Sample scene from US & THEM by Stephen Schlich

INT - DAN'S BASEMENT - NIGHT

Dan and Albert come down the stairs, JOKING. Albert turns
silent as he surveys the room.

Knotty pine paneling. Leather upholstery. Weapons on every
wall. Easily two dozen. Even a high-tech crossbow.

And explosives. Grenades, small rocket launcher, dynamite,
you-name-it. The arms race is alive and well down here.

Dan takes down a Walther PPK and begins cleaning it lovingly.
Albert finishes his champagne. Dan nods toward a built-in
liquor cabinet.

_____________DAN
Help yourself to the hard stuff.

Albert pours himself a whiskey and looks around, still
silent.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
Impressive, huh? 9mm Parabellum,
.38 Police Special, Ruger P-90 and
SP-101, Uzi, AR-15. And that's a
rocket launcher. Fully functional.
_______(beat)
You're blown away.

_____________ALBERT
Are you planning on a war?

_____________DAN
There's one already on, Al. The
streets.

_____________ALBERT
Not these streets.

_____________DAN
It'll get here. What we've got,
others will want. I'm ready.

Albert ponders the arsenal and makes a decision.

_____________ALBERT
You know why Sheila and I moved in.

_____________DAN
You want to be safe, just like me.

_____________ALBERT
_______(beat)
We had this nice townhouse in the
city. Iron grill on the door. Big
lock. Decent neighborhood. But I
kept a gun anyway. You know, just in
case. One night we come home and
somebody's there. With my gun. I got
shot with my own fucking gun!
_______(beat)
It's an impressive collection, Dan.
But it's not worth shit unless you
carry one, too.

Dan considers Albert's story, still polishing. He looks
detached, as if talking about someone else.

_____________DAN
This was last year. Michelle and I
are in a parking garage. In the city.
This bastard yanks the door open and
shoves a gun in my mouth. He's got
friends. They stuff us into the
trunk. They drive to Oakland, rob us
and beat the shit out of us.
_______(beat)
They ... they raped Michelle! Fucking
niggers, they raped her!
_______(long beat)
Sorry. I don't mean you. But they
fucked her ... the goddamn cocksuckers
... fucked both of us!

Al wants to be comforting, but he's got no words. Dan
recovers, grips the Walther.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
It won't happen again. Ever. I swear
to Christ. I'll die shooting first.
When I leave Jerico Estates, I carry
one. Here, I've got this stuff.

He gestures around the room.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
There's a war on. You bet there is.
But no more casualties on this side.
No fucking way!

_____________ALBERT
It's over, Dan.

Dan grimaces sadly.

_____________DAN
No. We haven't ... done anything
since then. I can't get it up!

Long silence. Albert is dumbstruck.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
Pitiful, aren't I?

_____________ALBERT
I'm sorry.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
No, I should be apologizing. For what
I said. Jerico's right. It's not
race, it's money. When the crunch
comes and they try to take this place,
it won't matter to me if they're black
or white or Chinese communist faggots.
I'll blow their fucking heads off.
I've been raped in every sense of the
word, my friend. Next time, I rape
back.

He brandishes the Walther.

_____________DAN (Cont'd)
Don't worry about me. I've got a nice
new dick. A couple dozen. All steel
and guaranteed to stay hard.

Jerico comes down the stairs, grinning.

_____________JERICO
Showing off the arsenal again, Danny
boy?

_____________ALBERT
Leave him alone!

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