SOME BIG THUNDER

Written By

Scott Rogers

EXT. THE DESERT - EVENING

WIDE-SHOT: A vast desert with sparse dried grass and a small, elderly looking ranch; one bare tree stands at the end of the front yard. There is a pair of tiremarks where the grass doesn't grow, a car has been here recently... but not today.  There are powerlines along a neglected road at a far distance, along with a lightning storm and grey clouds that hide the light from the orange setting sun.

A skinny young boy stands up straight on the front porch, looking out into the distance.  

CUT IN TO: TIGHT-SHOT over boy's right shoulder, showing a slightly older, more built boy, ascending a sand dune and passing the tree into the front yard.  

This boy has blood splattered all over his worn white t- shirt and face, his arms are covered. He wears a vacant, horrified espression.

JOEY (V.O.)

Bradley came home and said he saw something he couldn't believe, he had blood all over on the front of him.

that was the first time I saw my brother scared.

The younger boy stands in anticipation as his brother comes up the porch and walks straight into the house, the younger brother follows.

INT. BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER

Bradley walks in first, looking even more pale and pensieve in the dark of the unlit bedroom, lightning strikes on the horizon through the window followed by a loud thunder clap, Joey's face twitches into a concerned expression at the sound of the thunder as he walks into the bedroom, Bradley doesn't react to the thunder and lays down in his bed, then stares up at the bottom of the top bunk.  Joey climbs up into his bunked bed, and hangs his head over the side of the bed and looks down at his brother, who just keeps staring blankly upwards.

BRADLEY

Those Baker brothers were out up by the highway again... shootin the birds off power lines...  There was a coyote out there and they put a bullet in its hip

Bradley pauses, then looks towards the window where the storm is approaching.

BRADLEY

That's a big rifle their pa gave them, that dog was gunna die.

Bradley looks towards his bedside table, opens the drawer and takes out a wooden pencil case with charcoal pencils in it, he takes one out and puts the case on the table, then lays on his side looking at the wall.

BRADLEY

I killed that dog...  I had to kill it.

Bradley thinks about what he said, then looks at the wall with a curious espression, and begins to sketch a vertical line.  Joey looks at his brothers back, unable to see him drawing at all, then looks towards the window on the other side of the room.

JOEY (V.O.)

I asked my brother how he did it

He said he did it with a rock.

WIDE-SHOT:  The desert: The storm has settled and a very large looking moon breaks out from the clouds, giving a silver glow to the contours of the desert and the tree in the front yard.

Joey remains awake, looking towards the window then burying his face in his pillow, he seems restless.

JOEY (V.O.)

The moon was huge that night, bigger than it should be.  It kept the room from getting dark and I could barely sleep.  My dad told me the moon is bigger here in the desert, said we have less people to share it with.

EXT. THE DESERT - THE NEXT MORNING

The morning is bright but windy, with some low flying clouds out to the west where Bradley returned from the night before.  The two brothers walk out the front porch and towards the tree in the front yard, the wind blows at them from the west.

Bradley looks with some concern out towards the west while Joey looks curiously at the vacant parking spot next to the house

JOEY

Where do you think he is?

Bradley turns and looks at the parking spot with less concern than he had previously and picks up a handful of rocks.

BRADLEY

In town, he went into town.

JOEY

That was two days ago

Bradley looks back towards where he came from the night before, and throws a rock out off the dune where their ranch is.

BRADLEY

Yeah...

Both boys looks out into the distance for a moment, Joey turns towards his brother.

JOEY

Bradley?

BRADLEY

Yeah?

JOEY

What was it... the thing you saw last night?

BRADLEY

I'm not sure

Joey looks dissatisfied and more concerned with this answer.

JOEY

Did it make that noise, when the storm was coming... that sounded like thunder, did it sound like thunder?

Bradley looks towards his younger brother for a moment, considering what he had just said, then back out into the distance.

BRADLEY

Yeah... it sounded like thunder, only louder than it should be.

JOEY

Do you think Dad saw it from town?

BRADLEY

I dont know

JOEY

Do you think he knows what it is?

BRADLEY

I don't know Joey... stop asking questions, I don't even know if it was really there.  Don't you remember what Dad said about the desert playing tricks on us?

JOEY

But I heard it!

Bradley's expression turns more concerned, turns around and walks towards the house.

BRADLEY

It was thunder Joey, just some big thunder.

Bradley gets halfway to the house and turns to his brother's undetermined expression, he stops and addresses him.  He looks out west then back towards his brother.

BRADLEY

Those clouds probably followed him west, he'll be back once the roads are good.

Joey listens then looks towards the ground, considering this, then attempts to acknowledge this bit of hope.

JOEY

Dad doesnt like driving in the rain.

Joey looks up towards his brother, Bradley nods in agreement then looks towards the ground.

INT. BEDROOM - LATER

Joey is sitting with his head at the other end of the bed, looking out the window up towards the barn, where Bradley looks small while trying to move a horse into the small barn.  Joey looks concerned, as though his brother taking care of the horses is very unusual.

JOEY (V.O.)

Night came fast that night, Bradley fell asleep quick and kept sleeping into the afternoon. 

EXT. THE DESERT - AFTERNOON

Joey is outside by the barn filling a bucket of water with a pump and brings the bucket over and dumps it in a horse's troph.  He starts to fill the bucket again and looks over towards his bedroom's window where his brother is still sleeping.  Joey starts to walk back towards the house.

INT. BEDROOM - LATER

Joey walks in and knotices that his brother has woken up, he is sitting upright in his bed, hurdled over and slowly drinking a glass of water.  He looks very pale and sick.  

JOEY

What's wrong?  You sick?

BRADLEY

I'm tired...  There's some stuff I need to get done before pa gets home.

Bradley slowly stands up.

JOEY

I already gave them water.

Bradley moves aside and his sketch on the wall is revealed to Joey.

JOEY

What's that?

Bradley turns and looks at his sketch, and pauses for a moment.

The sketch is of a massive mushroom cloud.  A nuclear explosion.

BRADLEY

That's what I saw... It's what made that noise.

They both stare at the drawing for a while.

EXT. THE DESERT FRONT PORCH - AFTERNOON

Joey opens the front door, comes out on the front porch and stares out upon the same vast desert, and the same fatal highway in the distance, he looks sick and pale like his brother.

He walks down the porch and towards the highway, past his father's parking spot which remains vacated.

EXT. THE DESERT HIGHWAY - LATER

Joey walks under the powerlines and steps on the highway and starts heading west with a bag strapped over his shoulder.  He looks even more exhausted and pale, and stumbles to one side, holds himself up with his hands on his knees and vomits.  He brings his head up and stares down the endless desert highway, and starts to walk.

JOEY (V.O.)

Dad never came home...  

Everything's dyin, or dead.  

My brother died around the same time the horses did, he was the last person I ever saw.

END