ground underneath it. This second stone is oddly pointed and shaped just like a small revolver. He holds it in his tiny hand at arm’s length, pointing it at the sun, closing one eye to aim.

SUPER:

BISBÉE, NEW MEXICO, 12:03 p.m.

EXT. EDGE OF TOWN - DAY
The Ranger arrives in Bisbée, a small, dying town. It’s midday, but dark and overcast, rain threatening but never coming. He passes a rundown gun store that looks to have been closed a long time ago. He dismounts in front of the store, trying to keep his nervous horse from moving. They struggle a while, then he gives up and watches it trot away from him snorting. The Ranger walks around the gun store and comes to a small shack attached to the back with a light flickering in the window. He looks inside, sees no one, then opens the front door. The Ranger’s father, Sam Ford, a grizzled old man looking to be at least 180, sits on a bucket cleaning a pistol. He sighs, but doesn’t look up at his son.

RANGER
Hey, dad. How’s business?

SAM
Smartass.

RANGER
Can’t imagine why you’re closed.
The guns you gave me always shot
straight as rain.

Sam looks up at this, a smile creeping onto his face.

SAM
I didn’t hear you come up. You walk
across the desert barefoot?

The Ranger laughs and moves some crates and junk to sit down.

RANGER
No, still riding that damn horse. You’re lucky
I can’t blame you for that goddamn animal.

SAM
Sure you can.
You know, boy, you’ve
never had any respect for
horses. All your life, all around you,
everyone else learns
to work with ‘em, depend on ‘em.
Not you.

RANGER
I’ve only had two or three of them things,
each one worse than the last. Maybe I’d
care more if I traveled more. As it stands,
this horse is the worst I’ve even rode.
I didn’t even name it because I was afraid
if it had one I’d think about it even more.
And then I’d have to kill it.

SAM
You’ll never understand, boy. You simply
need a horse that’s more like you.
Sam looks his son up and down and laughs.

SAM
Which, in your case, means you need
a horse with three legs, no balls,
and one eye.

The Ranger laughs at this and claps an affectionate hand on his father’s shoulder.

SAM
Why are you here? You ain’t headed for
Agua Fría are ya?

The Ranger turns away from the question, heading for a window.

SAM
‘Cause she ain’t there no more. Nobody
there no more. That town dried up last year.

RANGER
I hear there’s some people still there.

SAM
I doubt that. Unless they’re the
kind of people that don’t need
water. Half-lizard or some shit.
You looking to serve justice on
some lizards...

Sam trails off as something seems to dawn on him. He closes the cylinder on the revolver he’s cleaning and squints up at his son, suddenly understanding his mission.

SAM
Red’s still there, ain’t he? He finally
gave you a good enough reason?

RANGER
He’s a wanted man.

SAM
Yeah, well, that was always going to
happen eventually. He just had to be
put in the right set of circumstances
for his true colors to shine. He finally
killed someone, eh?

RANGER
More than someone.
(pause)
He killed Gray.

SAM
So, I guess he figured he’d stay and be
king in a kingdom of lizards?

RANGER
No. She’s still there, too. And the boy.
And more people than we know, I’m guessing.
They need a new sheriff.

SAM
What? They need a new sheriff?! For how
long? A day?! Even if there’s anyone left
out there right now, there won’t be.

RANGER
Yeah, well, Red might have been waiting
for a chance to rule at the end of the
world, but I’ve been waiting for him to
do exactly the same thing.

The Ranger turns to leave and Sam stands up to block his way.

SAM
Boy...

RANGER
Dad, you can’t still call me "boy" just
‘cause you’re the only person on earth
older than me.

SAM
That’s exactly why I still call you "boy."
(he grabs the Ranger’s arm)
Listen, you can’t beat him. He’s the
fastest I ever saw. Fastest you ever saw.
The only reason the world don’t know it
is because he wasn’t a killer before.
But it sounds like that’s all changed now.

RANGER
He ain’t that fast.

SAM
You know he is.

The Ranger shakes off his arm, opens the door, and walks out.

SAM
You gonna see your Uncle Ron while
you’re here? He ain’t got much time
left, you know?

RANGER
I don’t know. Maybe. I just keep
thinking, if I was dying, would I
want anyone to come see me?

SAM
You’re dying. And you came to see me.

The Ranger ignores that and keeps walking.

RANGER
You seen that damn horse?

SAM
You remember where your Uncle Ron lives?

RANGER
Of course I do. He had the only tornado
shelter in town. I still remember everyone
down there underground. The adults playing
cards under a lamp. Me and the kids shivering
in the corner, listening to the wind outside.
You guys never were afraid.

SAM
Yeah, we were. We just never showed it.

The Ranger walks off. He yells back over his shoulder.

RANGER
Hey! Find me a gun by tomorrow. One that
works this time.

Sam laughs and turns around. He yells back to the Ranger.

SAM
Agua Fría, huh? You really going?
Same as walking into the desert barefoot.

The Ranger keeps walking.

SAM
You know what the name of that town means,
boy?! "Cold Water!" That’s fuckin’ funny
since it never had neither! Kind of like
naming a preacher "Johnny No God!"

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - TENT - DAY
The Preacher is in the middle of another feverish, frantic sermon. There are about five people in the tent with him. All of them are sitting on a line of wooden crates with their heads down and shoulders slumped like the living dead. Johnny Cash’s song "The (Folk) Singer," sung by Nick Cave, plays. This spare, ominous song is the Preacher’s theme.

SONG
"...born 200 years too late
or 200 years too soon..."

PREACHER
(holding his huge Bible up high)
I was reading a book the other day,
and I noticed that its spine was getting weaker.

He bends and twists the cover of the Bible back and forth, open and closed. The book cracks and pops, slivers of the leather binding fluttering down around his feet like ash.

PREACHER
I never thought I’d be able to do
this, but with no moisture in the air,
and everything else turning to dust,
for some reason I’m stronger than
I’ve ever been.

Then, in a grunt of effort, the Preacher tears the Bible completely in half. The zombies in the congregation are blink in shock. The Preacher looks at the half in his right hand, then throws it over his shoulder. With both hands, he holds the remaining half high over his head.

PREACHER
This is all we need.

He opens the remaining half of the Bible and begins to read aloud from the Old Testament.

PREACHER
"You will plant vineyards and cultivate them
but you will not drink the wine or gather
the grapes because the worms will eat them."

He stops reading, pulls a bottle of whiskey from his back pocket, and takes a long swig.

PREACHER
This is the curse of disobedience! But
I’m here to say, I’m drinking the wine
because it’s the only thing left to drink!
And I sure don’t see any God stopping me!

He takes another long drink.

PREACHER
All of you now, look down under your
seats and you’ll see a bottle where the hymnals
used to be, well, I mean, down where the
pews used to be...where the church used to be.
So come on, take a drink. Drink
and disobey Him, but not me.

The congregation looks around at each other, then reaches down under their crates to find their bottles. They all drink in silence, sweat rolling through the stubble and cracks in their faces like piss down sandpaper, warm whiskey dribbling down dusty chins.

PREACHER
Good. Drink deep, children.
(opening the half Bible again)
Now where were we...oh, yes.
The "curse of disobedience"...

The Preacher tries to clear his throat and hacks up a brown ball of mud and mucus instead.

PREACHER
(gravel-voiced)
"Swarms of locusts will take over all your
trees and the crops of your land..."

At that moment, Red and Little Joe come into the tent, looking around in confusion at the gathering.

LITTLE JOE
I told ya these dumb fucks were still here.

PREACHER
(laughing)
You boys lost? Then you came to the right place!

EXT. BISBÉE - FRONT YARD - DAY
The Ranger stands in front of an old house, leaning on the last post from a fence long gone. He sees a shadow in one of the windows and starts to walk to the porch, but then stops. He stands with his head down and walks around and past the house instead. He searches the yard until he finds a trap door grown over with grass, leading straight into the ground. He crouches down and takes his hat off, seemingly paying his respects to that trap door. Then he pulls a horseshoe handle with a grunt to open the hatch and looks down into the dark. Wind whistles up from the depths of the tornado shelter. The Ranger puts his hat back on and stands up, suddenly unsure of himself. He looks off in the distance and sees a man on a horse on the horizon. He stares a moment, then looks back down, suddenly wrinkling his nose at a bad smell coming from the tunnel. Then, alarmingly fast, a bright green snake comes out of the hole and slides over the trapdoor’s hinges and the Ranger’s boots. He steps back and lets the door slam shut.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - CENTER OF TOWN - DAY
The sermon is over, and outside of the church tent, a SMILING MAN is doing a magic trick. The posts of the tent have collapsed on one side. A scrawny, tired-eyed BOY is watching this man try to entertain him. As he performs, the man takes some exaggerated high steps and acts surprised as both his boots slide off his skeletal ankles.

SMILING MAN
Whoa! How’d that happen?

He holds one boot up for the boy to see, then turns it upside down and shakes it.

SMILING MAN
As y’all can see...nothing in
my boot!

The boy blinks wearily as Red and Little Joe slowly walk up unnoticed behind the man. They watch, amused, as he does some dramatic motions with his hands over the shoe and then pulls a twitching leopard gecko from inside the boot. The boy seems bored and raise his hand.

BOY
So, how’d you do that trick, mister?

SMILING MAN
It ain’t no trick. You see, kids.
Miracles can happen if you...

When Red hears the word "miracle" his eyes narrow, and in a flash he pulls his revolver and a gaping bullet hole explodes between the man’s eyes. He falls forward still smiling. The boys’ eyes go wide, then he suddenly starts applauding.

RED
Now there’s a magic trick for ya!

A flap of the tent rises and the Preacher steps out to survey the scene. He stares down at the dead man.

PREACHER
Why’d you do that, boy?

RED
‘Cause he wouldn’t admit it was a trick.
He was trying to say it was a miracle.
And he was scaring the kids.

PREACHER
What kids?

Red looks around for the boy and sees that he’s vanished. The Preacher turns to walk away, and Red grabs his arm.

RED
Hold it. Ain’t you gonna at least say something?

PREACHER
No. Like what?
(stares at the body a moment)
Oh yeah, you were right. No miracles here.

The Preacher walks off, dropping something on the way. The boy suddenly reappears from around a crate to run up to see what the Preacher dropped. Excited, he shakes the dirt out of the New Testament half of the Bible and stuffs it in his front shirt pocket He runs off. Little Joe watches him go, then walks forward and picks up something, too. It’s the small, spotted gecko from the magic trick. The song "The (Folk) Singer" fades in and reaches its climax.

SONG
"When I am dust and clay and the
children stop to take a look,
will they marvel at the miracles I
did perform and the heights I did aspire?"

LITTLE JOE
(squinting at the lizard)
Look! You can see right through its head!
And the fucker’s still smiling!

Red thoughtfully kicks some dirt onto the dead man’s face to fill the bloody tunnel through his skull.

SONG
"Or will they tear out the pages of the
book to light a fire?"

RED
Must be going around.

EXT. BISBÉE - MIDDLE OF A FIELD - DUSK
Tom McMaster is standing next to his horse, a brown Appaloosa, staring down at the tornado door in The Ranger’s uncle’s back yard. Lost in thought, he kicks at the horseshoe handle on the hatch leading into the ground. Then he looks up and down the horizon. Too nervous to pull open the door, he walks back to his horse, climbs up, and rides away.

INT. BAR - NIGHT
Tom walks into a bar and slaps a coin down on the counter in front of him. Without a word or a look, a BARTENDER brings him a bottle of whiskey, takes the coin, and turns away.

TOM
Whoa. The whole bottle? Shit’s cheap
around here.

BARTENDER
(turning back around)
Gets even cheaper the further west
you go. Go far enough, they might even
start paying you to drink it.

TOM
No shit.

Tom laughs and takes a swig, and the bartender turns away again. After a moment, Tom knocks on the counter for the bartender’s attention.

TOM
Hey, know anyone named "Red" round here?

BARTENDER
(after a long pause)
Which way you from again?

Tom points to the left.

BARTENDER
Which way you going?

Tom points to the right.

BARTENDER
He’s two weeks that way.

Tom smacks two more coins on the bar. The bartender turns away again, but keeps talking to Tom out the side of his neck.

BARTENDER
(muttering)
Keep ‘em. You’ll need those
for your eyes.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - CENTER OF TOWN - NIGHT
Red’s gang are milling around in the dark. Egg walks up out of the shadows, rubbing the deep slashes around his neck.

MUD
Holy shit! It’s alive!

EGG
(mumbling)
Fuck off.

RED
Come here, Egg. Let me see what
you got there.

Angry red gashes all around his throat reveal the new number that has scarred him. Johnny Cash’s song "Dirty Egg Suckin’ Dog" plays.

SONG
"Egg suckin’ dog...
I’m gonna stomp your head in the ground."

INSERT - CLOSE UP - THE NUMBER ON THE NECK

"8888888888"

BACK TO SCENE

RED
Hmmm. Looks like Little Joe got
carried away.
But hey, you wanted
to be different! The number "13"
wasn’t good enough, remember?

LITTLE JOE
Hey, why do they call you "Egg?"

EGG
‘Cause that’s my name.

RED
No, that wasn’t your name until you
got caught sucking eggs.
(turning to Little Joe)
It’s short for "Eggsucker." People
in this town killed three dogs for
stealing eggs until they found out it was him.
Someone saw him take a shit
with so many eggshells in it, at first they thought
he was shitting out a deck of cards.

EGG
Not true.

RED
(laughing)
Still, we like to keep him around
because, even though
he’s skinny and weak, he is dangerous.
You know why? Okay, speaking of
shittin’, you ever come across a dog
straining to push out
some chicken bones? You ever try
to pet that dog in the middle of it?
He’s hurting, but he’ll still
bite ya. Well, that’s our Egg!

MUD
(confused)
Wait, when did who eat a deck of cards?

RED
(ignoring Mud)
Hey, Egg, don’t worry
about your neck.
It looks tough, like an old rope burn.
Like someone tried to lynch ya!
(claps Egg hard on the back)
Come on. Let’s go steal some shit.

EXT. FARMHOUSE - NIGHT
Red and his gang are creeping around a dark, seemingly deserted farmhouse. A dead horse lies in the doorway of the barn nearby, a buzzard neck deep in a hole in its groin. The men sneak up to the porch, and Red slowly slides open a window and climbs inside. The gang peers inside to watch Red walk around, scratch his head, then turn and climb back out the window. He walks past them to the front of the house and savagely kicks it down. Red walks inside, lights a lamp, sits down in a rocking chair, and sighs loudly. The men cautiously file inside the splintered doorway.

MUD
What’s wrong, boss? Nothing to steal?

RED
No. No one to steal it from.

EXT. BISBÉE - DIRT ROAD - DUSK
Sam, the Ranger’s father, is walking down a dirt road that stretches to the vanishing point on the horizon. A shadow dismounts a horse behind him and walks quickly to catch up with Sam. When the shadow is right behind Sam, he flicks his hat up with a thumb so that the sun lights up his face. It’s Tom McMaster, smiling but out of breath. Sam doesn’t turn to acknowledge him and just keeps walking.

TOM
Hello, sir, I’m one of your son’s men,
and I’m supposed to rendezvous...

SAM
Why’d you leave your horse?

TOM
I guess I didn’t want to startle you.

SAM
The only way you could startle me, boy,
is if you ran up here on your hands
juggling skulls with your feet.
I heard you three miles back.

TOM
I see. Anyhow, I was looking for
your son.
See, we’re supposed to
be heading to...

SAM
Already come and gone.

TOM
(after a moment)
Did Bob grow up around here?

SAM
(slowing to finally look at Tom)
Why?

TOM
Then you must know Red, too.

SAM
(looking away, walking faster)
If you’re looking for Red, you’re lost.
You’re 250 miles from Agua Fría.
Red’s mother lives here though. Used to anyway.
Red and him mother came from Texas,
actually. But they never went back.

TOM
And Gray? You must know what happened
to Gray Wendler, right?

SAM
I don’t know what happened to Gray.
But I do know what happened between
Red and my son.

Sam points to a tree nearby where one huge limb is cracked and hanging dead. A long, thin strip of bark is the only thing still connecting it to the tree. Tom walks up to it.

SAM
See that old, broken branch? That’s
where the fight started. My boy knew
Red was coming and he went out to
ambush him. I let him pick
out any gun he wanted from my store.
He didn’t know it then, but it really
didn’t matter which gun he chose.
(pause)
Anyhow, apparently something
went wrong with someone’s gun,
and it turned into a fist fight, the
longest, ugliest fight this town never saw.
That busted branch there? That’s
where Red threw a punch
and missed.

Tom kicks at the dead branch until it breaks loose, then turns it over with his boot to reveal the letters "E.G.G." carved into it. Sam glares at him for casually destroying this landmark, but Tom is oblivious of his anger.

TOM
So, tell me. Why did...

SAM
(impatiently)
See, both boys rode in at either end of
town, and they met right here. We’re
walking through the exact geographical
center of this town actually.

TOM
So there never was no gun fight?

SAM
What did I just say? Yes,
that is right. And, even though
the outcome was violent,
I must admit some
relief that no one fired
a shot. See, my son was set
to bushwhack him. And
that would have made him a
murderer, and he would have hung for it.

They keep walking for a long time. The sun starts to sink on the horizon. Time passes. Tom looks back for his horse and can’t even see it anymore.

TOM
(restlessly slapping at a fly)
Where are you going anyway?

SAM
(long pause)
To see my brother.

Sam stops and turns to start the trek back to his horse. Sam points to a boulder near the road.

SAM
See the blood on that rock?

TOM
(stopping)
Yeah.

SAM
The fight ended right there.

Startled, Tom looks around until he finds the tree with the broken branch where this fight started. They’ve walked at least a mile. The tree is so far away, it’s just a tiny shadow on the hill.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - SHACK - NIGHT
Egg is hunched over a crate with a carefully arranged spiral of empty, intact egg shells in front of him. Chicken eggs, vultures’ eggs, crows’ eggs, and lizard eggs are arranged by size and color along two of the three windowsills. Bringing his hands down from his mouth and swallowing hard, he places another small shell delicately into the spiral, moving two shells aside to keep everything in order. Tom Waits’ song "What’s He Building In There" plays.

SONG
"There’s poison underneath the sink,
of course. There’s also enough
formaldehyde to choke a horse..."

Suddenly the door of the shack crashes open, and Egg is startled into crushing the tiny blue robin’s egg he was holding. It’s Red in the doorway, staring down at Egg’s hand and the teardrop of yolk on his thumb.

RED
Egg! You want some water? You got any?

EGG
No. I can still get some life out
of these.

RED
(scoffs)
Your eggs are too rotten for
a raccoon to eat. And you’re
still in here suckin’
on ‘em. Strongest
stomach ever, I swear...

Red trails off as he walks to the one windowsill without egg shells on it. Here there’s a row of wasp’s heads staring up at him. Waiting for Red to leave, Egg scratches at the three letters of his nickname he’s carved in a board on the crate.

SONG
"What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?"

RED
(over her shoulder)
That says "E.G.G." don’t it? Is that
what you’re carving everywhere?
I never really looked, but I always
thought it was your real initials, whatever those are.
Well, I guess it’s three letters like some initials
anyway. Don’t even need a real name, huh?

Egg stops scratching, saying nothing. Red picks up a wasp head and throws it back down in disgust.

RED
I’d ask...if I gave a shit.
(pause)
Okay, I’ll bite. Why?

EGG
They keep me from getting stung.
They watch over me. I haven’t been
stung since I lined up those heads.

RED
You haven’t gotten stung since the last
hornet died six months ago. Without
water, your little friends were probably
the first to go. Well, second, at least.

Red circles Egg and knocks some shells off another windowsill. Egg flinches, then flinches again when Red drops a whiskey bottle between Egg’s legs and heads for the door.

RED
You don’t make no sense.
Chickens ain’t never stung me,
and I never needed no voodoo.

Egg holds up another shell and lightly blows on the tiny hole in the end of it.

RED
(hesitating)
How do you keep from breaking those
when you’re sucking on them?

EGG
You ever dealt with an "eggbound" chicken?

RED
Heard of it.

EGG
Well, if a chicken gets an egg stuck,
it’ll go on making eggs and never layin’
‘em, fillin’ itself up with eggs until
it bursts. You have to get that egg out
that’s stuck up there without breaking it
or else that chicken will die.

RED
Why not just stick a finger up there and
crush it?

EGG
‘Cause as soon as the egg explodes, the
chicken dies of shock. You have to take the
end of the egg that’s peeking out and put a
tiny hole in it. Then you can gently crack
the egg to pull it out, but only after
you put your mouth down there and you
slowly suck out what’s...

RED
(swallowing hard)
Stop.

Red opens the door then turns around.

RED
So, Egg, if you were sucking on one of
these in your mouth when someone punched
you in the goddamn face. You think you
might die of shock when it popped, too?

Egg looks up at him startled, then almost smiles. Then he goes back to blowing. Red walks out.

EXT. BISBÉE - DUSK MIDDLE OF A FIELD - NIGHT
As the sun goes down behind him, Sam walks to the trapdoor in the ground and opens it with a creak. Something scampers out of the hole and crunches through the weeds near his feet. Without hesitation, Sam steps down to descend the ladder into the darkness. The door slams shut with a deafening crash.

CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - CENTER OF TOWN - NIGHT
The Preacher slams his tattered chunk of the Bible against his legs, and pages fly off and flutter around him. The skin on his face is stretched tight against his skull as he laughs, his eyes bugging out of his head from dehydration. He is in the middle of another manic sermon.

PREACHER
Don’t worry about those pages falling
out, brother and sisters. That’s how we
weed out the shit we don’t need.

He slams the Bible against his forehead, and another page comes loose. He catches it before it hit the ground.

PREACHER
Here, I’ll prove it to you.

He turns the Bible page over to read it and clears his throat hard. The rattle from his cough sounds like a boot heel in sand.

PREACHER
"If any man thirst, come to me and drink."
Hmmm. Is that Jesus? I thought we got
rid of that half when I tore the book
down the middle! Okay, what else we got here...

He shakes another page loose and holds it up to read.

PREACHER
"Do not have sexual relations with an animal
and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present
herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it.
That is a perversion."
(throws the paper into the air)
Now, do we really need to read that to know
it’s true? Ain’t that like sayin’, "don’t
eat a bullet, it might hurt?"

He smacks the Book against his forehead again and grabs the next page that falls.

PREACHER
"Lust is the craving for salt for a man
who is dying of thirst."

The Preacher stands silent, pondering this quote.

PREACHER
Hold on. Is that really in there?
I honestly don’t remember that at all...

He seems to shake off that thought as he drops what’s left of the Bible to his feet. Then he claps his hands in front of his face, surrounding his head in a cloud of dust.

PREACHER
Okay! Where were we? We were talking
about arrogance and anger, weren’t we?
Well, you know, one of those pages reminds
me of something. I lost my temper today,
and here’s what happened. I got up early,
chewed on a stick for breakfast, washed
it down with a nice cup full of thorns,
then walked out the door so fast I forgot
to wear my white collar, a collar which has
long since turned gray anyway. And ‘cause
people kinda look the same these days, I
ain’t recognized without it. And one of
you came around a corner and saw me tearing
some more pages out of the Book and asked
me, all appalled, if I was "a Christian."
But that wasn’t really what they were asking.
Sure, those were the words they used, but
what they were really asking me was if I
had ever thought about fucking a dog...

Worshippers gasp and turn to look at each other again. Two people stand up and leave. The three remaining dried, dehydrated faces look identical, not men or women anymore, just asexual corpses. Then Robby suddenly peeks around a corner. His face is healthy, clear-eyed, and amused. After listening to the sermon for a few moments, Robby adjusts the gun-shaped rock in his belt like a gunfighter and confidently crosses his arms. Then he runs when the Preacher spots him.

PREACHER
Hey, where’s everyone going?! This will
all make sense when I’m done, I swear!
I’m sorry, did I swear? I meant "I promise."
(looking to the sky)
Sorry for the swearing, Lord. Anyhow, you’re
asking yourself, "what does fucking a dog
have to do with being a Christian?" Exactly! I
didn’t make that connection! They did! Also,
I saw someone eating a rotten apple today. An
apple is halfway to wine, halfway to hell, but
that’s not why I told you not to do that.
We’ll come back to that later.

Someone in front scratches their head at that. Its fingers on its scalp makes sounds like a broken bottle on a boulder.

PREACHER
Here’s the point...the arrogance it takes
to ask someone that question is incredible.
If you see someone doing something you
disapprove of, and you decide to ask them
if they’re a Christian, well, that’s just
too smug for words. As if that question
has anything to do with the offense you’re
witnessing! As if you think that one question
will get to the heart of everything they’re
doing, and everything they’ve done, for the
duration of their entire life, leading up to
this one moment, right now in front of you,
this thing that offends you so much that you
don’t know a goddamn thing about! So you might
as well be asking them if they ever
fucked a dog. That’s how rude, irrelevant
and personal your question was. Amen.

A moment of silence as the worshippers frown and the wheels in their weary brains almost audibly creaks as they try to figure out what exactly the Preacher’s point is. The bass line to the song "The (Folk) Singer" plays again. Finally, a hand is raised from somewhere in the crowd.

PREACHER
Yes, ma’am! I mean, "sir."

CONFUSED VOICE
Uh...do you mean a dead dog? Or are
you talking about one that’s still alive?

INT. SALOON - NIGHT
Four drunk, dusty, dying men sit around a table in an empty saloon playing poker, four bottles of whiskey in front of them. As one man slowly deals, the cards begin to disintegrate in his hands. No one seems to notice. Lazily, one man brings a hand down on the DEALER’S arm, and pieces of a crumbling ace of spades fall from the dealer’s sleeve. The man across from him slowly stands up and pulls a knife. He throws it at the cheating dealer with little force, and the knife hits him in the face handle-first, then rattles harmlessly on the floor. After a moment, the KNIFE THROWER wearily sits back down and takes a long drink from his bottle. They keep playing. And playing. A black dog crawls around under the table, slowly weaving in and out of their legs, looking for something to scavenge. It’s the dog that Little Joe pulled from the exodus of townspeople. It navigates their legs with snakelike movements until the SMALLEST MAN at the table kicks at it in anger.

DEALER
You know, the only reason people abuse
animals is so that they’ll forget
their starving. The animals, I mean.

KNIFE THROWER
You think?

SMALLEST MAN
Who gives a shit?

Suddenly the dog seems to come to life and lunges to knock the smallest man from his chair. Before anyone can react, the dog has ripped out the man’s throat and is gorging itself on the blood and meat. The dealer stares for a moment and then spits at the dog’s head. His spit is heavy and black, and the dog flinches but goes back to feeding. The dealer tries to shuffle the cards and they fly apart into dust. The knife thrower stares at the dealer.

DEALER
(shrugging)
Hey, I tried.

KNIFE THROWER
Where’d you get that tobacco?

DEALER
(confused)
I ain’t chewing tobacco.

EXT. EDGE OF BISBÉE - DIRT ROAD - DAWN
Tom rides his horse around a row of trees and comes to a clearing. In the middle of the field, The Ranger sits back on his horse, arms crossed. The Ranger’s nervous black Mustang snorts loud and blows a cloud of snot into the air. Tom and his horse are startled, and Tom works to steady the animal.

TOM
(laughing)
Whoa! Hey, Ranger! What are the
chances of running into you out here?

RANGER
(emotionless)
What are you doing, Tom?

TOM
My job, boss. You sent us out with a
list of faces and numbers, remember?

RANGER
You have no business out here.

TOM
What do you mean "out here?" This
ain’t the moon. This ain’t hell.
This is just another town. And out
there, across that
desert, that’s just
another town, too.

The Ranger turns to look to the horizon where Tom is pointing.

RANGER
I’m afraid you’re wrong about a lot
of things. That last thing you said,
especially.

TOM
Show me the poster you kept and I’ll
turn around right now.

The Ranger turns his horse in disgust and starts to ride away.

RANGER
You don’t understand a goddamn thing, boy.

Tom coaxes his horse to follow.

TOM
(almost to himself)
That’s fine. I don’t understand a lot
of things. Thank Christ for that.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - MIDDAY
Red and his gang, Egg, Mud, Jackass, and Little Joe are all spread out under a dead tree where the shade would have been. They’re all drunk or drinking except for Red and Little Joe.
Jackass drains a bottle and throws it. He pulls his gun to shoot the empty bottle but can’t seem to muster the energy. He reholsters his weapon pulls another bottle from a huge bag of whiskey bottles at his feet and leans back against the tree trunk with a sigh.

JACKASS
Anybody know any jokes?

Egg scratches his head a minute, then reaches into a small sack and pulls out a spider as large as his hand. It’s a Camel Spider, a large, desert dwelling creature that looks kind of like a hairy, urine-colored lobster. Jackass and Mud scramble to their feet to get away from it.

MUD
What the fuck is that?!

JACKASS
Kill that fuckin’ thing!

Jackass slaps it out of Egg’s hand and Mud quickly stomps on it. Red and Little Joe step move for a closer look. For a second, everyone thinks the spider is dead. Then the spider stands up and starts walking toward Egg. Eyes full of relief, he picks it back up and pets it like a cat. Glaring up at Mud, Egg’s hand hovers over his gun.

MUD
Go, ahead, Egg. Skin it.

They stare at each other.

MUD
Go on, kill me over a fuckin’ bug.
One thing, if you don’t kill me?
You better look over your shoulder
the rest of your life because one
day I’m gonna be there and on that day...

RED
(kicking Mud in the ass)
Shut up.
(smiling at Egg)
It ain’t dead? Okay, now I’m scared.

Egg relaxes and takes his hand away from his gun. Then he puts a protective arm around the spider.

EGG
Don’t no one try to kill it again. Not
that you can. I tried stepping on
it the first time I saw it following me.
That’s how we met. Me looking under my boot.

RED
No shit? That’s how I met your mom, too!

JACKASS
(squinting)
What the hell is it, Egg?

EGG
It’s a Camel Spider. Heard all about
them the one day I went to school. Did
you know that these things can go a week
without water? But only three days
without food? That’s the opposite of us.

JACKASS
No, that’s a "camel," you’re thinking of, shithead,
not a "camel spider." In fact,
I doubt there’s any such thing as a camel
spider.

EGG
(holding up the spider)
Then what the hell is this?

MUD
That’s what we’re asking you, asshole!

EGG
Wait, I said that wrong before. It’s not
"three days without food," it’s three days
without biting someone. That’s what it
can’t do.

MUD
Just like Red over there. Can’t go three
days without biting someone.

RED
I’m thinking there’s a lot of other
things it can’t do, Egg. Like write
a letter, or wipe its ass.

MUD
You can’t write a letter.

RED
I can wipe my ass.

MUD
Why couldn’t it do that? It’s got
eight legs!

RED
I know. That means it’s got four asses!

EGG
It’s real smart. Watch.

Egg walks away from the tree and puts the spider down in the dirt. He takes a few steps away from it and, in a flash, it runs to follow him. The gang is startled.

JACKASS
Whoa!

RED
It loves you, Egg! Just like us!

Egg takes a few more steps and again it follows, stopping only when he stops.

MUD
Maybe that thing does have a brain
bigger than a bird.

LITTLE JOE
Bullshit. It’s not following him. It’s
following his shadow. That’s what those
things do, they run and stop in your shade.
That’s why people are scared of them
because they think it’s chasing ‘em.
But all it wants is your shadow.

RED
I don’t know. Egg’s so fuckin’ skinny,
it’s hard to believe a bug could even fit
in his shadow.

LITTLE JOE
And they ain’t that hard to kill either...

JACKASS
You saw it get stepped on and laugh it off.

LITTLE JOE
Because it sees the shadow of your foot
coming down and it rolls up in a ball.
That’s all it does.

RED
Let’s try something...

Red walks over and shoves Egg to the ground. The spider crosses over to Red’s shadow instead and stops. Red takes a step and it takes a step with it. Red trots and the spider picks up speed. Red laughs and starts running and the spider scampers to catch up.

RED
(slowing down)
All right. That’s enough of that.
(to the spider)
Back off!

Red walks back toward the gang, the spider following.

RED
(over his shoulder)
I said back the hell off.

Red frowns and spits black tobacco juice at it, and it stops following. It dips a leg into the pool of brown spit and seems to be to playing in it. Red starts walking slow and the spider keeps pace again, always right in the center of Red’s shadow. Red turns and pulls his gun. Egg runs between Red and the spider, quickly picking it up off the ground.

EGG
(slow and serious)
Don’t do it, Red.

RED
(surprised)
You ever here the phrase "choose you
battles"? Dumb shit. You decide to
stand up for the first time in your
life over this bug? Why is that?
There wasn’t a fly around
here you wanted to risk your life for?
Maybe a rock that needs you to save it?

They stare at each other in silence and Little Joe walks over, diggin’ in his pocket. He pulls out the leopard gecko from the magic trick at the Preacher’s tent.

LITTLE JOE
Got an idea. Let’s see if they’ll
fight instead.

RED
(smile coming back)
I’ll go with that.

EGG
Fine. Put the lizard down.

They put the lizard and the spider down in the shade of the dead tree and stare awhile. Neither creature does anything.

LITTLE JOE
Just wait. Lizards will try to
eat anything. Even if it’s five times
bigger than their head.

RED
(laughing)
Just like Egg!

The gecko takes a lazy lunge at the spider and gets a leg in its mouth. Then it sits, unable to swallow any more. The spider doesn’t even seem to notice. After a while, Little Joe reaches down to pull them apart.

RED
(sarcastically)
That was a great fight, boys.
Ain’t seen that much action since
yesterday.

Little Joe pulls the spider’s leg from the gecko’s mouth, and Egg quickly takes the spider away from him to put it back in his bag. Little Joe holds the gecko up to Red’s face.

LITTLE JOE
You ever look real close at this
thing? Look at its head. Why is
there a hole in its head?

Red looks at the gecko’s earholes, eyes narrowing, dark thoughts clouding his face.

LITTLE JOE
Those can’t be ears, can they? Going all
the way through its head like that?

Red turns to look at his horse that’s standing nearby. The gang’s other horses root and snort through the brush around them, but Red’s horse looks right at Red. Its yellow eyes are locked, no movement or sound from the animal except a slow swaying of its head. Then the horse’s head catches just the right angle and suddenly flashes brightly as a sunbeam cuts through it. The horse starts to wander off and light around its head fades.

RED
Hey! Where you think you’re going!
I’m talking to you! Hey!

Egg puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles loud. The horse’s ear perk up and it quickly turns around.

RED
(to Egg)
How the hell did you...

Red trails off, the memory of something in his eyes as the horse walks back, staring at him again. Red blinks hard, takes a deep breath, and noticing Little Joe next to him, he angrily swats at him to get away.

RED
I never could whistle like that.
Only children can make noises like that.
(growling)
Everyone put your goddamn toys away.

LITTLE JOE
Anyone seen my dog?

EXT. DESERT - MIDDAY
The Ranger and Tom walk their horses slowly and carefully through a long field of jagged, black rocks. The horses’ legs wobble alarmingly with each step. When they clear the rocks, they pick up another worn horse trail and see a caravan of people approaching them. A hundred yards further, they see another long line of people approaching from another direction. The three groups of travelers slowly intersect at the end of the field of black rocks. The Ranger looks them over. They’re all on the edge of death, obviously refugees from Agua Fría. The two groups of travelers don’t even seem to notice the Ranger and Tom. They slowly creep along, spit hanging from their mouths and the mouths of their horses. The lead riders at the front of both groups head towards each other at a snail’s pace. The Ranger and Tom look at each other in amusement. The two lead riders walk their dazed horses toward each other until they collide. The horses’ heads bump together, and the convoys behind them stop, the two riders wearily looking up to finally notice each other.

FIRST RIDER
What the hell? Where’d you come from?

SECOND RIDER
What do you mean? Where’d you come from?

FIRST RIDER
How could you not see me? I’ve been moving
in a straight line for 48 hours. How can
a straight line be at fault?

SECOND RIDER
You can’t ride in a straight line forever,
you crazy bastard. You’ll eventually
hit something. Unless you go straight up.

FIRST RIDER
(angrily)
Or down.

SECOND RIDER
(angrily)
That’s right.

FIRST RIDER
What I’m saying is, if I never altered my
path, then I’m not the one responsible for
this collision.

Tom barks a laugh, and the Ranger sighs. Despite the obvious fact that these men and their animals are on the edge of death and dehydration, Tom and The Ranger can’t help but find this horseback road-rage incident very amusing.

TOM
(laughing)
Men, you don’t have to cross paths.
You’re not even on a trail anymore.
There’s no reason you can’t go around
each other...

The riders ignore Tom, and one of them reaches to slowly pull a gun from his belt. The other reaches for his gun, too. Tom and the Ranger shake their heads as they watch the slowest draw in history. As the men bring their guns up, Tom holds up a pocket watch and taps the glass sarcastically. Faces red from the effort, the two riders’ shaking hands work to steady their weapons as they continue to aim. It’s like watching two men trying to hold a horse above their heads. Or a barn.

TOM
(laughing harder)
Hey, Bob! Should I time this
bullshit? Anyone want a sandwich
while we wait!

One of the guns finally fires, and one of the riders slides off the side of his horse. The winner of the world’s slowest gunfight reholsters his weapon and waves his people to follow him past the other caravan.

TOM
Uh, seriously anyone want a sip of
water? I ain’t got much to spare but...

The row of horses and wagons take no notice of Tom or the Ranger. Then, after a few steps forward, the horse carrying the lead rider that won the gunfight stumbles in the valley of jagged black rocks. One of its ankles cracks as loud as a branch in the rain. The horse seems to sigh and keeps stumbling forward, dumping the rider to the ground in the process. The convoy keeps moving past where he lies unconscious or dead without taking notice. Tom tries one last time to get someone’s attention.

TOM
Hey! What the hell are you...

The Ranger stops him with a look.

RANGER
These people are too far gone.

TOM
Can’t they even see us?

RANGER
Tom, in another day, we won’t even
be able to see them.

The Ranger and Tom both lean back in their saddles to watch the convoys go through. With their lead riders gone, both lines of horses and wagons converge to form one slow parade of dying people. And as they ride by, the condition of the refugees gets worse and worse. In the middle of the line, some people are slumped across the backs of their horses, any faces that are visible grinning like drumskins stretched across skulls. The longer the line goes, the more backwards and primal the people seem to get. Further down the line, two children are fighting over half of something dead. Further past that fight, a wild-eyed man is eating something that’s still alive and wiggling. Further past him, a wild-eyed woman is eating something thick and pink that he won’t let anyone see. And when the tail end of the caravan finally passes in front of the Ranger and Tom, all of the people slumped forward on their horses are clearly dead, a row of corpses still keeping pace with the rest. The Ranger and Tom watch some horses pile up in the distance as more of their ankles snap on the field of black rocks. The Ranger finally motions for Tom to turn away and ride on.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - EDGE OF TOWN - DUSK
Red and his gang are sitting around a campfire. Outlines of houses are visible a few hundred feet away.

LITTLE JOE
Why are we still sleeping outside? Look
at all those empty houses. We got pick of
the litter, boss!

RED
(ignoring the question)
I’ll bet its really easy to stomp on
that spider at night. It can’t see
any shadow coming and roll up into a ball,
can it, Egg?

Egg says nothing and pulls his feet in closer to his body.

MUD
He’s right, boss. Why are we out here?

RED
If we go sleep in some nice big bed, how
we gonna pretend that we’re stealing
all their shit in the morning? It’d be
like we were stealing from ourselves!

The gang looks at each other in confusion. Red kicks at the fire and it flashes higher.

JACKASS
Anybody know any stories?
Jackass takes a long drink and passes the bottle to Mud.

MUD
(taking a swig)
Got an idea. Now that this town is
ours, what’s something you always
wanted to do?

RED
Good question, boys. Back when you
didn’t have the balls to go through
with it, what were some things you
wished you woulda done?

JACKASS
I always wanted to shit in the middle
of the church. But it burned down.

MUD
Hey, I wanted to shit in the church,
too! But you know what? I saw the
preacher shitting
there earlier today.
Right in a pile
of ashes where the pulpit
used to be. He started to tell me why
what he was doing wasn’t
blasphemous, and
goddamn if I wasn’t
halfway convinced by
the time he was done talking. But I had
to walk away ‘cause I can’t talk to
someone while they’re doing that.

Mud walks over to where Egg’s curled up and taps his bottle against Egg’s head to get his attention. Egg slowly takes the bottle from him, his eyes lost in thought. He takes a small drink, and Red kicks some dirt his way.

RED
Hey. What’s you’re problem?

EGG
It’s like we’re ghosts. Like we’ve
been dead since the bell rang and...

Red savagely kicks some dirt up in Egg’s face to cut him off.

RED
Shut that shit up.

Egg’s eyes flash in anger for a moment. Then he takes a bigger drink from the bottle and clears his throat.

EGG
Here’s something I always wanted to do...
(another drink)
Those eggs I collect...

MUD
You mean the eggs you’re always sucking on?

JACKASS
You know what? Those rotten eggs will
probably help him last a day longer than us.

EGG
(continuing)
...I keep the shells, keep them intact,
keep them whole. Then I take about
50 scorpions, and I milk the venom
from their tails. I fill up these
eggs, robin’s eggs are
the perfect size, and I carefully hold one
unbroken in the back of my mouth...

The gang is listening intently. Red crosses his arms.

EGG
...but earlier in the day, I’ll have
picked out someone, someone that made
me mad. And I’ll find a way to cut
their hand, acting like it’s an accident.
Maybe by rigging a bottle to explode while
their squeezing it, maybe by handing them
a knife the wrong way, maybe by hanging
enough mirrors that they finally try to
punch themselves in the face. Then I try to
make a deal with that man, or apologize,
or something, come up with some reason for
him to shake my hand and seal the deal by
us spitting in our palms. That’s when I
crack the egg in my mouth, spit on my hand,
and shake his as hard as I...

RED
(half-smile)
Scorpions don’t always kill. In fact,
I don’t think they ever kill.

EGG
Doesn’t matter. All you have to do
is tell them what you did and their
brains will do the rest. If this
handshake doesn’t
kill them, it’ll slow them down enough
to where something else could kill them.

Suddenly the bottle explodes in Egg’s hands showering everyone with whiskey, glass, and blood. Egg curls up to stop his fingers from bleeding. Red laughs and reholsters his smoking gun.

RED
Quit thinking so hard. You don’t need
to rig no bottle to explode. Everyone
around here cuts their hands 50
times a day just waving hello.

EXT. DESERT - DUSK
The Ranger and Tom ride in silence. Tom’s face seems to be haunted by what they witnessed. They see a dead dog on a wagon tracks in their path. Tom stops his horse to look.

TOM
First time I ever saw that.
(pause)
Animals are gonna have to learn to
stay off those tracks ‘cause there’s
gonna be more and more things with
wheels every day. Getting faster and
faster and faster.

RANGER
That’ll be hard to do. An animal
always wants to take the same path a
man does.

TOM
One day, you’ll see something like
this every 50 feet.

The Ranger thinks about this as he checks his rusted gun.

CUT TO:

EXT. BISBÉE - FLASHBACK - GUN STORE
A young Ranger and his father are standing over Sam’s calendar, the long line of 12 guns on the counter. The Ranger’s hand is too small for every weapon, and Sam and him are standing over a fancy, polished, heavily-decorated weapon.

SAM
This is April’s gun. Very appropriate
for ‘April,’ since that’s a girl’s name.
It’s the .38 Single Action, decorated in
silver and gold by Tiffany & Company. It
was actually presented to General George
Custer in 1869. It looks like it’s made
from cake icing because it’s the most
expensive gun in the case. But no one has
ever even thought about stealing it because
they don’t want the firearm that proved
once and for all that Custer was a
homosexual. Don’t even touch it, boy.
They start to move down, then Sam stops and goes back.

SAM
You know what this gun looks like to me?
It looks like the kind of gun a girl
would carry...if it was the kind of girl
that wouldn’t normally carry a gun.

They move down to a long rifle which Sam quickly picks up. To the Ranger’s surprise, Sam breaks it in half over his knee.

SAM
May. The Smith & Wesson Revolving Rifle.
It looks like a rifle, but it’s really
just a revolver with a long, detachable
barrel and shoulder stock. Developed in
1875, this particular gun saved its owner’s
life when he pretended to fall and smash
his weapon. Then, when his attackers’ backs
were turned, in five seconds he put it back
together and shot them all. In the back
you ask? No, of course not. You should
never shoot someone in the back. He shot
them in the back of their goddamn heads.
And May is a good time to use this rifle, too.
Lots of turkeys to shoot. It’s good sport.
The backs of their heads are real tiny.

Sam snaps the rifle back together and pushes his son past it to the next one.

SAM
June’s gun. This is the weapon built after
both Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
survived their first gunfight. It’s the
S&W Model 1. Fired a tiny .22 rim fire
short cartridge...

RANGER
They had a gun fight? Against each other?
His father ignores the question and moves down again.

SAM
July. This is the .38 Super built to
compete with the Colt .45 and the .38 Colt
Super Automatic. I’m not a Colt fan, but
they say that Smith & Wesson are still, to
this day, obsessed with topping this gun.
They say that they’re working on something
called a "Magnum" as we speak, whatever the
hell that is. Sounds like an Indian name
to me. Damn thing must shoot arrows.
We’ll see.

They move down again and both stop to stare at a small, thin gun that resembles a child’s toy.

SAM
I fuck with this every August. Built in
1887 and used in the 1908 Olympics,
Smith & Wesson built this Target Revolver
with the first adjustable site. They
stopped building them because the 1908
Olympics were such a fucking joke with
rich, weak bastards having slap-fights
and staring contests and other equally
stupid shit. The rules in the first
Olympics were designed to keep real
athletes from competing. Smith pulled
the gun from the exhibition and publicly
said they were embarrassed to be a part of
it. Rumor has it that he did this after
he saw an Apache laughing his ass off at
the thumb-wrestling contest. Yes, the
Apache’s did invent thumb-wrestling, but
their version is to the death. Anyhow,
I set up a little target practice of my
own every August, when it’s the hottest
part of the year. Ever try to shoot the
thumb off an eagle? They’re the only
animal besides us that’s got thumbs.
True story.

Sam picks up the next gun in the line, holding it over his head to show his son a long, metal chain dangling off of the grip.

SAM
September. Built in 1861, this here’s
the Model 4 American. Actually it’s a
variation on the Model 2. But it turned
out to be just too goddamn big. The
extractor rod is attached with a chain
only slightly longer than a bulldog’s
leash. In fact, that’s what
people used this damn chain for.
Instead of throwing a stick, they’d
throw the extractor rod, and the
dog would bring it back. It was a
good way to teach the dog to
bring back the ducks you shot with it.

They come to a small lump of a revolver so dull and dirt-covered that it’s almost invisible. It seems to be made of rock or maybe carved from a chuck of dead wood as a joke. The young Ranger reaches for it excitedly, his small hand covering the grip perfectly.

FADE OUT

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - PRESENT DAY - EDGE OF TOWN - DUSK
The Ranger and Tom enter Agua Fría. Their first glimpse of the town is such an obscene vision of hell, it’s almost comical. A broken sign post marks the border of the town, as does a blazing bonfire of dead horses. A line of silent store fronts loom in the distance like tombstones, vultures perched on their rooftops. As the Ranger and Tom approach the fire of horses, Tom starts laughing and pointing at the animal’s legs sticking up out of the flames.

TOM
You know, I once rode into a town and
the first thing I saw was this giant
butterfly made out of flowers. All the
children there had built it just to
welcome people. Turned out that my
stay in that town was perfect, no fights,
didn’t lose no money.
(pause)
Then, this other time, years later, I rode
into a different town, and some little bastard
hit me with a ball of shit from the roof
of the bank. And my stay there only
got worse after that.
(laughing)
So, I’m thinking there’s good omens, and
there’s bad omens. And I look at a goddamn
bonfire of horses and, uh, I ain’t a
superstitious man or anything but...

As they circle the bonfire, the Ranger struggles to stop his nervous horse when he sees a man lying on the ground nearby, his arms behind his head and his hat covering his face.
The man seems to be relaxing, and as they get closer, they see the hat move as if the man’s snoring or breathing hard underneath it. The Ranger dismounts and walks closer. When he walks in front of it, his black Mustang blows a stream of mucus onto the Ranger’s hat.

TOM
Do you think there’s not a single
horse left alive around here?
(long pause)
Hey, does that Mustang of yours got some
kind of infection or...

Tom trails off as the Ranger pulls back the cowboy hat to reveal the face of the man on the ground. There’s a boiling mass of maggots in the holes where the man’s eyes, nose, and mouth should be. Tom stops laughing and coughs to stifle a gag. The Ranger starts unloading the gear off his horse.

TOM
I ain’t seen any flies in days. How the
hell can there be maggots without flies?

RANGER
(ignoring the question)
We’ll camp here.

Tom looks at him in shock for a moment, then dismounts and begins unloading his horse, too.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - PORCH - TWILIGHT
Jackass is walking up the steps of a porch of a house with a lamp burning in the window. He is carrying an empty bucket in his hand. He peers in a window, then another, then raps on the door. He hears something like a dog whimpering inside and puts his ear to the door. He hears the sound of a dog growling and reaches for his gun as he tries the doorknob. Johnny Cash’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s song "I’m On Fire" plays.

SONG
"Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
Did he go a leave you all alone?
I got a bad desire..."

JACKASS
Little girl, I mean...little boy?

There’s another ominous growl, then the door quickly opens inward on its own, and the doorknob is pulled out of his hands. The shadow of a BOY stands in the doorway.

JACKASS
(confused)
Boy, what are you still doing here?
Where’s your family?

The shadow says nothing. Jackass leans his head in to look past him.

JACKASS
Sorry I thought you were...a girl. You
know, little kids like you, you’re too
young to tell if you’re
boy, girl, animal, or vegetable here in the dark.
You ain’t no vegetable are you?
(pause)
I’m looking for water. You got any water
in there? Where’s your ma or pa?

BOY
They’re gone.

Jackass starts to enter but hesitates, suddenly nervous.

JACKASS
You sure you’re alone?

BOY
Just me.

JACKASS
You got any water in there?
Vegetables like you need water, you know.

BOY
Yes. Of course I do. Everybody does.

JACKASS
(startled)
What? Everybody what? From where?

BOY
From the wells. There’s water in
the wells.

Jackass looks in past the boy again, ready to come inside, but something about the boy is scaring him, makes him uneasy. In his drunken haze, he sees a boy, then a girl, then, just for a second, the shadow of a slumped animal. He backs up a step. Then another.

BOY
It’s not our age that makes it hard to
tell us kids apart. And it’s not the dark.
It’s ‘cause you’re thirsty.

SONG
"Sometimes I wake up with the sheets
soaking wet and a freight train running
through the middle of my head..."

JACKASS
You mean, ‘cause you’re thirsty, right?
(pause)
Who are you?

The boy says nothing and Jackass sees the hints of a toothy smile in the shadows. He turns away to go down the steps.

JACKASS
I’ll come back to check that well later.

Jackass jumps down the last couple steps and runs away from the house. He hears the boy’s voice echoing behind him.

BOY
They lied about the town.
There’s always been water here.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - EDGE OF TOWN - DARK
The Ranger and Tom crouch next to the fire of horses. Tom is playing his harmonica and staring at the legs in the flames with an amused look on his face.

TOM
If this isn’t a good time to blow
some spooky notes on a harp, I just
don’t know what is.

RANGER
If someone dragged these horses over to
burn them, then that means there’s people
still here to worry about the stink.

Tom reaches into the fire and breaks off a horse’s leg. Then he pulls strips of hide from the smoking limb as the Ranger stares at him in shock. Tom stops skinning the leg and throws it back into the flames.

TOM
Just a thought. A charred horse hoof
might look like a sweet, ripe apple
in about 24 hours.

RANGER
How much water you got left?

TOM
(patting the bags near him)
Most of it. Some jerky, too. But we
have to finish our business tomorrow
to make it back.

The Ranger stands up and slaps the dirt off his legs.

RANGER
We will. If we don’t waste time here
telling stories.

TOM
(staring up at him)
Isn’t that what a campfire’s for?

RANGER
Not at all. A fire’s something you stare
at when you want to forget, not remember.
(pause)
Grab your shit. Let’s go.

TOM
(smiling as he packs up)
Not till you tell me a bedtime story.

The Ranger stares at him for a solid minute.

RANGER
Okay, here’s a five-second fable for you.
When I was young, my father rigged every
gun he owned, every gun in his shop, to
explode when it fired. For some reason,
he thought that was a good thing.

TOM
(standing up)
That ain’t no fable. A fable has a point.

There’s a rustling and crackling of something moving in the brush behind them, and they both spin around quick, hands on their guns. They see the shadow of a boy disappear into the dark. The men exchange a surprised look, quickly finish loading up their horses, and ride off to follow.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - OUTHOUSE - DARK
Jackass is crouched down in an outhouse, head down in the toilet, looking for water. His head comes up, gagging, coughing, and dry heaving as he walks out. An empty bucket swings and bangs against his leg. He walks to another outhouse in the next yard over. He opens the door and is startled to see a man staring back at him. In a flash, he drops the bucket, draws his gun and fires. Dead already, a chunk of the man’s skull is blown away as his head rolls around on his neck. Jackass lowers his gun, his aiming eye slowly opening as he waits to see if the man will drop. After a second he hears a distinct "PLOP" as the corpse shits one last time. Jackass snickers, then closes the door and leaves.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - DARK
The Ranger and Tom are riding down a dark dirt road toward the center of town. Silent storefronts, saloons, and shops loom in the distance. A sign can barely be read by the light of the moon.

INSERT - CLOSE UP - THE SIGN

AGUA FRÍA
Population: 672 + 1 - 663 - 3 x 13 flies
- 1 horse + 1 horse - 1 sheriff + 1 lizard = 9

BACK TO SCENE

Out of the corner of his eye, the Ranger sees someone behind a row of trees and slows his horse. It’s Egg, crouched down and peeking out, furiously carving something into the trunk. Even though Egg is far away, the Ranger and him lock eyes for a long moment, a flash of recognition passing between them. Then Egg stands up and pushes on the tree in front of him. The Ranger blinks as the tree creaks and leans as if it’s going to fall over.

RANGER
What the hell?

Then Egg is up and running deep into the trees and gone. The Ranger catches a quick glimpse of a young boy running close behind Egg. Then the boy is gone, too. The tree Egg had pushed sways and creaks, then is straight and still again.

TOM
(confused)
What? What did you see?

RANGER
(scratches under his hat)
Huh? Up there. In the trees. I thought...
Nothing. Forget it.

TOM
(after a moment)
That patch of woods over there...
how do those trees
stay alive in the middle of the desert?

RANGER
Who says they’re alive?

TOM
They’re still standing, ain’t they?

RANGER
Sometimes, if you die standing up,
you can keep standing forever.

TOM
No, something will always knock you down.
They ride on in silence. Further down the road, some more movement catches their eyes. They turn their horses to watch a young boy run up a long front yard and into the front door of a nearby farm house. The Ranger suddenly stops his horse with a yank.

TOM
I saw where he went, right up
into...

RANGER
I saw.

TOM
What the hell’s going on around here?
Do you know who lives there?

RANGER
(after a long pause)
Yeah. I did.

The Ranger spurs his horse and starts it trotting toward the farmhouse in the distance

RANGER
And this is the first time I’ve ever
hoped she wouldn’t be home.

EXT. BISBÉE - FLASHBACK - GUN STORE
A teenage Ranger stands arguing with his father.

SAM
Goddamnit. He’s too fast.

RANGER
So am I.

SAM
He’s faster than you are.

RANGER
How did you know that?

Sam throws a bottle against a wall in anger.

SAM
Because I caught him playing with
himself when he was eight.

RANGER
Shut the hell up.

SAM
I swear. He was eight years old, and his
hand was moving so fast it looked like
a hornet trapped under a glass.
His mother actually talked a doctor into tying his
right hand to his side for weeks. And,
of course, when that hand finally
broke free from those belts and ropes
and knots, that hand was
three times faster than it was before.

RANGER
(trying not to smile)
You’re so full of shit.

SAM
I ain’t lying. That’s why Red left
town. He hasn’t seen his mother or
been back to Bisbée since the day he
untied that arm.

RANGER
(turning toward the door)
Bull. Shit.

Sam grabs for his son’s arm to keep him still, but he yanks it away and keeps walking.

SAM
Hey, it’s no joke. If it’s a gunfight...
you’re gonna die today.

RANGER
Thanks for believing in me, dad.

The young Ranger stomps out the door in disgust. Sam watches him go, brow furrowed. Marty Robbins’ song "Big Iron" plays.

SONG
"It was early in the morning when
he rode into the town. He came riding
from the south side, slowly looking
all around. He's an outlaw loose and
running, came a whisper from each lip.
And he's here to do some business with
a big iron on his hip..."

EXT. BISBÉE - TREE ON A HILL - LATER THAT DAY
A 5-year-old boy is sitting on a branch in a lone tree on a hill. He folds a pocket knife and puts it into his pocket. Under him, a long road stretches off into the distance in two directions. At the vanishing point on the horizon at both ends of this road, two young men on horseback are riding towards each other and the tree. As they ride closer to the boy on the branch, it becomes clear that it is a young Ranger and a very young Red riding up to meet. When they’re about a hundred yards apart, the two go for their guns. Both draws are equally fast, but the Ranger’s gun explodes in his hand. Red doesn’t fire, but laughs instead. Then, without a word, Red turns his horse around and rides away. The Ranger slumps in his saddle, head down, then slowly looks up at the boy in the tree. Their eyes meet. Then the Ranger turns his horse to ride off in the direction he came, cradling a curled, bloody hand against his chest. The boy watches him go, climbing higher into the tree. He reaches into a bird’s nest and carefully removes the single egg tucked inside. As he’s looking at the egg in his hand, the branch he’s on suddenly snaps and dumps him hard onto the ground. He sits up, staring at his hand, a look of horror on his face. In his palm are shards of the shell, a swirl of blood and yolk, and a half-formed bird embryo. The boy throws it all as hard as he can and runs away, stumbling over the large, broken branch at his feet.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - PRESENT DAY - RIVER BED - SUNRISE
The Ranger and McKenna are walking slowly through a dead cornfield, the stalks and leaves are bending and breaking into paper and dust as they stride through them. They walk in silence awhile until they come to a dry river bed at the edge of the field. The Sons of Maxwell’s version of the folk song "Fox on the Run" plays.

SONG
"She walks through the corn leading
down to the river, her hair shines like
gold in the hot summer sun..."

McKENNA
I never thought I’d see you again.

RANGER
Me neither.

McKENNA
Why did you come back?

RANGER
You know why.

They step down into the riverbed and keep walking until they come to a small puddle of water in the middle of the ditch. The Ranger sees the water first and watches for McKenna’s reaction when she sees it. She takes no notice, almost stepping in it before the Ranger puts out an arm to stop her. She looks up at him, alarmed.

RANGER
Hold on. There’s water in this town,
isn’t there? Something else is going
on here. You wouldn’t risk staying
here, killing your son. You have
water stashed somewhere,
don’t you?

McKENNA
Even if I did, I’m still trapped.

RANGER
Why?

McKenna doesn’t answer. She crouches down next to small puddle.

RANGER
You have horses in you barn, don’t
you? I thought I heard horses out
there earlier.

She doesn’t answer, and the Ranger crouches down next to her. There’s a tiny, red fish swimming in circles in the puddle, looking for a way out.

RANGER
(tipping up his hat)
Can you see that?

McKENNA
Yes. I see it.

RANGER
How the hell did that fish get in there?
Fish still can’t walk, right?
Wait, do fish walk around here?

McKENNA
(sighing)
The fish didn’t go anywhere, Bob.
It didn’t come from anywhere.
It’s always been right there.
It’s everything around it that changed.

The Ranger stands up quickly, something in her answer making him remember his mission.

RANGER
We’re leaving tomorrow. First light.
We should already be gone.
They walk on in silence a while longer.

McKENNA
Did you stop to see your father on the way?

RANGER
Yeah.

McKENNA
Did you see your uncle Ron?

He ignores the question. She points to the pistol on his hip.

McKENNA
If you were at your dad’s gun store, why
didn’t you get yourself another one?

RANGER
(laughing)
You recognize her, huh?

McKENNA
‘Course I do. And it’s still weird to
call it "her." Don’t you do that with
boats? Not guns?

RANGER
I don’t remember. Never had a boat.

McKENNA
Didn’t that gun almost kill you? Didn’t
your father...

RANGER
(interrupting)
Even now, it wouldn’t have mattered
which gun I would have
picked out of that case. He had taken a
part out of every single weapon in his shop to
make sure I would never kill no one.
At least I know what happens with this
gun. If I switched it with something else,
that gun might shoot backwards.

McKENNA
Why would he risk your life to keep you...

RANGER
(interrupting)
He thought it would make me tough, I guess.
Force me to fight instead of shoot. I don’t
know. He seemed to think those two things
had a different result, as if every fight
didn’t usually end on the ground, with thumbs
in mouths and eyes, with a man killing another
man with anything he can grab. He thought
there could be a different outcome without
a bullet involved.

McKENNA
Maybe he convinced you. You must think
he was right...if you’re still carrying
a broken gun.
(pause)
What did your father name it again?
It was a girl’s name, wasn’t it?

RANGER
(laughing hard)
Yeah, it was hard enough to grow up
carrying a broken gun...

McKENNA
(laughing with him)
But it’s even harder growing up
carrying a gun named "Sue."

They walk on a while. The Ranger pulls his hat back down.

RANGER
(suddenly serious)
McKenna, what happened to Gray?

She starts to speak, hesitates, then Robby runs up, and she drops her head. Robby skids to a stop, out of breath.

RANGER
You must be Robert.

Robby doesn’t say anything. He just takes a protective step towards his mother and eyeballs the Ranger up and down. McKenna reaches down and straightens the boy’s huge shirt.

McKENNA
(to Robby)
When are you gonna stop wearing these
and start wearing your own clothes?
You realize that his shirts aren’t
going anywhere? Your realize they’ll
be waiting for you to grow into them?

RANGER
(to Robby)
Hey, You want to see something?

The Ranger turns around, and Robby follows him, staying a cautious distance behind. The Ranger stops at the small mud puddle and squats next to it.

RANGER
Look.

ROBBY
(squatting next to him)
Huh? I don’t see...wow!

Robby sees the tiny, red fish darting around and sits down hard in the sand next to the puddle. He excitedly pokes at the fish, chasing it around the puddle with his finger. Then he stands up, eyes wide, and points further down the riverbed.

ROBBY
You want to see something?

Robby runs about 50 feet down the ditch then waits impatiently until the Ranger and McKenna catch up. Robby stands proudly over a head-sized hole in the ground.

RANGER
(laughing)
Boy, when you say you’re gonna
show someone something, you don’t
show them the hole "the something"
was in instead.

ROBBY
No. Look!

Robby reaches into the hole and pulls out a rock.

RANGER
That’s a nice rock, boy. You find
that out here, huh?

ROBBY
Nope, I ain’t saying where I found it, in
case there’s more. I just hide it there.
What do you think?

The Ranger tips up his hat again and squints at the rock in Robby’s hand, not sure what kind of reaction he wants.

RANGER
So...it looks...like a dog, right?

ROBBY
No! It looks like a gun!

RANGER
(looking closer)
Hey, you’re right. In fact, that looks so
much like a gun, that might have really
been a gun 100 years ago.

ROBBY
There weren’t no guns 100 years ago.

RANGER
How do you know? They could have all
turned into rocks. Like that. Like this...

The Ranger pulls his gray gun from its holster and holds it up in the sun. He moves next to Robby’s rock. McKenna frowns.

RANGER
Hard to tell them apart, ain’t it?
Now, ask your ma if there were people
100 years ago.

ROBBY
(to his mother)
Ma, were there people 100 years ago?

McKENNA
Of course.

RANGER
(reholstering his weapon)
Then there were guns.

ROBBY
But there weren’t no guns in the Bible.

RANGER
So? There weren’t no dinosaurs either.

ROBBY
(confused)
I know.

Robby drops his rock back into his hole and kicks a thin layer of dirt over it.

ROBBY
(scoffs)
There weren’t no guns in the Bible.

RANGER
How do you know? They spoke another
language back then.

Robby scratches his head.

RANGER
(exhales deeply)
Tell you what, if there’s guns in the
Bible, and I’m right, I’ll trade you that
rock for a real gun, for my gun.

Alarmed, McKenna grabs his arm. The Ranger gives her a reassuring look, shaking his head "no."

ROBBY
Ma? Is today Sunday?

McKENNA
I don’t know anymore.

Robby climbs out of the riverbed and runs off. McKenna starts after him.

McKENNA
Robby! Don’t let me catch you in
that church! Don’t you dare go town! Wait!

The Ranger grabs her arm and turns her around.

RANGER
Don’t worry. Ain’t no guns in the Bible.
(calling to Robby)
Hey, boy!

The Ranger picks the boy’s rock out of the hole and throws it toward him. Robby lets it fall at his feet, then picks it up.

RANGER
It goes in your belt, son.

Robby pulls up his shirt tail and pushes the rock down his pants. The song "Fox on the Run" fades back in.

SONG
"I know a bunch of girls who take
it on the floor, the day is nearly
over and the hounds are at my door."

EXT. CHURCH TENT - LATER THAT DAY
The Preacher stands on a box expounding to a row of faces so dust-covered and motionless that they’re almost completely invisible against their surroundings. The Preacher struggles with a cough, then speaks even louder.

PREACHER
What more of a sign do people need?!
We’ve had a dead horse roaming this
goddamn town since the last leaves fell!
A dead horse walks past you on the street
and a little boy throws a rock clean
through the hole in its head and you
don’t think that’s strange? That that’s
some kind of a sign? What more do you
need? A black moon? A green sun?
A rain of lizards?!

The Preacher steps off his box and walks up close to the row of people. There’s about five of them, but as the Preacher looks real close at their eyes and necks for signs of life, it’s clear that about half of them have long since died where they were sitting. He goes back to his box.

PREACHER
(voice growing stronger)
But I’ve been thinking, brothers and
sisters. The alcohol idea I had earlier
might not have been the answer. In fact,
it might not have made much sense at all.
And without water or whiskey to drink,
there’s only one answer left, only one
thing left to quench this thirst...

Robby peeks his head in from around a corner. The Preacher sees the boy spying, but continues his sermon.

PREACHER
What can quench this thirst?
Only one thing...

He searches everyone’s eyes for signs of life.

PREACHER
Blood.

At the sound of this word, one of the dusty faces in the crowd opens its eyes. There’s a savage thirst visible in the face’s dazed, cloudy gaze.
Suddenly, the Preacher notices Robby again and points at him.

PREACHER
(voice booming)
You! Speak! What brings you here?

ROBBY
Sir, uh, were there guns in the Bible?

The Preacher laughs loud and opens his hands to the congregation.

PREACHER
See that? I forgot my white collar
this morning, but this young man recognizes
the voice of a man of God without the
uniform! Or does he? With a crazy
question like that I’m not sure. So,
to answer you...of course there were
guns in the Bible! Only they didn’t
use "gun." They used other words, like
"rock," or "jealousy," or "love."
Tear out every page with those words
and circle them and you’ve found all the guns
they were hiding in there. For example...

He coughs and launches a gray, mouse-sized ball of snot out of his mouth.

PREACHER
(voice rattling)
"Love, for thy day is near. Let no
debt remain outstanding, except the
continuing debt to love one another,
for he who loves his fellow man has
fulfilled the law. Love your neighbor
as yourself. Love does no harm to
its neighbor. Therefore love
is the fulfillment of the law..."
(pause)
Wait! What half of the book is this?!
This is New Testament stuff!
Did I not tear it right down the middle?
He rubs his gnarly head in frustrations and continues.

PREACHER
Anyhow, now, take that quote and write
the word "gun" over all the "loves."
See? That’s a lot of goddamn guns.

ROBBY
(mumbling)
It’s supposed to be "gun thy neighbor?"

PREACHER
Damn right. You know, boy, that line in
"Romans" always confused me before, but
I think you’re on to something here.
"Gun" can be used just like "love." It’s
a verb and a noun, too! And I thought I
had nothing left to learn in the Book!
Thanks, boy! Now get the fuck out of here,
we’re talking about God likes he’s not here.
And that’s the rudest thing any man can do
to his father.
(pause)
‘Course what you’re doing right now ain’t
right in the Lord’s house neither.
So tell me, why do you have your hand
down your pants, son?!

Suddenly inspired, the Preacher steps forward again and takes a gun from a corpse sitting on a crate. Then, with a dramatic flourish, he grabs a handful of the tent wall, kicks at a post, and brings the tent down billowing around him. Sunlight explodes across all the faces, alive and dead, and a cloud of yellow dust swells around them all. The Preacher points his gun at the sky until his eyes adjust to the glare and he can see the sun burning above him.

PREACHER
(cocks the hammer)
Where is He? I’m gonna "love" him.
Wait, I think I see...there he is.
He fires the gun into the sky.

PREACHER
Don’t be shocked by that.
Yes, I’ve fired at bullet at God, but
that shows that I have more faith today
than I did yesterday. Why?
Because I wouldn’t try to kill someone
that I didn’t think existed. This is
truly the happiest day of my life.

As the dust clears, the Preacher notices Robby again.
Robby releases his gun-shaped rock in his pants then turns and starts running. The Preacher calls after him.

PREACHER
And boy, don’t ever come back around here
again! You’re looking more and more
like red drumstick with every day that passes!

Johnny Cash’s song "The Man Comes Around" plays again.

SONG
"A man on a pale horse.
And the man that sat upon him was death.
And hell followed with him..."

EXT. PORCH - SUNSET
McKenna and the Ranger are sitting on the edge of her porch. The sun is a bloodshot eye on the horizon. Nick Cave’s song, "People Ain’t No Good" plays.

SONG
"But in their hearts they’re bad.
They’ll stick by you if they could.
Ah, but that’s just bullshit, baby.
People just ain’t no good...."

RANGER
Why’d you send me that letter?
McKenna looks surprised for a second then shakes her head.

McKENNA
I didn’t send you a letter. Robby must
have.

She takes his hand.

McKENNA
Listen to me, I’m responsible for Gray’s
death. He knew about Red. He had a
plan to keep me all to himself...

She fades off, unable to continue. The Ranger stares a moment, then takes his hat off for the first time. His steel gray hair crawls over his ruddy ears, a white line on his forehead divides his sunburned face from his skull.

RANGER
Is he still here?

She says nothing.

RANGER
Tell me everything.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - FLASHBACK - CENTER OF TOWN - DAY
Gray Wendler is standing in the middle of a circle of bickering townspeople. Gray scratches his face wearily then puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles loud. A horse appears, cutting its way through the crowd. The horse is recognizable as Red’s white Palomino, before it was shot through the head. The horse is bright-white, clear-eyed, and strong, snorting and stamping a hoof and shaking a fly off its ear. Gray mounts it and turns it around. McKenna and Robby are standing toward the back of the crowd.

GRAY
If you start leaving town this month,
you’ll have enough water to carry on
the journey. If you put it off too
long, the trip will get drier and drier.
Just like this town.

Indistinct arguing comes from the crowd. McKenna pulls Robby in closer to her legs. Gray turns his horse to look at everyone, and his voice gets louder.

GRAY
You have to listen to me! We’ve had three
more wells dry up this week. This town
is dying. You have to think about where
y’all are gonna go...

MUFFLED VOICE
Bullshit.

Gray turns his horse again and sees Red pushing through the crowd. Red stops in front of a man with a dirty blue cap with an American flag stitched on it and bags over each shoulder. Red grabs the man’s coat collar and stuffs a long package into one of his bags. Smiling, he lightly slaps the man’s face.

RED
Make sure that gets delivered
on your way out. Thanks, boy.

Red pushes past the mailman and steps forward into the circle. Gray’s horse is startled by Red and flares its nostrils at him in anger. Red stumbles back a step, then comes forward again. Red puts two fingers in his mouth and tries to imitate Gray’s whistling. Instead he spits all over and the horse whirls around and rears up, even more spooked. Gray steadies it.

GRAY
What was that you said?

RED
I said "bullshit." You know what?
I’ve seen a dog come when you whistle,
never a horse though.

The crowd behind Gray parts, as does the crowd around Red.

RED
(to the crowd)
I think our sheriff here doesn’t give
a shit about water. I think our man
here is hiding something.

The crowd murmurs and looks around at each other. Robby shrinks behind one of McKenna’s legs.

GRAY
I don’t know what he’s talking about.
But you’re gambling with your lives if
you stay here. This town is...

RED
I’ll gamble with my life. I’ll gamble
that you aren’t going anywhere.

GRAY
What are you talking about?

RED
I saw you. Last night. And three nights
before that. You were creaking around
behind houses with a wheelbarrow.

The townspeople murmur and all eyes are on Gray.

RED
You were digging somewhere.
Or digging everywhere. Either way,
you were looking for something.

GRAY
(laughing)
You’re wrong. Don’t know how wrong you are.

RED
(smiling)
And you were gonna send these people
into the desert with your word instead
of water? What’s buried here that’s
got our "true blue" sheriff risking all
our lives?

GRAY
(scowling)
Red, don’t act like you give a shit
about these people. It just doesn’t
suit you.

The crowd is growing louder. People start shouting over each other, asking Gray questions, demanding answers.

GRAY
(to the crowd)
Listen to me. There’s no getting
around the facts here.
(to a man in back)
John, your well dried up last Sunday.
Am I right? I checked three nights
after and didn’t get a drop of water
in the bucket...

As the crowd continues to angrily move in, Red walks over to McKenna and her son.

RED
Gray, your wife sure don’t look
like she’s taking her family anywhere.
And, you know, that seems dangerous,
with a child ‘n’ all. That’s sure no
way to take care of my son.
Uh, I mean, your son.

Gray’s eyes narrow, and his hand moves towards his gun. The crowd quiets quickly when they see Red’s gun has already cleared its holster. Gray moves his hand away from his gun, and Red laughs loud and points his gun at Gray’s horse’s head instead. Robby steps out from behind McKenna, eyes wide, shaking his head.

ROBBY
No!

Red ignores him, staring into the horse’s clear, brown eyes. Lighting flashes in the distance, then the sound of thunder.

GRAY
Don’t do it.

RED
You hear that? It’s gonna rain anyway.
There’ll be plenty to drink if you’re
face-up on the ground, mouth open and
waiting for it.

Thunder rumbles louder as the crowds moves back. Red keeps his gun to side of the horse’s head. Red closes one eye. The horse closes its eye, too, seemingly aware of its situation.

GRAY
Don’t do it, Red.

RED
Why not? You don’t care. You ain’t
going nowhere. What do you need a
horse for?

GRAY
Don’t...

Red fires. The front right leg of the horse buckles and it lurches forward. It slumps forward on this leg for a long moment, then it stands back up straight. It turns and blinks at Red. Red stares, gun smoking, as blood runs from a hole in the horse’s head behind its eye. It turns its head towards him slowly, until both eyes are on him. In shock, more people in the crowd move back. Some run. Red’s gun hand starts to shake and he angrily shoves his pistol back in the holster. He stares a couple seconds longer, impatiently waiting for the horse to fall.

RED
(muttering)
First horse I ever killed...
and it won’t fall?!

GRAY
(moving for his gun)
God. Damn...

RED
Let’s see if you know that trick, too.

Before Gray can clear his weapon, Red pulls his gun again and puts a bullet through Gray’s eye. McKenna screams as Gray’s hat rides a cloud of blood and brains to the ground behind him and he tumbles back out of his saddle. The rest of the crowd runs, and someone drags a screaming McKenna away. Robby is carried off, hate burning in his eyes. Red turns back to the horse, clearly haunted by its refusal to fall. Johnny Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" plays.

SONG
"You can have it all. My empire of dirt.
I will let you down. I will make you hurt."

After a moment, he puts away his gun and slowly swings himself up onto the horse’s back. He strokes its mane, his hand streaking the long blonde hairs with blood. He digs a heel into its haunches and, in slow-motion, the horse snorts and shakes blood from its face. Red and his dead horse ride away.

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - PRESENT DAY - PORCH
The Ranger and Tom are piling supplies on McKenna’s porch. Sweating, the Ranger drops his coat on some saddlebags. When the Ranger goes insides, Tom digs through the Ranger’s coat to find the poster he had tucked away earlier. Tom unfolds it then unrolls it and holds it out in front of him with both hands. He squints as he reads something that disturbs him. Then he starts to laugh. The Ranger walks up behind him to look over his shoulder. Tom begins to read out loud.

TOM
"Wanted: For the murder of one
white Palomino stallion, three
lizards, various flies...
oh yeah, and Gray Wendler.
Reward: Five bucks."

Tom crumbles the poster where he’s holding it and turns his head to the Ranger behind him.

TOM
That’s kind of insulting to Gray
and his family, ain’t it? Listed
after the flies...

RANGER
A Palomino is a color, not a breed.

TOM
...not to mention the fact that Red’s
sketch seems to be...
(squinting again)
What’s he doing right there in the picture?

RANGER
Kicking a puppy.

TOM
Right.

RANGER
Red made that poster as a joke. Sent it
to me. Back before he killed anybody,
I reckon.

Tom coughs and rolls the poster back up, then folds it in half. Then half again. He struggles to fold it a third time.

TOM
(thoughtfully to himself)
I didn’t know Palomino’s could be white.
(to the Ranger)
Hey, Did you know that you can’t fold
anything in half more that five times?

RANGER
Don’t you mean "tear" anything in half?

TOM
I don’t remember. Sounds right.
You ever try to tear anything in half
more that once?

RANGER
Just the Bible.

TOM
Me, too! Oh, hey, tell me again
why you stopped at a gun
store on the way here and didn’t bring
a gun that works.

The Ranger walks to the end of the porch, staring at the sky.

RANGER
Did I ever tell you why my dad was
fired from Smith & Wesson?

TOM
Nope.

RANGER
He was stealing random part from guns
so that he could take all those springs
and pins and screws and put together his
own pistol one day. Only the parts were
from 12 different guns, and the puzzle
pieces didn’t fit together when he sat
down to do it. So he got frustrated
and stole all 12 of those guns instead.
That was, of course, his last day at work.
That was the same day he started his
calendar, actually.

TOM
(muttering)
Whole family’s crazy. Guess that’s why
you never know what day it is.

RANGER
All you need is the year. Maybe the hour.
Sometimes.

Tom shrugs and opens his own gun to check the cylinder.

TOM
Well, I got all we need right here.
And five bucks is five bucks.
It’ll pay for his bullets, anyway.
(snaps the cylinder shut)
Where do you think Red’s hiding?
Actually, don’t answer that.
I’ll find him before you finish packin’.
Come on. Let’s wrap this shit up before
I get sick of thinking about it.

Tom holsters his gun and pulls his hat down tight, sighing.

TOM
You ever think about all these names
in this town?
"Red?" "Gray?" All we need is a
"Blue" and we got an American flag.
A dirty one, at least.

EXT. UNDER A TREE - DAY
Red’s crew is gathered around a huge, dead tree, laughing and high-stepping around the corpses of townspeople that someone dragged into the shade. They’re drunk, dying, and still screwing around. There’s a pile of frayed rope nearby, and Jackass is cutting off sections of the rope and adding to a pile of nooses he’s stacking at his feet. There’s a noose hanging from one of the lower branches of the tree, and Little Joe steps up onto a corpse to put his head inside and pull it tight. Egg is sitting silent with his back to the trunk. Red is sitting silent with his back against the other side. Suddenly Mud lunges forward and shoves Little Joe off the corpse, and they all laugh when the dry rope snaps.

LITTLE JOE
Hey!

RED
Don’t worry, kid. That rope’s about as
dry as my tongue right now. You ain’t
in no danger. Hey, grab that body over
there. I always hated that bastard.

Mud and Jackass pull one of the corpses off the pile and struggle to get its head into the noose. Once the rope is tight, they jump back to let the body hang. This time the rope doesn’t snap. It creaks and stretches the neck of the corpse until the head finally pops off and flies up into the tree, pinballing around the dead branches until it finally hits the ground and rolls away.

MUD
(jumping back)
Jesus Christ!

LITTLE JOE
(falling backwards)
Told you that shit was dangerous!

RED
(without looking up)
Then what the fuck did you put your
head in the noose for?!

LITTLE JOE
I don’t know. Why the fuck are
we hanging corpses?

RED
(laughs)
Good question.

The men laugh and Jackass drags the headless body out of the shade. The corpse’s pants rip loose in his hands. Jackass coughs and drops the pants in disgust when he notices the corpse’s legs are still inside them.

JACKASS
Better question would be...
(gagging)
...why the hell does a corpse
continue to shit sand?!

RED
(finally looking up)
Hey, anyone want to go kill that crazy
Preacher? I think he’s still here.

No one says anything, and Red shrugs and sighs. Little Joe takes a swing at Mud when he walks by. Mud dodges it easily, then grabs his arm and shoves him backwards. Little Joe gives him a murderous stare from the ground.

MUD
You sure you wanna try? ‘Cause if
you miss, you better sleep standing
up for the rest of your life because
one day you’ll wake up and I’ll be
standing there too and on that day...

RED
(kicking dirt at Mud)
Shut that shit up.

Red stands and walks over to help Little Joe up.

RED
You know, just like you, Joe, Egg was
once the kid that followed me around.
It was back in Bisbée. And he was even
smaller than you then, if you can believe
it. See, everyone gets one of those, a
second shadow.
And the kid that follows you around
sometimes becomes too important.
Two protégés are a problem. And three...
well, it’s always fatal.

LITTLE JOE
What the hell are you talking about?

EGG
(not looking up)
I wasn’t no second shadow.

RED
Yeah, you were. You were my second
shadow all right. Still are. Luckily,
it’s easy to tell the shadows apart.
Yours is the one with the spiders in it.

JACKASS
Anyone know who lives in the last house
on the left side of Main Street?

RED
No one. That was the sixth man I
killed. Burned down his house, too,
if I recall.

JACKASS
He have a boy?

RED
Nope. Just a dog.
Jackass frowns in confusion and takes a long drink.

RED
Hey, anyone know where there’s any horses
around here to drink?

MUD
Nope. Last horse around is that
dead one of yours.

JACKASS
(scratching his head)
I thought we were looking for something.

RED
You sure there ain’t no horses ‘round
here? Thought I heard some this morning.
We’re running out of time, you know.
And I get the feeling some strangers
rode in here recently. That’s more
horses. We might need the blood from
them to to make it through our last day.

JACKASS
What about your horse?

RED
There ain’t no blood in that thing.
It runs on its hate for me.

MUD
Last day, huh? Drinking whiskey instead
of water, my head hurts so bad I’ve
been thinking about cutting it off.
How much time you think we got left?

RED
Enough.

EXT. CENTER OF TOWN - DAY
Tom is alone, riding slowly through town. He weaves his horse through the deserted street, up to the storefronts to look inside. As he approaches one of the last buildings, Tom’s startled to see Little Joe crash out the door with stack of candy bars crushed in his hand and a huge rainbow sucker sticking out of his mouth. Little Joe freezes and stares up at Tom’s gun. The sucker drops from his mouth and hits the ground in a puff of dust.

TOM
Pick up your candy, boy. You can
still eat it. Just wipe off the dirt.

Little Joe picks up the sucker and shows holds it up high.

LITTLE JOE
See, no dirt on it. Ain’t got enough spit
left to eat a sucker.

Tom squints to see that the sucker is still dry as a bone, not a speck of dust on it. He starts to reach back for his canteen when Robby suddenly turns a corner and startles them both. When Tom turns back around, Little Joe’s gun is out and pointing at his face.

TOM
(still staring at Little Joe)
Robby, what the hell are you doing?
You’re supposed to be packin’ up.
(to Little Joe)
Don’t make me kill you, boy.

They stare at each other in silence, and Little Joe’s gun starts to shake. Tom notices the Little Joe’s hesitation and starts to lower his weapon.

TOM
I’m not gonna shoot you. I’m looking for Red.

Little Joe puts his gun down, and glances at Robby real quick.

LITTLE JOE
Red’s busy. He’s trying to find what
this little bastard’s been hiding.

ROBBY
We ain’t hiding nothing!

LITTLE JOE
Yeah, right. That’s why you and your
ma are hiding all those horses in the
barn. That’s why you and your ma are
the only two people in town who can
still run and break a sweat doing it.

Robby balls his fists and starts walking towards Little Joe.
Little Joe laughs, throws his gun away into the street, drops the rest of his candy bars, and balls his fists, too. Tom starts to raise his gun again.

LITTLE JOE
Fine, you wanna fight? Just let us fight,
mister. We’re the same age, anyway.

Tom laughs is disbelief at this. Then, as he narrows his eyes to look closer, he’s horrified by Little Joe’s appearance.

TOM
How old are you, kid?

Little Joe grins, teeth taking up half his face like a dog’s skull.

LITTLE JOE
That’s right. Thought I was older,
didn’t ya? Everyone thinks water is
good for you, helps you grow strong?
Nope! Take away water and you jump
ahead about 10 years! If I’d have known
that, I’d have stopped drinking it sooner!

Little Joe throws a wild punch and catches Robby on the top of the head. Robby falls down, and Little Joe is on his back quick, rabbit-punching him in the spine. Robby struggles to get up, then starts scratching at the dirt under him. Tom dismounts and runs over, grabbing Little Joe by the back of his belt and the collar of his coat. He throws little Joe 10 feet down the street, shaking his head at how far the kid flew.

LITTLE JOE
(coughing)
You’re fucking dead.

TOM
No, you’re fucking dead, kid.
Throwing you was like throwing a
damn cat! No, actually, it was
more like throwing half a cat!
(spits on the ground)
Look at you, boy. A goddamn scarecrow.

Little Joe brushes himself off and runs to grab his gun from the street. Tom stares him down as he reholsters it, eyes blazing, and turns and runs away. Tom leans down and helps Robby up off the ground. He straightens the boys twisted shirt and folds his collar back down.

TOM
If you’re gonna grab a handful of dirt,
you should throw it in his eyes, son.
Hey, was that kid right about the horses?
You two got horses in that barn?

Robby doesn’t answer, and Tom pulls one of the boy’s arms back through a flapping shirt sleeve.
TOM
Either your shirt is growing, or you’re
shrinking.

ROBBY
It was my dad’s shirt.

TOM
And I thought I heard a train whistle
last night. Are there tracks around
here?

ROBBY
No. There ain’t never been a train
through here. You must have heard
some animal whistling or something.
Mind playing trick on ya. Like with
the horses you heard.

Tom steps back, brushing a final clump of dirt from the boy’s hair. Robby looks up at Tom affectionately, then goes back to the spot where he was being pummeled and starts digging again.

ROBBY
I was trying to pull this loose.

Robby wrestles a small rock from the dirt and holds it up. It’s vaguely heart-shaped. Tom holds it up, then tucks it into Robby’s front shirt pocket and affectionately rubs his head. Robby watches as Tom checks his gun and climbs back onto his horse.

ROBBY
You going after Red?

TOM
Just go home.

ROBBY
I’ll bet I can find him first!

TOM
Damn it, boy. You get home now.

Robby starts moving away from him.

ROBBY
Don’t worry. I’ll find him first, and I’ll
save your life. I owe ya.

TOM
Hold on...

Robby stares at Tom, starting to speak then hesitating. Tom Waits’ song, "What’s He Building In There" plays again.

SONG
"He has no dog and he has no friends...
and his lawn is dying..."

ROBBY
I’ll tell you a secret. I had this
idea yesterday. I’ve been filling
Red’s holster with thorns
while he’s sleeping. He’s so far gone, I could
probably do it while he was awake.
It’ll slow him down enough for you
to get off a shot!

TOM
Wait, we’re leaving today...

ROBBY
(starting to run)
I can do it if I’m sneaky enough.
He’s been drunk for 13 days and counting.

Tom turns his horse to follow him, but Robby starts running.

ROBBY
Don’t worry. There’s almost enough
thorns in there by now. Oh, yeah.
I’ve been soaking his coat since Sunday
so don’t smoke around him.

Tom heels his horse to catch the boy, but Robby turns a corner behind a store and is gone when Tom gets there.

EXT. PORCH - DAY
The Ranger and McKenna are standing on the steps. There’s a horrified look on McKenna’s face. She’s reacting to something that the Ranger just said.

McKENNA
How long?

RANGER
I don’t know. Don’t matter. Long enough.

McKENNA
(shaking her head)
I can’t think about that right now. We
have to find Robby.

Warren Zevon’s song "My Shit’s Fucked Up" plays again.

SONG
"I had a dream.
Aw, shucks, oh well,
Now it’s all fucked up.
It’s shot to hell..."

EXT. FARMHOUSE - DUSK
Tom is tying his horse to a hitching post. He pats its neck affectionately and turns to a farmhouse behind him. Distracted by a noise in the house, he doesn’t finish tying the horse and walks toward the house, hand over his gun. The sounds of breaking glass and laughter can be heard inside. Mud comes running out of the back door and stops when he sees Tom. There’s a staredown, then they draw. Tom’s pointing his gun at a drunken, dehydrated Mud before he can even raise his pistol. Mud walks backwards, glancing toward the house, looking for help. He backs up in the yard towards the well, almost stumbling over a tipped wheelbarrow full of sand. Mud stares at Tom with anger and starts swearing vengeance.

MUD
You just better watch your back, boy.
You just better sleep with one eye
open. ‘Cause one day, when you least
expect it, when you’re relaxed and
sitting on the toilet or playing cards
or telling your kid a bedtime story,
or maybe all three at the same time,
I’m gonna be there, right behind you,
and on that day I’m gonna...

Tom fires and calmly watches a massive cloud of blood and dust explode out the back of Mud’s head and hat.

TOM
No, you’re not.

Mud’s nearly headless corpse stumbles backwards and falls into the well. Red comes crashing out of the house at the sound of the gunshot and runs up smiling, eyes bloodshot. The two men stare at each other, Tom’s gun aimed at Red’s head, Red’s hand flexing above the gun on his hip. Then, suddenly, there’s the sound of a splash when Mud’s body hits the bottom of the well. At the unexpected sound of water splashing, Tom’s eyes go wide in shock and Red’s smiles slips. Red takes advantage of Tom’s surprise and, almost quicker than the eye can register, pulls his pistol and puts a bullet in Tom McMaster’s chest. Tom grunts with the impact, backs up a couple steps, and sits down on the edge of the well, defeated and dying. Red walks over to him, then stops to notice his firing hand is bleeding.

RED
What the hell...
(wiggling his fingers)
What the hell is going on here?
What’s growing out of my hand...

Red turns his gun over and blinks in amazement at the bloody thorns sticking in and out of his knuckles and the top of his hand. Red blinks and notices Tom again and savagely shoves him backwards to send him tumbling down the well after Mud. Right then, a small, emaciated boy turns the corner and approaches the well. Red’s looking at the boy in confusion when there’s another loud splash as Tom hits the water at the bottom. The boy’s eyes go wide at the splash and he excitedly reaches for the bucket. Red fires again. The boy slumps to the ground and with one arm, Red picks him up dumps him down the well, too. There’s another splash.

RED
Who the fuck was that?
(yelling down the well)
Why the hell are there kids still
running around here? Hey, Mud!
Do you see him, too?!

Tom’s horse turns the corner, ears cocked, looking for water or his master. Without any emotion, Red walks up, puts his gun behind the horse’s eye and shoots it in the head. It slumps forward onto its front knees, then drops like a bomb in the dust. Right then, Egg comes out the door and runs up, lips cracked, looking half-dead.

EGG
What’s going on? Someone say water?
(running to the well)
You find water in there?

Red smiles and walks quickly past Egg to get to the well first. He grabs the bucket off the crank. Smiling, Red drops the bucket down the well. The handle spins as the rope unrolls. Egg licks his lip in anticipation. Then the bucket hits the bodies at the bottom with a loud thump.

RED
Sorry, Egg. You heard that?
Dry as a bone. Just like the rest.

Nick Cave’s version of the song "Stagger Lee" plays.

SONG
"So he walked through the rain
and he walked through the mud
till he came to a place called
‘The Bucket of Blood’..."

Egg sits on the ground wearily, pulling out a bottle of whiskey, dropping it when he sees the freshly killed horse. He kneels down next to it and puts a finger in the hole in its head. He licks the blood off his finger with a satisfying sigh.

EGG
Hey, did you see that dog that came
back here?

RED
Huh? No, just that horse. Ain’t no
dogs left around here. Kids neither.

EGG
(after a pause)
Hey, you seen Mud?

SONG
"He said, ‘Well, bartender, it’s plain
to see, I’m that bad motherfucker
called Stagger Lee.’"

RED
(laughs loud)
Huh? No. You crazy? You can’t have
mud without any water!

EXT. DEAD CORNFIELD - DUSK
Robby is walking through dead and sagging corn stalks, holding the extra length of sleeves on his oversized shirt up to his nose to stop the bleeding. He slows down as the shadow of a boy approaches on the horizon. The boy is walking front of the setting sun, and even with his hand shielding his eyes, Robby can’t really see anything but a shadow his own size. When they intersect, this shadow of a boy holds out a hand with a shredded half of a Bible fluttering in the hot wind. Robby reaches out to take it, but the shadow of the boy won’t let go. The shadow points to Robby’s front shirt pocket. Robby pulls out the heart-shaped rock from his pocket and hands it to the shadow. The shadow releases the pages and Robby pushes the half of the book into his front shirt pocket to replace the heart-shaped stone. The large Bible pages slip into his huge pocket easily. When Robby looks up, the shadow of the boy is gone. Instead, he sees the shadow of a dog disappear over the hill. He pats his stuffed pocket to make sure the pages are really there. Then he looks up to see two more shadows coming towards him in the sunset. It’s the Ranger and McKenna running towards him.

McKENNA
Where were you?! What happened?!

ROBBY
I’m okay.

The Ranger grabs his shoulders.

RANGER
Where’s Tom?

ROBBY
He went to find Red.

RANGER
(head down)
We’re leaving.

Robby reaches into his pocket and shows them a thorn.

ROBBY
No, look. it’s okay. He’ll be
okay. I slowed him down.

RANGER
(shaking his head)
We’re leaving town. Right now.
As soon as we get home, as soon
as we get to the horses.

EXT. WOODS - DUSK
Egg, Red, Jackass, and Little Joe are walking through the woods. Little Joe rubs his bloody knuckles thoughtfully. Egg is walking with his eyes closed, hands out, fingers brushing the dead tree trunks as they walk. Egg suddenly gets excited and opens his eyes when they walk through a certain patch of dead trees. The letters of Egg’s name are carved deep into every trunk, in some places covering every inch of the bark that a man could reach. Egg walks faster and gets in front of the other two men. Then, as Red and Little Joe watch, he steps up to a gigantic dead tree and shoves it down. Red is shocked and seems almost to respect Egg for an instant.

RED
How the fuck did you just --

EGG
(smiling wearily)
Wanna see it again?

Egg steps up to another tree and shoves it over with a splintering crash.

LITTLE JOE
Holy shit.

RED
I agree. Holy. Shit.

Red steps forward to push on a tree, and it doesn’t budge.

EGG
No. Try this one.

Egg smacks a nearby trunk with the palm of his hand and Red walks over to it. Wrapping around the tree, Egg’s name is cut into the trunk a foot deep over and over. Red pushes on the tree, and it creaks alarmingly.

RED
How long you been putting your name
on these?

EGG
Uh, about six...six...sixteen. Years.

LITTLE JOE
Uh, why?

EGG
It was an idea I had once.

JACKASS
"Once?" For 16 years? Sounds more like
an idea you keep having.

RED
What idea?

Red has stopped walking and is staring at him waiting for an answer. Egg shrugs and points to a house through the trees.

EGG
Well, um, you remember way back before
everything, when it was common knowledge
how Gray Wendler had the best five
horses in the state? And, for awhile
horses were getting stolen, but no
one could ever get his horses because,
even though he only got around to
building half his fence, he didn’t need
any security around back ‘cause of
these trees. This line of trees was
the only trees in town, and, back when
they were alive, they were too dense to
ride a horse through. And...

RED
Get to the point, you crazy fucker.

EGG
So I weakened them. If someone sees
me putting my initials on something, they
don’t think anything of it. Even if I
do it for a decade. And I figured if
I couldn’t ride those horses out through
the trees, maybe one day I could ride
those horse out through the trees instead.

RED
Wait. What? Why?

EGG
(impatiently)
To steal the horses. Why else? Or
one horse. Gray would never follow me
through those trees. Back when they were
alive anyway. I can push down the ones
I weakened any time I want. No one else
can do it. I have the only map
safelythrough. Gray wouldn’t risk one of his
horses to follow me, especially that
white Palomino. There’d be nothing but
broken legs and broken necks as soon as
they hit the wrong tree.

Egg trails off and stares into the distance. The Palomino is standing in a clearing visible on the other side of the trees.

RED
There you are, you dead bastard.
Look at that goddamn thing. Horse
has a fucking bullet hole through
its head, but it still wanders back
to its first home if I don’t tie it up...

Red walks out of the tree line and grabs the horse’s bridle. It turns to look at him with its yellow eyes, and follows him back toward the trees. Suddenly Red stops and stands staring at the trees. Jackass opens another bottle of whiskey.

JACKASS
What is it, boss?

Red mounts the horse in silence, turning it around to face the woods.

JACKASS
(confused)
What are you doing? You don’t want
to weave that drunken horse through
here do you? Let’s just go around.

RED
Any of you see a boy hiding in those trees?

JACKASS
(even more confused)
You mean that dog over there? You
told me I didn’t see it, remember?
Wait, what are you doing?

RED
Got an idea.

JACKASS
(mumbling around the bottle)
No one ever saw a dog climb a tree.

Egg smiles and runs up to Red and the horse.

EGG
(eagerly)
You like my idea, huh? You want me
to show you what trees you can ride
through?

RED
(noticing Egg)
What? No. Shut up. Your idea was
fucking stupid. My idea’s better.
Let’s see how far a dead horse can
run through some dead trees...

Red heels the horse, and it gallops past the men and crunches into the undergrowth, heading fast for the first tree. Johnny Cash’s version of Soundgarden’s song "Rusty Cage" plays.

SONG
"You wired me awake and hit me with
a hand of broken nails. You tied
my lead and pulled my chain to
watch my blood begin to boil.
But I’m gonna break...
I’m gonna break my...
I’m gonna break my
rusty cage and run."

The dead horse moves quickly, suddenly more animated. It lowers its head and crashes into the first tree. The tree splinters at the point of impact, falling to the ground behind him. The men run to follow. The horse hits another tree, its body curling and shivering when its head connects with the trunk. The second tree creaks and falls, too. Blood and spittle run down the horse’s snout, and Red turns the horse again, kicking at its flanks even harder, thundering through the dead woods faster and faster and faster.

SONG
"Too cold to start a fire, I’m burning
diesel, burning dinosaur bones.
I’ll take the river down to still
water and ride a pack of dogs.
I’m gonna break...
I’m gonna break my...
I’m gonna break my
rusty cage and run."

Red and the horse head for a third and final tree, a huge oak that still looks alive in the middle of the dead and dying forest. Some green is still left on its branches, and not a single letter is carved into its trunk. Both heads down, Red and his dead, yellow horse plow into it, an unstoppable force into an immovable object. Both of them shudder. Then the horse drops to one knee, snorts some blood, and falls. Red jumps off just before the horse hits the dust. He steps back and stands over the horse a while. He lifts his hat and nudges the animal with his boot.

RED
Holy hell. I think it’s finally dead.

JACKASS
Again? You know, I never thought that
would be the last horse left.

LITTLE JOE
It ain’t. I know she’s hiding some.
There’s still horses on the Wendler farm.

Red starts walking toward the barn behind McKenna’s house, then he starts trotting.

RED
No there ain’t.

LITTLE JOE
I’m telling ya, I’ve heard ‘em. In the
night you can hear ‘em in there...

RED
(running faster)
I’m telling you. In about five seconds,
there ain’t gonna be no horses in this
town. That’s the fucking problem around here.
This town thinks it’s still a town because
it’s still got goddamn horses.

Red’s starts running as fast as he can. The White Stripes’ song "Jimmy The Exploder" plays.

SONG
"Yeah, Jimmy...do you want to explode now?"

Red stops at the barn doors behind McKenna’s house and rips the lock off its hinges with one bloody, thorn-covered hand. He flings the doors open and steps inside. His gang runs up behind him. They all stand in the doorway, eyes wide. There’s five healthy horses neighing and stamping their feet. Damp buckets and troughs of feed are in front of each horse in each pen. Jackass, Egg, and Little Joe grab the buckets and eagerly lick the last drips of moisture from the bottom. Red walks up to the nearest horse, pulls his gun and fires. With a bullet in its head, the horse kicks and then collapses. The rest of the horses scream in panic.
Red’s gang drop their buckets and move away in shock. Red moves to the next horse and fires again. It drops.

JACKASS
Boss, wait, we need...

SONG
"Yeah, monkey, now you seeing red now?
Yeah, monkey, jumping on the bed now.
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!"

Another gunshot and another horse crashes to the dirt floor.

RED
See! Look at that shit! See how they
drop! That’s what’s supposed to happen
when you shoot something in the head!

He executes the fourth horse but clicks on an empty chamber while aiming at the eye of the fifth. While he loads his gun, his men cautiously step up behind him.

EGG
Seriously. Wait.

JACKASS
Yeah, don’t kill them all.

LITTLE JOE
Kill it. Fuck it. Why the hell not?

RED
Damn right. I wish there was a goddamn
unicorn in here so I could shoot that, too.

JACKASS
A what?

LITTLE JOE
Or one with wings! Saw one in a book once.
Red smiles at the boy and ruffles his hair. Then he cocks his pistol and put the gun to the last horse’s eye again. Red hesitates, taking a long look at the animal for the first time.

RED
Hey, is that...

JACKASS
That’s the horse the Ranger rode in on.
A black Mustang. Saw it from a distance.

EGG
That ain’t the same horse. That Mustang
was barely broke. Snorting and bucking.
This one looks like it’s holding its breath.

Red stares at the horse for a long time. He lowers his gun and starts stroking its head affectionately. The Ranger’s horse is calm, almost unrecognizable in this uncharacteristic serene behavior. Its eyes are locked on Red’s. It’s love at first sight for both of them. Then the horse stomps a foot and snorts mucus onto Red’s chest. Red laughs and puts away his gun. He whispers in its ear then backs up.

RED
Yeah, that’s what I’ll call you.

JACKASS
What did you say to it? You named it "Blue?"

RED
No. I said "Blew." I named him "Blew."

JACKASS
That’s what I said. "Blue."

RED
Shut up.

Little Joe takes one of the buckets and walks over to position it under one of the dying horse’s heads. Thick blood trickles from the wound, the drips against the metal echoing through the barn. Then Red hears someone outside and turns to the open doors. He catches a glimpse of a young boy disappearing into the woods. Red seems nervous.

RED
Was that that Wendler kid?

LITTLE JOE
No. I just left him in town.

RED
Did you see...forget it.

Red leads the Mustang out and climbs on its back. Little Joe climbs on and sits behind him, his bucket of blood rattling in his hand. Then Egg climbs on, too, squeezed behind Little Joe, almost sitting on its tail. Surprisingly, the horse tolerates all three of them on its back. Jackass smiles and shakes his head, patting the horse’s neck.

JACKASS
Thanks, men, but that looks awful high,
and crowded. I think I’ll just walk
next to y’all.

The men look off into the setting sun. Right then, a gunshot rings out far in the distance.

RED
What the hell was that?

LITTLE JOE
Don’t know.

RED
Who’s shooting beside us? Ain’t nothing
left to kill.

Little Joe tips the bucket back to drink, then flashes a red-stained smile at Jackass on the ground.

LITTLE JOE
Want some?

JACKASS
(uncorking a bottle)
Maybe later.

The gang leaves the barn and head toward the sun, a strange shadow on the horizon, three heads on the back of a small black horse, and the shadow of a fourth man stumbling along beside it. This last shadow pulls a bottle from its coat, drains a bottle of whiskey, and stumbles off in another direction all alone. Michael Murphey’s version of the song "Big Iron" plays as they ride away.

SONG
"It wasn't long before this story
was relayed to Texas Red.But the outlaw didn't worry,
men that tried before were dead.
Twenty men had tried to take him.
Twenty men had made a slip.
Twenty one would be the Ranger
with the big iron on his hip."

EXT. BARN - MINUTES LATER
The Ranger is standing in the doorway to the barn while McKenna restrains Robby from going inside.

McKENNA
How many do you count?

RANGER
Four. My horse isn’t here. He took it.
(to himself)
Of all the horses to save...

McKENNA
(teary-eyed)
What about the man you came with?

RANGER
We can’t wait for Tom. We have to
get my horse back. It’s the only way.
We can’t walk into that desert and
back out again.

McKENNA
But we don’t need to go anywhere...
(trails off)
What is it?

McKenna watches the Ranger walks out of the doorway past her and her son. He’s staring off into the line of trees. They turn to see what he’s looking at. It’s Red’s horse, walking slowly out of the woods towards them. The Ranger and the horse walk towards each other, and the Ranger stares in awe and respect at a horse for the first time in his life. In spite of (or maybe because of) the new injuries to its head, the Palomino seems more alive than before. The Ranger puts out a hand and strokes its mane with affection.

McKENNA
(shocked)
I’ve never seen you do that.

RANGER
Me neither.

Johnny Cash’s version of U2’s song "One" plays as the Ranger climbs on the horse.

SONG
"Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus
to the lepers in your head?"

Up in the saddle, the Ranger holds his hand down, and McKenna climbs up, too. Then Robby. This strange, three-headed shadow of a family rides across the last of the sunlight.

EXT. CENTER OF TOWN - NIGHT
The town is in flames. The last three townspeople are drunk and standing in front of the undertaker’s office, one of the only structures that hasn’t collapsed. The undertaker himself is a grinning corpse standing on his own smoldering porch, upright and dressed in one of his own suits, leaning in a coffin near the smoldering front door. The drunken LAST MAN takes an arrow from his coat, and laughing he puts the arrow behind the undertaker’s head to pretend the dead man was shot with it. The SECOND TO LAST MAN laughs at this, takes a drink from a bottle, then wrestles the arrow away and jams it through the dead man’s head instead. The arrow breaks off about a third of the way into the skull. A THIRD MAN is so drunk he does nothing but giggle. The Preacher walks up behind them, a gun sticking out of the front of his belt.

SECOND TO LAST MAN
(steps back to get a better look)
That’s better. What the hell were you
trying to do? Not hurt him?

LAST MAN
No. I was trying to not to fuck up
my arrow. That was a gift, from the...
uh, something tribe...from somewhere.

They all laugh together until they’re startled by the Preacher’s voice over their shoulders.

PREACHER
Is that supposed to be funny?

LAST MAN
(arms wide)
The world’s ending. Everything’s funny now.

PREACHER
So, you do know the town is burning,
don’t you, boys?

The men watch the Preacher walk past them to rub his eyes at the infernos on each side of the street. The men stare at his back. They start passing the bottle around.

LAST MAN
You know how you always hear someone say,
"You wouldn’t shoot me in the back,
would ya, Billy?"

THIRD MAN
Who does? I never heard anyone say that.

PREACHER
I suspect that anyone left in this town...

LAST MAN
(quietly pulling out his gun)
We’re are all that is left in this town.

PREACHER
...is now so dried up and full of alcohol
that a match and a little wind would
make him burst into flames.

LAST MAN
Probably right. You know what I was
thinking the other day? Instead of hanging
a man, they should invent something where
you just light him on fire instead. Maybe
like a special chair or something where you
just strike that match and whoosh!

SECOND TO LAST MAN
Na. Too cruel. Takes to long to die that way.

LAST MAN
Not if you used lightning. I saw a man
hit by lighting once and he was dead and
on fire all at the same time. He coulda
died nine times that way while another man
choked and shit himself on the end of a rope.
My idea ain’t nearly as cruel as a hanging.

THIRD MAN
How the hell are you gonna get lightning
to strike this special chair of yours?

LAST MAN
(shrugging)
Just a thought.

Right then the Preacher takes a wooden match from his coat and strikes it on the wooden coffin. He stares at the tiny flame in silence. All three men now have their guns out but can’t help laughing.

SECOND TO LAST MAN
(giggling)
You wouldn’t light me on fire,
would ya, Billy?

The Preacher turns, and with a flick of his fingers casually tosses the match at the last man. It thumps against his chest and the men gasp, holding their breath, expecting him to catch on fire. There’s a momentary flash of smoke and flame, then nothing. The last man smiles and suddenly there’s a gunshot and hole in the last man’s chest where the match hit. He drops his gun in shock and falls to a knees with a grunt. The second-to-last man holds out his hands, his gun smoking.

SECOND TO LAST MAN
I’m sorry. I was trying to hit the
match. I thought you were gonna
catch on fire and...

LAST MAN
(losing his breath)
Thanks for the help.

The last man exhales and slumps, and the two men turn to the Preacher who is now holding a gun. He quickly fires twice, blowing off teeth, chins, and ears. All three men crumble to the ground. The Preacher casually walks over and picks up the other two guns the men dropped and tucks them into his belt, then the third gun, too. Nick Cave’s version of Johnny Cash’s song "The (Folk) Singer" plays again as he walks away.

SONG
"Did you forget this fucking singer so soon?
And did you forget my song?"

EXT. DIRT ROAD - NIGHT
The Ranger, McKenna and Robby are on the dead horse making their way down a trail through some thick brush. They come to a clearing, and the horse snorts as Jackass suddenly stumbles into their view. He’s walking out in front of them, weaving back and forth on the trail. The orange glow of the burning town fills the sky behind them.

McKENNA
(whispering)
Doesn’t he hear us?

ROBBY
(whispering)
Can’t he see us?

A bottle drops to the dust at Jackass’s feet, and he stumbles and swerves so as not to trip over it. Then he quickly pulls another bottle from his coat and uncorks it with a belch.

RANGER
I doubt it.

The Ranger pulls his gun and aims it at the back of Jackass’s head. He hesitates, then glances back to see Robby closing his eyes. The Ranger slips his gun back into its holster. He looks around and notices a slumping barn and some chicken wire about 50 feet off their path.

RANGER
(to McKenna and Robby)
Stay here.

He stops the horse, quickly dismounts and walks up to Jackass.
He reaches around and takes Jackass’s gun off of him and pushes it down into his own belt. Then
he claps Jackass hard on the back, and dust explodes off his coat like a startled swarm of flies.

JACKASS
(turning around slow)
Who the hell is that?

RANGER
It’s the law. You been drinking?

JACKASS
(eyes darting around)
A little.

RANGER
You know it’s dangerous to drink and ride?

JACKASS
But I ain’t on no horse.

RANGER
Step down off your animal and follow
me over to the side of the road.

JACKASS
(confused)
Okay.

He swings a leg out as if he’s dismounting and trips himself down to the ground.

RANGER
See what I’m saying? You need to sober
up, maybe spend a night off your feet.
Get away from your horse.

JACKASS
(yelling)
I ain’t on no horse!

RANGER
Not no more you ain’t.

JACKASS
I ain’t drunk.

The Ranger stares at him a moment, then he steps back to scratch a long line in the dirt and stones with the toe of his boot.

RANGER
If you ain’t drunk, then walk that line.
Heel to toe. All the way down.

JACKASS
What?!

RANGER
Walk the line.

Jackass looks down at the line in the dirt, and puts a boot down on it. Then another. Then his legs get tangled, and suddenly he’s sitting in on the ground wondering how he got there.

RANGER
That’s what I’m saying. Too drunk to
ride. You could kill somebody.

JACKASS
I wasn’t on no horse. There ain’t
no goddamn horses left...

He trails off as he notices Red’s horse behind him for the first time. His eyes go wide in shock when he recognizes the animal, and he fumbles around his empty holster for his gun. The Ranger’s gun is back out in a flash.

JACKASS
Who the hell are you?

RANGER
I told you. I’m the law.

The Ranger grabs the scruff of Jackass’s collar and puts the gun under his chin. He leads him over to the slumping barn with the chicken coop beside it. He pulls some wire up over his head and shoves Jackass tumbling into the circle. Then he drops the wire back down.

RANGER
You’re gonna spend a night in jail
until you sober up.

Jackass jumps back to his feet and walks to the edge on the chicken wire. In spite of the wire only coming up to his knees, the Ranger and Jackass’s own drunken stupor have convinced him that he’s really locked up. He sits down again, curling his fingers through the wire and squeezing.

JACKASS
You can’t keep me locked in here.
I’ll be dead in a day.

The Ranger turns away and walks back to McKenna and Robby.

JACKASS
(laughing)
You’ll all be dead in a day! You lock
me in here, but it don’t matter! The
same water that ain’t in here,
ain’t out there neither!

The Ranger climbs back on the dead horse and rides past Jackass still screaming in the circle of chicken wire.

JACKASS
Let me out of here, goddamnit!
I didn’t do nothing! That man
on the toilet was already dead!
You can shit when you’re dead!
That don’t mean nothing!

The horse disappears around a high patch of dry brush, and Jackass slumps and puts his head between his knees, still convinced he’s locked in a cell. After a few seconds, he squints into the dark as a small shadow approaches. Jackass tries to stretch a grin across his teeth to seem friendly and harmless to the approaching figure.

JACKASS
Hey, kid! You see a key out there anywhere?

Jackass stops grinning when the shadow comes closer. It’s a boy, the same boy the gang has caught glimpses of before. This strange boy steps closer and stops at the edge of the circle of wire, eyes glowing to reflect the fires in the distance, the smile on his face revealing sharp baby teeth. Playfully, the boy gets down on all fours and creeps slowly towards him. Jackass’s expression contorts as recognition floods his face. In his drunken daze, he sees a snarling dog ready to lunge. He starts to scream.

EXT. UNDER A DEAD TREE - NIGHT
Red, Egg and Little Joe are sitting with their backs to a tree trunk, empty bottles at their feet. The Mustang is licking from a whiskey bottle Red is holding up to its mouth.

RED
Where’s Jackass?

LITTLE JOE
Don’t know. Where’s Mud.

RED
He’ll be all right.

EGG
Did y’all know that a Camel Spider can
live for three months without water?

LITTLE JOE
You’re thinking of a cockroach. A
cockroach can live three months without
food but only one month without water.

RED
(laughing)
No, that’s Egg you’re thinking of.

LITTLE JOE
Na, Egg can only live a month without
his head.

RED
(thoughtfully)
Me, too. And that’s 29 more days
than I need.

LITTLE JOE
And you know what? A roach has a brain
in its ass. That’s why it runs so fast.
In fact, I hear it starts running before
its head even knows why it’s running.
That’s why it don’t need its head.

RED
(angry)
Stop talking about my old horse.
I’m tired of it.

LITTLE JOE
What horse? Boss, we’ve been talking
about you the whole time.

RED
Egg, you got enough spit left to whistle?

EGG
Yeah. Why?

RED
I want you two boys to do something for me...

EXT. RAVINE - NIGHT
The Ranger, McKenna, and Robby are riding silently, cliffs looming on both side of them. A shadow approaches on foot. The Ranger’s hand sneaks near his gun as they get closer to it. It’s the Preacher with an half-empty bottle in his hand, three guns sticking out of the front of his belt, and eyes that look quite insane. These eyes are on Robby. The Ranger’s eyes are on the three guns.

McKENNA
(nervously)
Hi, Preacher. Are you leaving?

PREACHER
How did you know who I was? I’m
not wearing my collar.

He walks up to Robby near the dead horse’s tail.

PREACHER
What’s in your pocket, boy?

ROBBY
A rock shaped like a heart.

PREACHER
(eyes narrowing)
No it ain’t. You took that out.
What’s in there now.

ROBBY
Oh, yeah. I forgot...

Robby reaches into his front pocket and pulls out the half of a Bible that he traded earlier. The Preacher makes a grab and comes away with one crumpled page.

PREACHER
What you got there, boy? First half
or second half?

The Preacher studies the page a moment, then looks up at the horse they’re riding. He walks around to the horse’s head and holds his hand with the flapping page clutched tight near the hole behind its ear and its dead yellow eyes.

PREACHER
(muttering)
The pale horse.

He looks up at the Ranger in awe. In the dark, the Ranger’s eyes seem as cloudy and dead as the horses. His hand drifts back to the hole in the horse’s head then stops. The Preacher quickly brings the page back to his face and starts to read.

PREACHER
"Revelations 13...
(coughs up some dark saliva)
One of the heads of the beast seemed
to have a fatal wound. But the fatal
wound had been healed. The whole world
was astonished and followed the beast..."

He stops reading and looks up at them, head shaking slowly. Then he hands the pages back to Robby.

PREACHER
I once knew a man who got shot
through a Bible he always kept in
his vest pocket.
(laughs)
Talk about tempting fate! That’s like
wearing a bull’s eye on your head.
Or a Bible for a hat. Or riding three
weeks into a town with no water.

The Preacher takes a deep breath then continues talking low and serious.

PREACHER
You know what happened to that man?
The Bible stopped the bullet, but it
didn’t save his life. The bullet was
stopped by the Book of Job, ‘cause they
dug it out later. But a piece of leather
off the cover was shoved straight into
his heart. It took him a month to die
from that. I’m thinking there were pieces
of some other pages buried in his heart, too.
I wonder what words were on them...

RANGER
Who’s guns are you carrying?

PREACHER
Not mine. One is for the moon, one
is for the sun, and one is for someone
else. I already gave the sun his though...
(smiling)
Sorry if you were in the middle of reading
a good book or something, but it only
took one bullet to turn out the light.

The Preacher seems to notice Robby again and moves closer.

McKENNA
Just so you know, Preacher, I knew it
was you because you are wearing a white
collar. It’s just so dirty that you
can’t see it anymore.

The Preacher cocks his head and reaches up to his neck to find the stained collar tight against his throat. Surprised, he squeezes it tight in his fist and then rips it loose. He throws it to the ground, then furiously rubs his face. The tears filling the corners of his eyes are the only signs of dampness on his entire body.

PREACHER
(grinding his palms on his head)
It’s hard to aim at the sun, you know?
You have to look long and hard right
into it before you can shoot. And if
you do that, you will eventually focus
and see it for the first time. You’ll
see that in the middle of all the glare
and pain, the sun is a lot smaller than
you ever thought it was.

When he stops rubbing his eyes and looks up, the Ranger, McKenna, Robby, and the dead horse are gone. The Preacher walks on, and when he leaves the canyon behind, he comes to a clearing with rows of shadows that resemble crops in a farmer’s field. He starts walking faster when he sees a gate with the stone wall on either side long since crumbled and a sign looming above it.

INSERT - THE SIGN

"SAN SIDRO CEMETERY"

BACK TO SCENE

As he walks through the cemetery, weaving around its crude tombstones and leaning crosses, his hands move through a dead thorn bush and the thorns cut into the palms of his hands. He looks down and is amazed to see deep cuts but no blood. The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s song "Devil’s Waitin’" plays.

SONG
"Out on the corner with cast iron blood.
10,000 more with hearts on their own.
They say I might die, I may be cold.
I may have no Jesus, I may have no soul."

The Preacher searches the sky until he find the moon.

PREACHER
That’s how it’s gonna be, huh?
Where you at now? That you up there?
Are you hiding behind that thing?

The Preacher fires.

SONG
"The first thing you see is the
last thing you should..."

Satisfied, he puts the gun back in his belt and walks on.

SONG
"I’ve roamed from the reasons
and roamed to the gun.
They say I’m the killer
and thy will be done.
And the doors won’t be open
when I finally become."

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - EDGE OF TOWN - NIGHT
The Ranger, McKenna, and Robby are almost to the open desert. They ride past the smoldering firepit of dead horses. Several vultures are perched on the charred horses’ legs.

ROBBY
Why do they call him "Red?"

McKENNA
‘Cause of his hair.

ROBBY
It’s not red. It’s kind of orange.

McKENNA
It’s as red as hair gets. Everyone
with orange hair gets called "Red."

RANGER
That’s not why he’s called "Red."
It’s ‘cause...

McKENNA
(interrupting)
Is this gonna be some story you tell
me about him as a kid and I feel
sorry for all the horrible shit he’s
done to me and everyone else.

CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - FLASHBACK - SALOON - DAY
A nine-year-old Red is sitting on the bar drinking from a mug while a burly, red-haired man drinks from a bottle. The sound of a fight erupts from a card game in the back of the room, and gunshots ring out. The bartender ducks down as stray bullets fly. As Red watches, the red-haired man’s whiskey bottle and skull both explode without warning and shower Red with glass, blood, bone, and gore. Wilson Pickett’s version of the song "Stagger Lee" plays.

SONG
"Stagger Lee shot Billy.
Oh, he shot that poor boy so bad
that the bullet went through Billy,
and it broke the bartender’s glass."

Nine-year-old Red blinks as chunks of his father’s brain drip from his nose, then he starts to laugh hysterically, dragging red streaks through his hair with his tiny fingers as if he’s playing in the mud. The shaking bartender comes up from behind the bar to grab the child. Then he drops the blood-soaked boy in horror when he sees that he’s laughing. Only when Red hits the ground does he finally start to cry.

BARTENDER
What the hell is so funny?

CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - PRESENT DAY - EDGE OF TOWN - NIGHT
The Ranger answers McKenna’s question.

RANGER
No. Not at all.

The Ranger, McKenna and Robby are approaching the vast sea of jagged black rocks barely visible in the moonlight on the horizon. Hearing something, the dead horse slows and turns around. Another horse is approaching at a full gallop from out of the dark. It’s Egg and Little Joe on the Mustang. Little Joe seems amused.

LITTLE JOE
Where so you think you’re going?

RANGER
We’re leaving.

EGG
(scratching)
How many people do you think you could
get on a horse? Seems like the old days
of one head per horse are long gone.
You think five people could ride without...

LITTLE JOE
Shut the fuck up, Egg.
(to the Ranger)
I asked you a question.

RANGER
(hand on his gun)
I answered it.

LITTLE JOE
Someone wants to see you.

They stare at each other for a long time. Little Joe and the Ranger’s hands finger their guns ominously, and just when it seems like they’re gonna draw, in a quick, fluid movement, Robby pulls the gun-shaped rock from his belt before anyone can react. Little Joe flinches, then barks a laugh when he sees what Robby’s pointing at him. Then Robby flips the rock around in his hand and throws it hard and straight at Little Joe’s head. It hits him square in the face, and Little Joe slumps and almost rolls off the horse. Egg grabs him to keep him from falling, then puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles loud. Spooked, the dead horse blinks, shakes its head, and starts to run. Little Joe and Egg follow on the Mustang. The dead horse picks up speed and runs back towards town with the Mustang fast on its tail. The Ranger tries to stop the horse, but can’t get it to respond. As the chase nears Gray Wendler’s home, the horse suddenly veers and takes them towards the dense row of dead trees nearby. McKenna screams and Robby covers his face with his arm as the dead horse crashes headfirst through one dead tree, then another. Then another. Splintering bark, dead leaves, and horse’s blood and spittle fly all around their heads. The Mustang tries to follow but stumbles on a busted stump and pitches forward, spilling Egg and a semi-conscious Little Joe onto the ground. The dead horse crashes on through the brush, taking the Ranger and his new family to safety on the other side of the woods. Then it stops, snorts, walking in a slow circle like a clock winding down. The Ranger jumps off and helps McKenna and Robby off, too. They watch as the horse collapses hard in the dust one last time. The Ranger coughs, and McKenna tries to catch her breath while she checks her son for injuries. Right then, they hear a train whistle from far off. Hope flashes on all three faces.

ROBBY
(pointing)
Look! See the smoke!

Way off in the distance, a wisp of smoke can barely be seen in the moonlight. They all watch as the line of smoke slows, stops, then backs up and moves back in the direction it started, disappearing again behind a hill on the horizon. Johnny Cash’s last recorded song "Like the 309" plays.

SONG
"It should be awhile before I see
Dr. Death, but it would sure be nice
if I could catch my breath."

RANGER
I never saw no train tracks around here.

McKENNA
There ain’t any, that’s why.

RANGER
Then what was that?

McKENNA
I don’t know. Another fire, maybe.

RANGER
You saw it, too?

ROBBY
I saw it!

McKENNA
Then who whistled?

RANGER
No one. There’s no spit left in this town
for whistling. I’m guessing that smoke was
just someone running around with their head
on fire. I’m thinking they turned around and
went the other way when they forgot their hat.

Robby laughs. McKenna smiles.

RANGER
(confused)
What’s so funny?

The Ranger walks over to the horse on the ground, reaching for a canteen under its leg. Water drains from a split in its side, and the dirt hungrily soaks it in.

McKENNA
Why aren’t you drinking that?

RANGER
Because he isn’t. Let’s head back to the
house. It looks like we live here now.

EXT. CHURCH RUINS - NIGHT
Red’s kicking through the wreckage of the church, looking for something. He pulls a chunk of smoking wood from the pile and throws it to the side. He spits black tar onto the broken crucifix from off the steeple. He looks up to see Little Joe and Egg riding toward him on the Mustang. Little Joe is slumped forward, a starfish of dried blood on his forehead framing a deep, dark gash.

RED
You kill that horse again for me?
(noticing Little Joe’s condition)
Hell happened to him?

Egg climbs down off the Mustang, carefully bringing Little Joe down with him.

EGG
I don’t know. Happened too fast.
I think he got shot. With a rock.

Egg sits down on the ground and reaches into his pocket. He slowly pulls out a large canteen and shakes his Camel Spider out of it and into the dirt. He runs a finger over its back and breathes a sigh of relief when it’s legs rear up in a defensive posture. Then Red’s boot stomps down on it. Egg freezes in shock.

RED
Sorry, Egg. Got sick of that shit.

Red slowly picks up his boot, and his eyes widen when he sees the spider runs away.

RED
Holy shit.

Then Egg’s hand are on Red’s throat and they both tumble to the ground. Red is so startled that he can’t stop Egg’s assault. Egg pummels Red’s face so fast that he gets about ten shots to Red’s nose before Red can finally throw him off. Red tries to go for his gun, but Egg’s on him again, furiously hammering at his face and neck. Red is surprised by Egg’s sudden anger and strength and resorts to trying to cover up and roll away from him.

EGG
(between punches)
There’s water here, ain’t there!

RED
(face buried in the dirt)
Nope. Gray was dumping sand in the
wells. I saw him do it.

EGG
(punching harder)
Bullshit! That would take years to
finish!

RED
(coughing up blood and snot)
It’s true. I swear. At first I thought
he was diggin’ for something.

Egg tires and his punches slow down. Red rolls over to face him.

RED
At first I thought he was digging.
But he was burying instead. Burying
the water. I still don’t know why.

Egg stops punching. Breathing heavy, he sits back off Red’s chest and reaches into his coat. Red takes advantage of the moment and quickly pulls his gun and blows a hole through Egg’s chest. Egg rolls back off Red, both of his hands coming up to cover his mouth. He falls back, dropping his hands, his mouth working like he’s going to say something. Red is quickly on his chest, his gun barrel against Egg’s cheek.

RED
What were you trying to say?

Red leans in, then notices the gun against his cheek moving back and forth. He realizes that Egg isn’t trying to speak, that he’s chewing on something instead.

RED
What are you eating? It that a map?
(laughing)
Is it the answer to everything?!

Suddenly Egg spits a mouthful of eggshells and fluid into Red’s grin and cuts on his bloody, ravaged face. Red jumps up and stumbles backwards, spitting and wiping at his mouth and nose. He fans the hammer on his pistol and unloads the rest of his bullets into Egg’s body.

RED
Goddamn you! Tryin’ to poison me?!

Red furiously tries to scratch the blood and eggshells and saliva off his face. He winces in pain and looks down to see his hand full of more thorns from his holster. He shakes some of the thorns out of his skin, jams his gun back in the holster, and screams at the sky.

RED
Who the fuck keeps doing that?!

He rubs his bloody palms on his thighs, blinking and circling Egg’s corpse slow and staggering. He laughs.

RED
Did you poison me? Or am I drunk?
I can’t tell. Eggbound bastard.

He hears movement behind him and spins around to draw his gun again, grimacing again at the thorns. He sees his dead horse standing tall on the horizon. He savagely rubs more blood from his eyes, and when he looks again, the Palomino has disappeared. He sits down on the ground and starts plucking thorns from his hand.

EXT. DESERT - NIGHT
The last resident to leave Agua Fría is crawling on the ground entering the sea of black, jagged rocks. It’s a shadow on all fours, and from a distance it’s impossible to tell if it’s a man or woman, child or adult. A lightning flash lights up the sky and reveals it’s actually a dog. It looks strong and healthy, heading into the desert without any hesitation. Another flash of lightning, and the dog looks up to the sky. The coda of Nick Cave’s song "Hallelujah" plays.

SONG
"The tears are welling in my eyes again.
I need 20 big buckets to catch them in.
20 pretty girls to carry them down.
20 deep holes to bury them in."

EXT. CHURCH RUINS - NIGHT
Red is still kicking through the rubble of the church while Little Joe lies in the dirt nearby.

LITTLE JOE
(barely audible)
I’m dying, boss. I need water.

RED
(still kicking around)
There ain’t no water, son.

Red walks over and wipes some dirt off the number "13" on Little Joe’s neck. Johnny Cash’s cover of Danzig’s song "Thirteen" plays.

RED
You need some comfort? Is that it?
Okay. What if...I told you I’m your daddy?
Would that comfort you any? Maybe that’s
why I gave you that number. I’m your daddy
and you’re my thirteenth son.

SONG
"I was born to bring trouble
to wherever I’m at...
Got the number "13" tattooed on my neck."

LITTLE JOE
Liar. You lie about everything. You
could get water and you know it. You
lied to all of us. It’s just some game
you were playing with us.

SONG
"They just gave me the number
when I was young."

RED
Maybe it’s a game, but I’m playing it,
too. I’m sorry, boy. I can’t give you
no water. If I did that, then it’s like
I never did anything. If I give you the
water, then we didn’t really stay in a
town without it. If I give you the water,
it’s like I was here for the end of the
world and I never did nothing at all.

SONG
"The list of lives I’ve broken
reach from here to hell."

Red slowly sits down and sighs as he watches the last member of his gang die. When Little Joe’s head drops to the side, he stands back up and starts digging through the smoking pile of church rubble again. After a moment, he finally finds what he’s been looking for and claps his hands in excitement. He sits back down in the ruins, relieved. Then he looks up to laugh at the sky.

RED
Whoa! Can you believe that shit?
I almost thanked you just then!
He turns to Little Joe’s corpse.

RED
You were wrong about one thing.
Yes, there’s water, but I swear I ain’t
been drinking it. I played the same
game I made you play. I swear it.

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT
The Ranger takes a long drink of water and hands a metal cup to Robby.

RANGER
You were fast, son. You got any more
of those rocks?

ROBBY
I got more rocks than anyone.
There’s a rock shaped like everything
if you dig deep enough.

The Ranger smiles. There’s a knock at the door, and his smile drops when he opens it to see Red standing there grinning.

RED
Don’t say nothin’. I don’t want to meet
you yet. I want to meet you later.

RANGER
When?

RED
(eyes darting around)
Fuck if I know. What time is it right
now? Any idea? They said there was
a deadline once, back when there was
a clock. Supposed to be three days.
Feels like three years...

The Ranger watches him ramble, waiting for Red’s fevered, disintegrating brain to come back to the moment. It does, and suddenly it’s clear from the look in his eyes that Red has just recognized the Ranger from their childhood.

RED
Meet me where the town used to be, Bob.
Where the church used to be. Listen for
the bell the ring when the sun comes up.

EXT. CHURCH RUINS - DAWN
Red sits in the rubble of the church with Egg’s headless corpse and a bloody ax next to his leg. He has the church bell resting on his legs, absent-mindedly stroking it.

RED
You know what, Egg? Everyone thinks
that it was the whiskey that made me mean,
even back in Bisbée when I first started
drinking it. It just ain’t true. It made
me smarter, not meaner. That’s why I was
able to run this town.
He stares at Egg’s headless corpse a few seconds.

RED
You know, you were right, Egg. You don’t
really need your head at all. At least
you don’t. You’re better without it.
Can’t spit at me no more, can’t keep
filling my holster with thorns when
I’m sleeping. That was a good trick,
by the way. No more soaking my clothes
in whiskey. What was that all about anyway?
I must say, though, I think you did poison
me today, and it didn’t take your secret
handshake to do it.

Red kicks at Egg’s leg then sighs.

RED
You really don’t need your head, do you?
I finally feel like I can talk to you.

He takes out his gun and starts banging the barrel against the bell on his legs. Blood covers the bottom of the bell, and the sound of the gun hitting it is muffled, as if something’s blocking the inside and preventing the sound from echoing loud and clear. Red puts an ear against the iron bell, laughing maniacally as he yells.

RED
Egg, can you hear me in there?!

EXT. BISBÉE - FLASHBACK - GUN STORE
The young Ranger and his father are standing over a small, dust and rust-covered revolver. Sam sighs and blows some insect shells off of it. The intro to Led Zeppelin’s song "Going to California" plays.

SAM
October. With the droughts, Smith & Wesson
had just went bankrupt like everyone else.
That was the year this gun was coming out.
So they had to build this with spare parts
and substandard metal. It’s a .30 caliber
piece of shit and you shouldn’t even be
looking at it. You’ve got a one in ten
chance of it exploding in your hand every
time you fire it. That’s why it’s the
Halloween special. Trick or treat.

The young Ranger never looses sight of the gray, featureless gun, continuing to glance back at it as they move down the line. His father’s quick dismissal of the weapon makes it the most fascinating one for him. Next, Sam picks up a thin-barreled weapon resembling a water pistol.

SAM
November. There’s a good story with this
one. Some say that Joe Wesson joined
Smith & Wesson on November 11, 1880 at
the age of 21. But I hear that’s actually
when him and Smith’s youngest son had
their first duel. And he was fast, too.
He was so fast that, for awhile, the
company was called Wesson & Smith. And
this is the gun that boy used, a crazy Luger-looking thing with a stripper clip
you pulled to chamber the bullet.
He called it the "Blow Forward."

Sam takes his son’s elbow and drags him down to the last gun on his counter.

SAM
Finally. December. It was December, 1882
when Joe Wesson, D.B. Wesson’s youngest son
developed this. It’s the .44 Hammerless, also
called the .44 "Humorless" by the boys in his
office, but mostly called "The New Departure"
by the boys the factory, a name that stuck with
the public, too. And it’s good gun for December.
No hammer to freeze and one extra trigger
in case the first one locks up. See that?
It has no hammer but two triggers.
The lower trigger rotates the cylinder
and cocks the invisible hammer inside.
Look...

Sam holds the gun out to the Ranger. He holds it carefully but struggles to get his hand around it. He can only squeeze the bottom trigger with his middle finger. His first finger just barely reaches the top one. Embarrassed, the young Ranger hands it back.

RANGER
Did you take the hammer off this?

SAM
Why would I do that?

RANGER
I don’t know. You just lied about
Smith shooting Wesson.

SAM
(smiling)
So? It’s a good story ain’t it?

RANGER
I’ll take October.

He walks back down the line and reaches for the gray, lumpen revolver. Sam pulls him back.

SAM
Why the hell would you go for that?
After looking at all these, you
really want that?

RANGER
You said "substandard metal."
What kind of metal did they use?

SAM
Pig iron. Mixed alloys. The worst
of all worlds. It looks like a rock
for a reason, boy.

RANGER
How big?

SAM
What?

RANGER
How big was the iron?

SAM
What the hell are you...no, I said
"pig" iron. Not "big" iron, dummy.
Sam affectionately rubs his son’s head and laughs when he picks up the gun.

SAM
Fine, if that’s what you want.
It’s all yours, boy. Happy Halloween.

RANGER
How can these 12 guns be your calendar?
There’s years missing between each of
those guns. I don’t get it.

SAM
I don’t need to know what year it is.
I just need to know what month it is.

RANGER
But you thought it was March before.
And now you’re saying "Happy Halloween."

Sam says nothing.

RANGER
So, I can have this gun?

SAM
If you want it.

RANGER
If I take it, how will you know when
it’s October?

SAM
Because I won’t have a gun for that month.

RANGER
Good point.
(pause)
So, are we going to California like
everyone else? I heard people talking
about the wells running dry.

SAM
That’s five towns and nine years away.
Nothing for you to worry about. Right
now I want you to worry about right now.

RANGER
(staring at the gun doubtfully)
Does it work?

SAM
No. I told you. You picked the worst one.

RANGER
(arms crossed)
But it’s the only one I can carry.

SAM
(thoughtfully)
Maybe it’ll do. Who knows? The man
who traded it in said to me, "metal
has rock and rock has metal, so it
doesn’t matter what you’re pointing
at another man to threaten him. As
long as it’s not just your finger."

RANGER
What’s that mean?

SAM
Hell if I know.

RANGER
(fingering the trigger)
Does it have a name?

SAM
I called it "Sioux."

RANGER
(suddenly doubtful)
I don’t want a gun named "Sue."

SAM
No, I said "Sioux." That’s the name
of the Indian who swapped it. Them
Sioux were always say shit that didn’t
make much sense.

RANGER
(brightening)
Okay. I’ll take it.

The young Ranger puts the gun in his belt, then pulls it out fast and points it at the window, the door, then his dad. Sam shakes his head and sighs.

SAM
Life ain’t gonna be easy for a boy
with a gun named "Sioux."

EXT. BEHIND THE GUN STORE - LATER THAT DAY
Sam is towering over the Ranger, arms on his arms, showing him how to hold the gun steady.

SAM
Here’s the rules...

The Ranger squints down the barrel, the gun’s shaking slowly steadying with the soothing voice of his father an inch from his ear.

SAM
Number 1...keep the sun at your back.
Number 2...maintain eye contact.
Number 3...keep your holster waxed.
Number 4...don’t talk, shoot when he speaks.
Number 5...always shoot for his buckle.

RANGER
Why do I shoot for his buckle?

SAM
Don’t ask questions.
(sighs)
Okay, because anything any higher
will probably go over his head.

RANGER
Why shoot when he speaks?

SAM
So that he won’t know what hap-

The Ranger pulls the trigger. The gun explodes in his hand.

JUMP CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - CENTER OF TOWN - DAWN

SUPER:
11:20 a.m.

The sun is coming up. The wind is blowing hard, and huge waves of sand cover the smoking doorways of the burnt shells where the storefronts and houses used to be. The desert is reclaiming the town. Red is sitting cross-legged in the middle of the church ruins, still excitedly banging his gun against the blackened church bell resting on his knees. Johnny Cash’s version of Nick Cave’s song "The Mercy Seat" plays.

SONG
"...in a way that’s helping to be done
with all this twisting of the truth,
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
And anyway I told the truth,
but I’m afraid I told a lie."

The Ranger is walking towards him through the smoke, but Red’s bloodshot eyes see a man in black riding high on the skeleton of a horse. Red rubs his poisoned, alcohol-fueled eyes and the man in black and the horse skeleton disappears. It’s only the Ranger walking toward him through the smoke and shimmer of the mid-day heat.

RED
Hot as hell out here.
Hey, do you know what time it is?

The Ranger says nothing and just keeps walking towards him.

RED
Do you know what day it is?

The Ranger says nothing.

RED
Do you know what year it is?

Nothing.

RED
Who are you? Don’t I know you?

SONG
"...and I think my head is burning..."

The Ranger stops about 40 feet down the road. Eyes dancing, Red grins wide, and one of his front teeth drops out of his mouth. He doesn’t even blink.

RANGER
Ask me what month it is.

RED
Okay, what month is it?

RANGER
October. That’s the only thing on the
calendar I ever remember. That’s the
only think I was ever taught.

RED
Are you here for Gray?

RANGER
I came here for my family.

RED
That was my family. You just don’t
even fuckin’ know...

Red trails off. He motions to the empty road behind him.

RED
You know what? Me and my boys here were
talking the other day, and we heard that,
to really be a man, you’re supposed to
have killed the same number of men for
every year that you’ve been alive.

RANGER
Actually, you’re supposed to have had
that many horses.

RED
I’m 21 today. Or was it yesterday?
How old are you?

RANGER
53.

The crazy smile on Red’s face finally drops for the last time, and his expression for once shows true fear.

RED
What time is it?

RANGER
It ain’t dawn.

RED
(squints up at the sun)
And it ain’t high noon.

RANGER
Nope. Twenty past eleven.

RED
(still looking up)
I thought you said...forget it.
(looks at the Ranger)
Let me ask you this? Why the stone face?
Why the silence? Why is it so hard to
answer simple fucking questions? Ain’t
that exhausting keeping that shit up?

The Ranger just stares at him.

RED
I’ll tell you why. Because the first time
a cowboy tried to be a cowboy was killing
someone during a card game, everyone wearing
that stupid poker face under their hats.
Ever since then it’s required or something.
Notice I ain’t worried about that.

RANGER
Is that crazy horseshit your last words then?

A cloud covers the sun, and Red looks back down the road.

RED
October, huh? Halloween? You know
how all that trick-or-treat stuff got
started? All the candy for the kids?
It all started with bobbing for apples.
Except they used to shoot them in the
barrels, not try to bite them. Maybe
if we were still shooting the apples,
people would still fight with their
teeth instead.

RANGER
What the hell are you talking about?

RED
Hell if I know.

The Ranger looks up at him from under his hat, eyes almost smiling.

RANGER
You done?

Red squints and grins again. His tongue snakes up to explore the hole in his gums where his front tooth used to be. The other front tooth wiggles easily.

RED
It’s really too bad ‘cause I’ll bet I can
whistle now.

A few seconds tick away as they stare each other down. Then their muscles tense before the draw and suddenly, without Red seeing it happen, the Ranger’s hand is up and only aiming a finger at him. Then a bullet hole in Red’s chest opens like a flower, then one in his throat, then one over his eye. Flames flicker around the hole in his chest, then, in a flash, his body is completely on fire. Engulfed in flames, Red walks in a circle, mouth moving, then collapses. The Ranger’s so fast that a gun is never even seen, just the damage it has done. Red lies contorted on his site, one hand still in his holster, his alcohol-soaked clothing burning like a raging brush fire, mouth still open. But now, the bullet holes on Red’s chest, neck, and throat have vanished. And the Ranger is still only pointing a finger at him. The Ranger hears a noise behind him and turns to see a boy sitting high in a dead tree. He blinks and tips up his hat for a better look, but the boy is gone. Mike Ness’s version of Marty Robbins’ song "Big Iron" plays.

SONG
"There was twenty feet between them
when they stopped to make their play.And the swiftness of the Ranger is still
talked about today.Texas Red had not cleared leather
when a bullet fairly ripped.And the Ranger's aim was deadly, with
the big iron on his hip.Big iron on his hip..."

FADE OUT

EXT. HOUSE - DAY

SUPER:

BISBÉE, NEW MEXICO, 12:09 p.m.
THREE YEARS LATER...

The Ranger is walking up to his father’s house. Even though only a year has passed, he looks like he’s 170 years old. His face is a road map of wear and tear. He walks around the front door of the gun store, and a small boy turns the corner fast and almost runs into him. The boy is tossing a ripe, red apple back and forth between his hands.

BOY
He’s not home. He’s down the road.
At Uncle Ron’s.

RANGER
Your uncle Ron?

BOY
No, yours.

RANGER
Do you know me?

BOY
(ignoring the question)
You know, there’s never been a tornado
around here. Ever. Something about
where this town sits between the mountains.
Tornadoes in this town is something
that just doesn’t happen.

RANGER
Not true, son. I remember hiding from
those storms as a boy many times and...

BOY
You sure? Maybe it was just an excuse
for family to get together and play cards.

RANGER
(forceful)
You know my family?

BOY
I know you. Whole town knows all about
you and the gunfight. Been a lot of
talk about what actually happened. Hey,
where’s you horse?

RANGER
I didn’t use an animal to get here.
These days, a man shouldn’t ride on
anything live.

BOY
What do you mean?

RANGER
Don’t worry about it. What did you mean
about the whole town knowing what?

BOY
Well, some say Red never cleared leather,
some say you never had a gun, some say
you shot him with your finger, some say
your son was hiding in a tree and shot
Red from there, some say he threw a rock,
some say you threw a rock, some say the
Preacher shot him, some say the Preacher
lit him on fire...

The Ranger leans back against his father’s house and tips up his hat up to keep listening.

BOY
...some say Red fired first, but the
sparks ignited the whiskey in his body,
some say it was the whiskey on his
clothes, that he never drank at all,
some say his own gang soaked him in
whiskey while he slept but died of
thirst before they could light him
on fire themselves, some say Little Joe
was really Red’s son, some say that he
shot him, some say Joe was really one
of Red’s 13 sons that he left in three
towns, some say it was some other boy
up in a tree, some say they actually
saw a dog up in a tree, not that a dog
can hold a gun...or climb a tree, and
some say it was your first bullet that
started the fire, some even say it
was your finger...

RANGER
That’s was it. My first bullet.
Go with that.

BOY
Is that what happened?

RANGER
I don’t remember.

The boy frowns and kicks at some stones. The Ranger stares at the dust that flies around the boy’s shoe. The boy throws the apple up in the air and catches it.

RANGER
I’m surprised to find anyone here.
I thought this down was drying up.

BOY
(proudly)
No, we got a school now and everything.
I’ve learned almost everything there
is to learn.

RANGER
Really? How old are you, boy?

BOY
Can’t you tell?

RANGER
Not any more. How old do you think I am?

BOY
239. No, wait, sorry. 239.

RANGER
Nope. My birthday ain’t till tomorrow.
So, what’s the last thing you learned
in this new school of yours?

BOY
We learned about the first movie ever
made. It was real boring. It was
just a horse running. That was all you
see. Nothing else, just a horse running
about 100 feet.

RANGER
What kind of movie is that?

BOY
The man who made it wasn’t trying to
make a movie. He was just setting up
this long line of cameras to watch a
horse’s legs so they could figure out
how to train racehorses better.

RANGER
Let me guess, they didn’t discover shit.

BOY
(laughing)
Well, they discovered movies! And they
saw for the first time that when a horse
is running, all of its legs are off the
ground at the same time. Turns out that,
about half the time they’re running,
they're not really running.
Horses are really flying.

The Ranger frowns as he thinks about this a moment.

RANGER
Still not much of a movie.

BOY
Well, I think you’re right. I think
the first real movie was the next
thing this man filmed. It was a
series of pictures of one man throwing
a bucket of water on another man.

RANGER
Why is that the first movie?

BOY
Because the man getting splashed
looked mad. Because he was mad
in real life.

The Ranger smiles at this, understanding what the boy means and thinking about his life.

BOY
Hey, did you have a gun when you shot
Red? Or was it really just a rock in
your hand? Or was it just your hand
in your hand? Which finger...

RANGER
No, I had gun...see...

The Ranger reaches into his holster and pulls out a long, sharp, pointed stone. He scratches his head under his hat.

RANGER
(confused)
Wait. I don’t remember where...
(pause)
Long time ago, I traded that gun
for this rock. I think. There was
a boy on the road, and I needed a knife
to cut some hides. And I traded him
my gun, the gun my father gave me, for
this sharp stone. I think.

The boy stares at him wide-eyed and blinking.

RANGER
I haven’t been able to remember much
these days. I thought I traded that
gun for this rock after the fight.
I just don’t know when I...

He trails off, looking at the rock in his hands. Then he turns to the boy.

RANGER
You want it back?

BOY
It ain’t mine.

RANGER
You want it anyway?

BOY
(excited)
Yeah! What’s it made of?

RANGER
Same metal as a gun. Steel, iron ore,
coke, limestone, carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen...

BOY
Hey! That’s water! And we’re water!
We learned that, too. So, we’re made
of the same thing as a gun?

RANGER
(voice fading)
No. The same thing as a rock.

BOY
No, I heard that people are made out of
mostly water.

RANGER
Nope. We’re just blood, rocks, shit,
piss, and anger.

BOY
(stubbornly)
And water.

RANGER
(shaking his head)
Not true. In fact, from what I’ve
seen, we might not even need water
to stay alive...

BOY
(doubtful)
Really?

RANGER
Do me a favor. Spit on the ground for me.

BOY
Why?

RANGER
I want to see something.

The boys spits a dark wad of saliva into the dirt.

RANGER
See. Water ain’t black like that.

The boy spits again. It’s still dark. He take a big, juicy bite out of the apple, swallows, then spits again. Now it’s gray.

BOY
(talking around another bite)
See that? Apple’s just as good as a canteen.
(tosses it up and catches it)
‘Cept you don’t have to worry about spilling it.

The boy takes another crunch and spits again. Still gray.
He takes another big bite, swallows hard, then spits right at the Ranger’s boots. Now the boy’s saliva is as clear as a raindrop. The boy smiles and holds out the apple to the Ranger.

BOY
Wanna bite?

RANGER
No, thanks. Too late for that. My mouth’s
too cracked, and it don’t hurt. The cuts
would only start hurting if I put water on
them.

The boy laughs around another chunk of apple.

BOY
So you’re saying you don’t eat apples or
drink water.

RANGER
I’m telling you. That’s not what’s pumping
through out hearts. We ain’t made of water,
and we just don’t need it.

The boy raises and eyebrow, then, holding the apple core in his mouth, he runs the tip of the rock along a vein in his small arm.

RANGER
Watch it, boy. It’s sharp enough to
cut your apple at least. That’s what
the Sioux used them for. Be careful.
Don’t run with it.

Inspired, the boy turns and starts running.

RANGER
Hey! Don’t pull the trigger either.
It’ll blow that tiny hand of yours
right the hell off.

The boy turns, still running away, he looks down at the rock, then back up at the Ranger.

BOY
(with a strange grin)
No, it won’t. It only did that for you.
Only ‘cause your dad wanted it to.

CUT TO:

EXT. AGUA FRÍA - SUNRISE
A young man is standing at a well, turning a handle to lower the bucket. The young man has a wild tangle of orange hair and more than a passing resemblance to Red. He releases the handle and it spins free and falls quickly to the bottom. After a moment there an audible thud as the bucket hits something solid. The young man cranks the handle a couple times, then lets the bucket drop again. This time there’s a splash, and he begins to haul the bucket back up. In the distance is a barn where McKenna is leading a horse. The two of them walk in front of the sun peeking over the horizon. There’s a flash of light as a sunbeam shines through a hole in the horse’s head.

CUT TO:

INSERT - CLOSE UP - THE SIGN

AGUA FRÍA

Population: 2

CUT TO:

EXT. DESERT - DAY
The skeleton of a dog lies in the middle of a dune, its bones picked clean. Ribbons of shredded black clothing weave through the ribcage. Lying near the grinning skull are three revolvers, dull from exposure, sand filling their barrels and covering their triggers. The hammer on one of the pistols is cocked.

CUT TO:

EXT. BISBÉE - DAY
The Ranger is standing in a field once overgrown with weeds, but long since burned by the sun. He walks slowly, crunching and snapping through the dead grass and brush. He stops when he comes to a brown, rusted horseshoe barely visible on the ground. He’s starts talking to himself.

THE RANGER
(muttering)
March...the first month warm enough
to sit on the ground.
October...the first month cold enough
to sleep under it...

He crouches down painfully, then pulls up on the horseshoe to open a door into the earth. Without hesitation, without looking around or behind him, the Ranger climbs down the ladder and disappears into the dark. The door slams shut behind him, and a green snake slips through the horseshoe and vanishes into the weeds. Johnny Cash’s song, "God’s Gonna Cut You Down," plays over the end credits.

SONG
"Tell that long-tongued liar, tell that midnight rider,
the rambler, the gambler, the back-biter,
sooner or later god’s gonna cut you down."

FADE TO BLACK

END CREDITS





Inspired by the song

"BIG IRON"

words and music by Marty Robbins

::: david - 3:14 AM [+] :::
...