lets loose the LOUDEST SHOUT he can manage.
MIKE
Everybody JUST. . . SHUT. . . UP!!!
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Some people in their immediate vicinity quiet down . . . and that quiet SPREADS OUTWARD. Only ROBBIE BEALS doesn't turn toward the constable, and by now that shouldn't much surprise us.
ROBBIE
Where's Ferd? He's got EMT training, at least . . . Ferd Andrews, where the hell are you?
FERD
(lost in the back of the crowd) Here
We see him struggling to get through.
ROBBIE Get your ass down here! Folks, let him pass! My boy
HATCH That's enough. Shut up.
ROBBIE
Don't you tell me to shut up, fatso. I've had all the crap out of you I'm going to take.
The two men face each other, each with an UNCONSCIOUS CHILD in his arms, but ready to brawl, just the same.
MIKE
Stop it. Both of you. Robbie, I don't think Don's in any immediate danger. Or Pippa, or Ralphie, or any of them.
URSULA has been kneeling over SALLY, keening to her. Now MOLLY whispers something in her ear, and URSULA stands up.
MARY HOPEWELL Then . . . they're not dead?
The ISLANDERS are all quiet now, watching and hoping. ANDY has got his son HARRY in his arms. JILL is standing next to them. Nearby, JACK is holding BUSTER while his wife the haggard, newly gray-haired ANGIE kisses the boy's cheek and whispers in his ear.
296 STEPHEN KING
ANDY
I think . . . he's sleeping.
URSULA This isn't sleep. If they were asleep, we could wake them up.
FERD
(finally at the front of the crowd) Then what is it?
MIKE I don't know.
He looks down into RALPHIE'S serene face, as if trying to read whatever is happening behind the boy's closed eyes. THE CAMERA FOLLOWS HIS GAZE, moving in and in on RALPHIE'S face, from MEDIUM SHOT to CLOSE-UP, from CLOSE-UP to EXTREME CLOSE-UP. And as it does, we:
SLOWLY DISSOLVE TO:
54 EXTERIOR: BLUE SKY, WHITE CLOUDS DAY.
The sky above is that DEEP, PENETRATING BLUE that we see only from airplanes. We are at about 22,000 feet above the surface of the earth. Below us, at 21,000 or so, is a WIDE DECK OF CLOUD an enormous ballroom floor in the sky. We can see tendrils of cloud smoking off the top of this deck and into the blue. Up where we are, all is sunlit and serene. Below, still driving like hell, is the Storm of the Century.
A V-SHAPE becomes visible through the clouds, grayish against the white. It's like watching a submarine running just below the surface, or a plane about to break into the clear. You'd think "plane," given our location, but it isn't.
The V-SHAPE rises out of the clouds. At the tip of the V is LINOGE, dressed in his watch cap, pea coat, blue jeans, and yellow gloves. Ahead of him, leading the way like a lodestar, is the CANE. LINOGE holds his hands out to either side, slightly spread. Clinging to one is PIPPA HATCHER. Clinging to the other is RALPHIE ANDERSON. Clinging to the hands of these two are HEIDI and BUSTER; clinging to HEIDI'S and BUSTER'S are SALLY and DON; clinging to their hands and
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bringing up the rear are HARRY and little FRANK BRIGHT. Their hair flies back from their foreheads. Their clothes ripple. They are totally blissed out.
LINOGE (calls back) Having fun, kids?
KIDS
Yeah . . . yeah . . . Cool. . . This is great!
(etc.)
55 EXTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.
His eyes are BLACK, shot with TWISTING RED VEINS. When he smiles, he once more reveals those SHARPENED FANGS. The shadow of the CANE lies on his face like a scar. The KIDS think they have gone flying with a fabulous friend. We know the truth: they are in the grip of a monster.
FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 2.
Act 3
56 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
It's still almost blotted out by the snowstorm, its few lights flickering bravely.
57 EXTERIOR: THE GENERATOR SHED BEHIND THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
It's barely visible, almost buried by drifts, but it's impossible to mistake the ENGINE ROAR. Then the ENGINE COUGHS . . . SPUTTERS . . .
58 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT. The lights flicker on and off . . .
59 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL KITCHEN NIGHT.
TESS MARCHANT, TAVIA GODSOE, and JENNA FREEMAN are taking BOXES OF CANDLES out of the supply closet adjacent to the pantry and stacking them on the kitchen counter. The overhead lights CONTINUE TO FLICKER. TAVIA and JENNA look up, nervous.
TAVIA GODSOE (nervously, to TESS) Are we going to lose the generator, do