EXT. WAR-TORN CITY - NIGHT (AERIAL)
SILENCE.
A drone’s eye view drifting over a metropolis that has been
chewed down to the bone.
The skyline is a jagged EKG of broken concrete. Entire city
blocks are flattened, reduced to grey dust and twisted rebar.
Fires burn in the distance—orange constellations scattered
across a void of blackout darkness.
There are no lights in the windows. No movement on the
highways. Just the hulking skeletons of buildings that once
held thousands.
A single FLARE pops—a brilliant, harsh white star—descending
slowly on a parachute, illuminating the devastation for ten
seconds.
Then, the sound arrives.
A low, subterranean RUMBLE. THUD. THUD. THUD.
Artillery. Miles away, but heavy enough to vibrate the camera
lens.
EXT. CHECKPOINT "ZERO" - NIGHT
Ground level. The air is thick, tasting of pulverized drywall
and burning rubber.
A makeshift triage center has been set up in the lobby of a
bombed-out bank. Marble floors covered in grit. Sandbags
piled high against the shattered glass doors.
DR. LARA ESHKAN (22) is kneeling beside a SOLDIER on a
stretcher. She uses a penlight to check his eyes.
Lara looks older than her years. Her face is smeared with
dust, her medical vest is stained, and her hands—though
steady—are chapped and raw.
LARA
Follow the light.
The Soldier tracks it. Groggy.
SOLDIER
Am I... am I good, Doc?
LARA
You’re concussed. And you’re
dehydrated. (She stands) But your
head is still attached to your
neck, so you’re having a better
night than most.
She marks a clipboard.
LARA (CONT'D)
(To a nearby Medic)
Get him a liter of saline. Keep
him off patrol for twenty-four
hours.
MEDIC
Major Keller isn't gonna like
that. We’re short on bodies.
Lara turns. Her eyes are fierce.
LARA
Then tell the Major he can patrol.
This kid stays horizontal.
She walks away before the Medic can argue. She moves with a
limp—favoring her left leg—but she moves fast.
EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS
Lara steps out of the bank lobby into the cool night air. She
pulls a pack of cigarettes from her pocket. Empty. She
crumples it and tosses it into a crater.
NURSE FARID (30s) is leaning against an ambulance, cleaning
his glasses. He looks like a weary professor who got lost on
a field trip.
FARID
You’re out of smokes again.
LARA
I’m out of everything, Farid.
Gauze. Morphine. Patience.
Farid reaches into his pocket and tosses her a single, bent
cigarette.
FARID
I’m hoarding. Don't tell the
others.
Lara catches it. She smiles—a rare, genuine expression that
softens the hard lines of her face.
LARA
You’re a saint.
FARID
I’m an enabler. There’s a
difference.
She lights up, inhaling deeply. She looks at the distant
flashes on the horizon.
LARA
It’s getting closer. The shelling.
FARID
North district is gone. They’re
bracketing the grid. (A beat)
Marlowe thinks we should pull back
to the main base.
Lara stiffens at the name.
LARA
Marlowe thinks a spreadsheet is a
moral compass. If we move back, the
civilians in the gray zone have
nowhere to go.
FARID
Lara... we’re running on fumes.
You haven't slept in two days.
You’re good, but you aren't a
machine.
Lara looks at her hands. Just for a second, a tremor passes
through her fingers. She clenches a fist to hide it.
LARA
I sleep when it’s quiet.
FARID
It’s never quiet.
WHIEEEEEEE-CRUMP.
A mortar lands. Close. Maybe three blocks away. The ground
jumps. Dust rains from the lip of the building above them.
Lara doesn't flinch. She just checks her watch.
LARA
That was short. Usually they fire
in volleys of three.
FARID
Maybe they’re running out of ammo
too.
SCREEEEEECH.
The second one comes in. Louder. A tearing sound like the sky
ripping open.
Lara’s eyes widen.
LARA
INCOMING!
She tackles Farid, shoving him behind the engine block of the
ambulance.
BOOOOOOM.
The shell hits the street fifty yards down. The shockwave
shatters the remaining glass in the bank windows. A cloud of
debris—stone, metal, fire—roars past them.
Lara covers her head. The sound is physically painful, a
pressure wave that rattling her teeth.
Silence returns for three seconds.
Then—SCREAMS.
Lara is up instantly. Her ears are ringing.
LARA
( (Shouting)
Status!
FARID
(Coughing)
I’m good! I’m good!
Lara scans the street. The shell hit an apartment block down
the road. The front facade has sheared off like a dollhouse.
People are stumbling out of the dust.
LARA
Grab the trauma kit! Move!
She sprints toward the impact zone.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
Bargain in the Rubble
EXT. IMPACT ZONE - CONTINUOUS
Lara runs into the fog of dust. It’s chaos. Civilians—mostly
families who refused to leave—are digging frantically into a
pile of rubble.
A WOMAN screams in a dialect Lara barely understands,
pointing at a twisted mess of concrete slabs.
WOMAN
My boy! My boy is under!
Lara slides down the debris slope.
LARA
(To the woman)
Get back! It’s unstable!
She drops to her knees beside the slab. She shines her light
into the gap.
Deep inside, trapped in a pocket of air formed by a collapsed
beam, is a SMALL BOY (8). This is KAZEM. He isn't moving.
Blood is matted in his hair.
Lara looks at the concrete slab on top of him. It weighs a
ton.
LARA (CONT'D)
(To Farid, arriving)
I need a jack! We have to lift
this.
FARID
It’s too heavy, Lara. The whole
structure is coming down. Look at
the supports!
He points up. The rebar hanging above them is groaning,
bending under the weight of the floors above.
LARA
I don't care! He’s suffocating.
Give me the airbag!
She grabs a pneumatic lifting bag from Farid’s kit. She jams
it into the crack beneath the slab. She pumps it. The bag
inflates. The concrete groans. It lifts—an inch. Two inches.
Lara lies flat on her stomach, reaching into the darkness.
LARA (CONT'D)
Come on... reach for me.
The boy doesn't move.
Lara crawls halfway in. The jagged rock scrapes her back.
FARID
Lara, stop! It’s going to collapse!
LARA
( (Inside the hole)
I’ve almost got him!
Her fingers brush the boy’s collar. She feels his skin. It’s
cold.
She feels for a pulse.
...
Nothing.
Lara freezes. The noise of the outside world—Farid shouting,
the mother screaming, the sirens—seems to fade away.
She is alone in the dark with a dead child.
LARA (CONT'D)
No. Don't you do this.
She tries to pull him, but he’s pinned.
LARA (CONT'D)
Wake up. damn it, wake up!
She shakes him. His head lolls back. Dead eyes stare at the
darkness.
Lara stops. The exhaustion hits her like a hammer. The lack
of sleep. The stress. The futility. It all crashes down in
this tiny, dusty grave.
She rests her forehead against the dirt.
LARA (CONT'D)
( (Whispering)
Please. Just let one of them make
it.
The air in the pocket suddenly changes. The dust stops
swirling. The heat of the burning building vanishes, replaced
by a deep, subterranean chill. It smells like wet soil and
ancient stone.
Lara lifts her head.
In the corner of the collapsed pocket—where there is no room
for a man to stand—a MAN stands.
He is bent double to fit in the space, his spine curved
against the crushing ceiling. He wears rags that look like
rot. His face is hidden in shadow.
He isn't looking at Lara. He is looking at the boy.
He holds a pocket watch. The ticking is loud. Tick. Tick.
Tick.
Lara blinks.
LARA (CONT'D)
Who... who are you?
The Figure doesn't speak. He closes the watch with a metallic
click.
THE REAPER
( (Voice echoing in her
skull)
The account is closed.
Lara stares.
LARA
Get away from him.
THE REAPER
He is already gone, Doctor. The
thread is cut.
Lara looks at the boy. Then back at the Figure. A desperate,
irrational anger flares in her chest.
LARA
No. I say when it’s cut.
She grabs the boy’s shirt with both hands.
LARA (CONT'D)
(To the Figure)
Give him back.
The Figure tilts his hooded head.
THE REAPER
You ask for a transaction?
Lara doesn't know what she’s saying. She just knows she
cannot lose another one tonight.
LARA
Yes. Whatever it costs. Restart
him.
The Reaper leans closer. The smell of cold earth is
suffocating.
THE REAPER
The cost is high. Years for
breath. Your years.
Lara looks at the dead child.
LARA
Take them.
The Reaper reaches out a skeletal hand. He doesn't touch the
boy. He touches Lara’s chest. Right over her heart.
SLAM.
Pain explodes in Lara’s chest. Her vision goes white. She
screams, but no sound comes out.
CUT TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. COLLAPSED APARTMENT BLOCK – NIGHT
A deep, pulsing HUM grows in the darkness. Dust hangs
suspended mid-air like time has thickened.
LARA gasps and sits upright—still inside the collapsed
pocket. Her hands are trembling violently. She looks down.
KAZEM—the boy—COUGHS.
He COUGHS AGAIN, weak but alive.
Lara’s breath catches. She pulls him toward her as best she
can.
LARA
(whispering)
You’re okay… you’re okay… stay with
me…
The air pressure in the pocket suddenly equalizes — WHOOMPH —
like the world snaps back into motion. Dust rains down
normally again. Voices return.
Farid shouting in the distance.
FARID (O.S.)
Lara! Lara!
Lara tries to respond, but her voice cracks.
She drags Kazem close and starts inching backward out of the
hole.
EXT. IMPACT ZONE – CONTINUOUS
Farid spots her emerging and sprints over with two OTHER
MEDICS.
FARID
Holy— grab them, grab them!
They pull both out just as the upper floors groan, shift—
CRAAAAAACK—
The entire front wall collapses, pulverizing the pocket they
were just in.
Farid pulls Lara away.
FARID
You’re insane. Absolutely insane.
But—
(sees Kazem breathing)
—oh my God…
Civilians gasp. The boy’s mother drops to her knees, crying,
kissing Kazem’s face.
But Lara doesn’t watch the reunion — she’s focused on
something else:
Her hands are shaking uncontrollably. Her vision wobbles. She
feels ROOTED to the spot as a cold ache radiates from her
chest.
A PRICE PAID.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
Debt of Breath
EXT. CHECKPOINT ZERO – NIGHT
Lara sits on a crate while Farid examines her. She looks
drained, older somehow. Her skin has a faint pallor.
FARID
Your pulse is fast. Pupils
responsive. But you look like hell
wrapped in hell.
Lara gives a hollow half-smile.
LARA
That good, huh?
FARID
And you’re ice cold. Lara, what
happened in there?
She hesitates. A beat too long.
LARA
Adrenaline. Dust inhalation. I’m
fine.
Farid doesn't believe a word, but chaos is unfolding — new
wounded arriving, sirens blaring.
KELLER (40s), a hardened Major, storms over.
KELLER
Doctor Eshkan! I heard you ran into
a collapsing building again.
LARA
He was alive. That’s the job.
KELLER
The job is triage — not suicide
missions. You’re benched for the
next rotation.
Lara stands — sharply, defiantly — then stumbles. Her balance
is off.
Keller sees it. His expression shifts.
KELLER (CONT'D)
You’re hurt.
LARA
No. I’m not.
KELLER
Then stop shaking.
Lara looks at her own hand — trembling out of her control.
EXT. CHECKPOINT ZERO – MAKESHIFT TENT – LATER
A temporary “quiet zone” tent. Dim lanterns cast soft,
flickering light.
Lara sits alone on a cot, breathing heavily, forcing her
hands to steady.
A SHADOW moves along the canvas.
She tenses.
The lantern flickers… then dims… then extinguishes.
The tent temperature drops instantly, frosting the breath in
front of her.
THE REAPER (O.S., INSIDE HER SKULL)
A life restored.
A debt begun.
Lara turns. The Reaper stands in the corner, half-formed,
like a silhouette made of dust and darkness. No one outside
reacts — only she can see him.
LARA
(under breath)
Get away from me.
THE REAPER
You invited me in.
LARA
I saved a child. That’s it. That’s
all.
THE REAPER
You bartered years. Yours. They are
taken.
Lara’s breath hitches.
LARA
How many?
The Reaper clicks open the pocket watch.
THE REAPER
Time is not a currency you
understand.
Lara steps toward him — anger cutting through her fear.
LARA
Then teach me.
The Reaper’s head tilts. Almost amused.
THE REAPER
The first lesson:
Every restored breath demands
consequence.
Suddenly—
A SCREAM outside.
Multiple screams.
Gunfire. Not distant — CLOSE.
Lara spins toward the tent flap.
When she turns back, the Reaper is gone.
EXT. CHECKPOINT ZERO – NIGHT
Chaos. Soldiers firing toward the northern perimeter.
CIVILIANS run for cover. MEDICS scramble.
Keller grabs Lara by the arm.
KELLER
We’ve got movement in the grey zone
— possible breach! Get inside! Now!
Lara pulls free.
LARA
No. I’m not hiding.
She grabs a medical bag and runs toward the line of fire.
Farid chases after her.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
A Desperate Rescue
EXT. PERIMETER WALL – CONTINUOUS
A FAMILY OF THREE is caught in open ground — they ran the
wrong direction. Bullets tear the pavement around them.
Lara breaks into a sprint.
FARID
Lara! STOP!
She ignores him, sliding behind a burned-out truck for cover.
The family huddles thirty yards away — exposed, terrified.
Lara steels herself…
Her chest BURNS — like someone squeezing her heart.
She winces. Falters.
The Reaper’s voice echoes faintly:
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Consequence…
But Lara grits her teeth, pushes through it, and dashes into
open fire.
EXT. OPEN STREET – CONTINUOUS
A shell detonates near her. Shrapnel whistles past.
She reaches the family, throwing herself between them and the
gunfire.
LARA
Go! Move! MOVE!
She pulls the youngest child into her arms and drives them
toward cover.
Farid and two SOLDIERS lay suppressive fire.
Lara is almost to safety when—
POP!
A bullet grazes her side. She stumbles.
Another PRICE.
The Reaper’s whisper is almost tender:
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Breath… for breath…
Lara forces herself upright and pushes the family into safety
behind the burned truck.
Farid grabs her, eyes wide.
FARID
You’re bleeding! Sit down!
LARA
Later—
(wincing)
Is the line holding?
KELLER (O.S.)
Barely!
Keller yells from down the barricade, firing bursts into the
darkness.
Then — silence.
The gunfire stops. No movement beyond the smoke.
Everyone freezes.
KELLER (CONT'D)
(whispering)
Why’d they pull back?
Lara looks at the shadows beyond the perimeter.
And for the briefest moment…
She sees a figure standing motionless.
The Reaper. Watching.
Then he dissolves into the smoke.
EXT. CHECKPOINT ZERO – TRIAGE AREA – LATER
Lara sits while a medic cleans and bandages her side.
Farid watches her — concerned, studying her like a puzzle.
FARID
Every time you push yourself past
reason, something strange happens.
You collapse. Or you freeze. Or the
air just… changes around you.
Lara won’t look at him.
FARID (CONT'D)
Lara… what happened in that
building?
Before she can answer—
KELLER
We have orders.
Everyone turns.
KELLER (CONT'D)
High Command is pulling us back to
Base Echo.
We leave at dawn.
Lara’s eyes flare with disbelief.
LARA
No. Absolutely not. You pull out
now, everyone in the grey zone
dies.
KELLER
They’ve made the call.
LARA
They’re wrong.
KELLER
They’re alive.
Lara steps forward.
LARA
So are these people. They trust us
to stay.
Keller’s jaw tightens.
KELLER
Pack your gear, Doctor. That’s an
order.
He walks off.
Lara trembles with fury, pain, and something deeper—
The knowledge that every life she saves now costs her pieces
of herself.
Farid puts a hand on her shoulder.
FARID
Lara… what are you doing to
yourself?
Lara doesn’t answer.
Her eyes drift toward the far perimeter.
Toward the smoke.
Toward whatever she just invited into her life.
CUT TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Drama","War","Supernatural"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
Abandoning Humanity
INT. ADMIN TENT – NIGHT
A single laptop flickers on a folding table. Maps, casualty
reports, and coffee cups clutter the surface.
LARA stands in front of the screen, still bandaged, eyes hot
with anger.
Onscreen: COL. MARLOWE (50s), crisp uniform, safe somewhere
far from the front. The connection glitches, pixels tearing
his face.
MARLOWE
I understand your concerns, Doctor,
but the order stands. Checkpoint
Zero is no longer strategically
viable.
LARA
Strategically viable? There are two
thousand civilians in the grey zone
who only come to us because they
trust we’re not going to vanish
overnight.
MARLOWE
We are consolidating assets at Base
Echo. If they want safety, they can
move south with you.
LARA
They can’t “move south.” Half of
them can barely walk. The roads are
mined. The other half will never
leave their homes. You know that.
Marlowe’s jaw tightens.
MARLOWE
We are not a charity. We are a
mission. Missions adapt.
LARA
People don’t “adapt” to artillery.
They die under it.
A beat. Marlowe leans in.
MARLOWE
You’ve been awake how long, Doctor?
LARA
Two days. Maybe three. Who’s
counting.
MARLOWE
Stand down. Get some rest. At 0600
you’re wheels up with the rest of
the unit. That’s final.
Lara’s stare could cut metal.
LARA
Then the next report you get won’t
be from me. It’ll be a body count.
He looks at her like she’s a problem more than a person.
MARLOWE
Watch your tone.
The laptop time stamp GLITCHES — 02:11… 02:12… 02:40… 03:03…
then snaps back to 02:13.
Lara notices. Her skin crawls.
LARA
Did you see that?
MARLOWE
See what?
LARA
The time. It just— jumped.
Marlowe glances off-screen, annoyed.
MARLOWE
Bandwidth lag. We’re done here.
Prepare your patients to move.
The call cuts.
The laptop screen goes black.
Lara stands there, heart pounding… feeling like something
just stole forty minutes of her life and hid it behind the
screen.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
Checkpoint Zero: A Tenuous Departure
EXT. CHECKPOINT ZERO – COURTYARD – PRE-DAWN
Dark blue hour. The sky is bruised but not yet lit.
SOLDIERS move like ghosts, loading crates into trucks.
ENGINES idle. Exhaust mingles with the cold air.
Lara moves through the chaos, her limp more pronounced. Farid
walks beside her, carrying a clipboard and looking like he
hasn’t blinked in a week.
They reach KAZEM and his MOTHER, who huddle near an
ambulance. The boy clutches a worn stuffed animal.
MOTHER
(pleading)
Doctor… they say we must go. But my
husband is still in the city. If he
comes back and we are gone—
LARA
(soft)
If you stay, you die. If you go, he
has a chance to find you later.
Kazem looks up at her.
KAZEM
Are you coming with us?
Lara hesitates. Something in her chest tugs the other
way—toward the broken skyline.
LARA
I’ll be right behind you.
It’s almost true.
Farid watches her closely.
MOTHER
Bless you. Bless you.
The woman pulls Kazem into the ambulance.
Farid lowers his voice.
FARID
That sounded a lot like a lie.
LARA
It’s called triage. For the truth.
INT. SUPPLY TENT – PRE-DAWN
Stacks of medical kits, IV bags, morphine vials. The last of
a collapsing lifeline.
Lara moves through the narrow aisle, stuffing extra supplies
into a small duffel: chest seals, antibiotics, tourniquets.
Her hands shake less now. Maybe she’s just too angry to
tremble.
The tent lights flicker. The air temperature drops a few
degrees.
Without turning, she knows.
LARA
If you’re here to gloat, get in
line. High Command beat you to it.
She turns.
THE REAPER stands at the end of the aisle, half-obscured in
shadow, head nearly brushing the tent ceiling. Rags hang in
tatters that never quite settle, like they’re underwater.
THE REAPER
You are leaving your field.
LARA
Not my choice.
THE REAPER
All choices are yours. That is the
burden of the living.
He steps closer. The medicines on the shelves seem to darken
as he passes.
LARA
You said there’s a cost. Fine. I
get it. Years for a kid’s
heartbeat. But what good is any of
this if an order can wipe out
everyone I save?
The Reaper regards her. The pocket watch appears in his hand,
ticking loud enough to feel in her teeth.
THE REAPER
You misunderstand our arrangement.
LARA
Enlighten me.
THE REAPER
I do not kill. I record. I balance.
You, Doctor, tilt the scale.
LARA
By trading my life away one patient
at a time.
THE REAPER
If you wish.
He tilts the watch; the hands spin backward for a moment,
then stop.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Time is not coins, to be counted.
It is probability. You have
purchased deviations.
She steps closer.
LARA
What happens to the convoy?
A long silence. The Reaper’s hood shifts as if he’s listening
to a far-off choir.
THE REAPER
There are many paths. Most end in
fire.
Lara’s gut clenches.
LARA
Then tell me how to bend it. You
owe me that much.
THE REAPER
I owe you nothing. You signed
without reading.
LARA
I didn’t sign anything.
THE REAPER
You said, “Whatever it costs.”
He lets that hang between them.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
But I am… curious.
Lara narrows her eyes.
LARA
About what?
THE REAPER
How much of yourself you are
willing to burn to keep strangers
alive.
He steps aside, revealing the flap of the tent and the
forming convoy beyond.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Walk your path, Lara Eshkan. I will
keep the ledger.
He VANISHES — sucked out of the tent like smoke in reverse.
Lara stands alone with the duffel, breathing hard.
Genres:
["Drama","Supernatural","War"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
Dawn Convoy: Tensions and Decisions
EXT. CONVOY STAGING AREA – DAWN
The horizon glows a dirty orange. A line of armored trucks,
troop carriers, and two battered ambulances stretch across
the road.
KELLER barks orders.
KELLER
Truck One, you’re point! Ambulance
One, you sit behind the APCs. If
you see anything that looks like a
gift from God, assume it’s the
opposite and go around—
Lara approaches.
LARA
We need more space in the medical
vehicles. I’ve got criticals who
can’t handle that ride in the troop
carriers.
KELLER
We’re already overloaded.
Lara doesn’t argue. She walks past him, opens the back of
Ambulance One.
INSIDE: three critical patients and Kazem with his mother.
Not enough room.
She looks back at the civilians milling nearby, clutching
small bags, eyes hollow.
Then she makes a decision.
LARA
(sharp, to nearby MEDIC)
You. Swap out that non-ambulatory
in Truck Three. Transfer him here.
Take two of the walking wounded out
and put them with your squad.
MEDIC
We’re full, Doc—
LARA
Then be fuller.
The Medic hesitates, then obeys. In war, tone outranks rank.
Farid appears, climbing into the ambulance.
FARID
I assume I don’t get a vote in
whether I ride in the death box
with you.
LARA
You did. You missed it. Very narrow
window.
He sighs, settling in, checking vitals.
FARID
Of course. My punishment for past
sins is eternal residency at your
side.
LARA
You’re welcome.
Keller watches, frustrated but out of time.
KELLER
Mount up! We roll in two!
Engines REV. Metal GROANS as the convoy inches forward into
formation.
Genres:
["War","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Ambush on the Ruined Road
EXT. ROAD OUT OF THE CITY – MORNING
The convoy moves through a corridor of ruins. Burned-out
cars. Collapsed facades. The occasional corpse that no one
had time to collect.
INSIDE AMBULANCE ONE – moving.
Lara rides up front in the passenger seat. A YOUNG DRIVER
(19) grips the wheel too tight.
Farid is in back with the patients, visible in the rearview
mirror.
DRIVER
You think they’ll actually let us
stay at Base Echo? I heard they
rotate people out after three
weeks. Ship ‘em back home before
they crack.
LARA
(staring ahead)
You planning your vacation already?
DRIVER
Just… thinking it’d be nice to
sleep without things exploding.
She doesn’t answer. Her eyes keep tracking the rooftops, the
alleys, the windows.
Her fingers press unconsciously against the bandage at her
side.
A faint, rhythmic TICKING starts. Not mechanical — inside her
skull.
Lara winces.
LARA
(to herself)
Don’t you dare.
She looks out the windshield—
Up ahead: the lead APC passes a section of road that looks…
too clean. No debris. No shell craters. A fresh patch of
asphalt like a bandaid.
Her chest seizes. Her breath cuts short.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
(soft)
Probability… converges.
LARA
Driver. Slow down.
DRIVER
We’re supposed to keep pace—
LARA
Now.
There’s something in her face that brooks no argument. He
eases off the gas.
Up ahead, the lead APC rolls directly over that suspicious
patch.
EXT. ROAD – CONTINUOUS
A beat.
Then—
BOOOOOOM.
The APC ERUPTS in a column of fire and shrapnel. Shockwave
slams back down the line.
The convoy skids to a halt. Vehicles collide.
INSIDE the ambulance, Lara’s head cracks the dash. The driver
screams.
From behind: another EXPLOSION as a truck hits a secondary
IED.
Someone starts firing—return fire flashes in distant windows.
An AMBUSH.
EXT. ROAD – MOMENTS LATER
Smoke. Fire. Screams.
Lara pulls herself out of the ambulance, ears ringing. Time
feels slightly slowed — or maybe she’s just operating faster
now.
She takes in the scene:
* The lead APC is a burning husk.
* A troop truck is on its side, men crawling out.
* Bullets ping off armor from somewhere up in the ruins.
Keller, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, drags a RADIO
OPERATOR toward cover.
KELLER
Contact left! Suppress and fall
back! Go, go, go!
Lara looks at the overturned troop truck.
A SOLDIER inside is pinned beneath a twisted bench, legs
crushed. He’s bleeding out, eyes wild.
No one is going to reach him in time.
The ticking in her skull grows louder.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
One more thread… one more cut…
Lara staggers toward the wreck.
Farid grabs her arm.
FARID
Are you insane? They’re bracketing
us! We need to evacuate the wounded
we have, not adopt new ones!
LARA
If he dies, the others in that
truck lose their only gun. They’re
sitting ducks.
Farid glances at the man — clutching his rifle even as he
bleeds.
Lara’s eyes lock on the pinned soldier. Something like
recognition passes across her face — not personal, but…
strategic.
LARA (CONT'D)
(quiet, to Farid)
I think… I can get him back.
Farid stares at her, horrified and fascinated all at once.
FARID
What are you talking about?
Bullets chew the pavement nearby.
KELLER (O.S.)
Eshkan! Get down!
She doesn’t.
Genres:
["Drama","Action","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
A Sacrifice in Shadows
EXT. OVERTURNED TROOP TRUCK – CONTINUOUS
Lara dives under the side of the truck, crawling up into the
overturned interior.
Men groan, disoriented. One tries to raise his weapon.
LARA
Save the ammo for the people trying
to kill you.
She reaches the pinned soldier: HARRIS (25), pale, sweating,
trying to be brave.
HARRIS
Am I—
LARA
Don’t ask. Just breathe.
She checks his vitals. Not good. Very not good.
The ticking swells, deafening now.
The interior of the truck darkens. The air grows cold.
Lara knows he’s here before she looks.
In the cramped, upside-down space, THE REAPER crouches like a
spider, head twisted at an unnatural angle to avoid the
ceiling.
The other soldiers don’t react. They can’t see him.
THE REAPER
This one’s strand is already
frayed.
Lara swallows hard.
LARA
Can I buy it?
The Reaper studies her. The pocket watch floats between his
fingers.
For the first time, there’s a hint of… admiration?
THE REAPER
You offer years you do not know you
own.
LARA
That’s everyone. All of the time.
Answer the question.
A long beat.
THE REAPER
(soft)
Yes.
Lara looks down at Harris. His lips move in prayer or panic.
She places one hand on his bloody chest—and one hand over her
own heart.
LARA
Then do it.
INT. OVERTURNED TROOP TRUCK – CONTINUOUS – SUBJECTIVE
Sound drops out.
The world drains of color except for Lara, Harris, and the
Reaper.
The watch opens. Instead of gears, Lara sees IMAGES inside:
— Her hands, older, covered in someone else’s blood.
— A sunny room she’s never seen, a child’s laughter just off-
camera.
— A hospital bed. Her. Alone.
Images flicker, then burn away like old film.
A ripping sensation in her chest.
The Reaper reaches forward and gently presses a finger over
Lara’s heart.
THE REAPER
A portion, then.
White HOT PAIN lances through her. She GASP-SCREAMS — no
sound — and then—
EXT. OVERTURNED TROOP TRUCK – BACK TO REALITY
Lara slams back into the moment.
Gunfire roars. Men shout.
Harris suddenly SUCKS IN AIR like he’s been underwater for a
year.
Color floods back to his face. His pulse steadies under her
fingers.
He looks at her, confused.
HARRIS
I… what happened?
Lara is drenched in sweat, breathing like she just sprinted
miles. Her face looks subtly different — deeper lines at the
corners of her eyes, a faint pallor.
LARA
You got… very lucky. Now pick up
your rifle.
He does. The other soldiers scramble, repositioning.
Outside, Keller lays down suppressive fire.
Lara crawls back out of the truck.
Farid grabs her, eyes wide at her condition.
FARID
You look ten years older.
LARA
(flashes a grim smile)
War ages you fast.
But even as she says it, she feels something sag inside her —
as if a floor of her internal building just collapsed.
EXT. ROAD – AMBUSH SITE – LATER
The ambush is over. The attackers either retreated or got
ground into the rubble — hard to say.
Smoke drifts. Bodies lie under hastily thrown tarps.
The convoy is reduced but still operational.
Keller oversees the last of the wounded being loaded.
He glances at Harris, now mobile and carrying his rifle
again.
Then he looks at Lara — pale, exhausted, a thin streak of
WHITE now visible in her dark hair at the temple.
He files that away.
KELLER
We lost two vehicles and seven men.
Could’ve been a hell of a lot
worse.
He looks around at the butchered road.
KELLER (CONT'D)
We’re not stopping again until we
hit Base Echo. Anyone falls behind,
they’re done. Clear?
Farid looks at Lara.
FARID
You heard the man. No more heroics.
Lara stares at the burning APC, at the scorched “clean patch”
in the road.
She can still hear the echo of the Reaper’s watch ticking
under her pulse.
LARA
(quiet, to herself)
No promises.
Genres:
["Drama","Supernatural","War"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
Echoes of Choice
EXT. BASE ECHO – EVENING
A fortified compound carved out of an old industrial complex.
High blast walls, guard towers, razor wire.
The convoy limps through the gates as they close behind them.
Inside, it almost looks like civilization. Floodlights.
Generators. A mess tent. A chapel. A rec field.
The contrast feels obscene.
INT. BASE ECHO – FIELD HOSPITAL – NIGHT
New location, same chaos.
Lara moves through rows of cots, checking on patients
transferred from the convoy.
Farid argues with a LOGISTICS OFFICER about supplies.
LOGISTICS OFFICER
We weren’t scheduled for this many
criticals. You blew the ratio.
FARID
Sorry, the artillery didn’t read
your memo.
Lara slips into a small side room: a break area with a
cracked mirror above a sink.
She closes the door. For a moment, the noise outside muffles.
She grips the sink, breathing.
Looks up.
In the mirror, under the grimy fluorescent tube, she sees it
clearly:
— The faint white streak in her hair.
— The deeper shadows under her eyes.
— The tiny tremor at the edge of her jaw.
She leans closer, almost daring her reflection.
LARA
How many of you did I give away?
Silence.
Then, in the mirror behind her — the Reaper’s silhouette,
standing in the doorway.
She spins.
The doorway is empty. No one there.
She looks back at the mirror.
He’s gone from there too.
She laughs once — sharp, humorless — then splashes cold water
on her face.
EXT. BASE ECHO – PERIMETER WALL – LATER THAT NIGHT
Lara stands alone on the wall, looking back toward the city.
Distant flashes of artillery paint the horizon.
The wind whistles faintly over the blast barriers.
After a moment, another “shape” peels away from the shadows
beside her: THE REAPER, leaning against the concrete as if he
belongs there.
THE REAPER
The distance does not spare them.
Lara doesn’t flinch anymore. She’s too tired.
LARA
Yeah. I noticed.
THE REAPER
You think being here… behind higher
walls… makes you less responsible.
LARA
Is this your version of small talk?
He watches the far-off explosions.
THE REAPER
There are ninety-three souls within
your reach tonight who will die if
events proceed as written.
Lara’s throat tightens.
LARA
Within my reach. Meaning… if I went
back.
THE REAPER
If you walked against orders.
Against fear. Against… yourself.
She looks at her bandaged side, at her shaking hand, at the
distant city.
LARA
And how many years would that cost?
The watch appears. Ticking. Always ticking.
THE REAPER
You bargain as if there is a fixed
price.
(a beat)
You will not live as long as you
might have. That is certain. But
how you spend what remains… is
still… negotiable.
Lara stares at the city until her eyes burn.
LARA
If you’re keeping score, understand
this: I’m not doing it for you. I’m
not your errand girl.
THE REAPER
You are no one’s.
He almost sounds approving.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Step back into the fire, Lara
Eshkan, and you may save a few from
my ledger. Step away, and you may
save yourself.
She looks at him, really looks.
LARA
You keep saying that like saving
myself is the point.
A long silence. The wind moans.
Lara makes her decision.
She turns away from the relative safety of the base and
starts walking down the inner stairs with purpose.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
So noted.
He fades as she descends.
Off Lara, moving with grim determination toward a fight no
one ordered her to join—
CUT TO:
Genres:
["Drama","Supernatural","War"]
Ratings
Scene
11 -
Midnight Escape
EXT. BASE ECHO – MOTOR POOL – NIGHT
Floodlights hum over silent rows of armored vehicles. Most
are locked down, tagged for inspection.
A LONE HUMVEE sits unattended, engine cold but keys dangling
from the dash — someone got lazy during offload.
LARA approaches from the shadows, duffel slung over her
shoulder, moving with quiet determination. She checks the
windows. No guards nearby.
She opens the door—
VOICE (O.S.)
If you steal that, I’m absolutely
telling on you.
Lara freezes.
FARID stands behind a stack of supply crates, arms crossed,
glasses crooked, an expression that says he absolutely
expected this.
LARA
Go back to sleep, Farid.
FARID
Sleep? Haven’t heard that word in
years. Now… are we going to have
the argument, or are you going to
pretend I didn’t see you?
Lara climbs into the Humvee.
LARA
There’s no argument. I’m leaving.
Farid approaches the door.
FARID
I know. Which is why I packed a
trauma kit, three liters of saline,
and the GOOD antibiotics in the
back.
Lara blinks.
He climbs into the passenger seat without waiting for
permission.
FARID (CONT'D)
You can thank me later. Preferably
when we both survive.
Lara gives a micro-smile. It’s gone almost instantly.
LARA
You’re an idiot.
FARID
It’s my most defining trait.
They share a look — the kind that confirms: They’re in this
together.
Lara starts the engine.
EXT. BASE ECHO – OUTER GATE – NIGHT
The Humvee rolls quietly toward the outer checkpoint. Two
GUARDS approach the booth.
Lara lowers the window.
GUARD #1
Orders?
Lara hands over a clipboard — a medical inventory sheet.
LARA
Emergency supply run. Triage tent
flagged shortages this afternoon.
Command wants it fixed before
morning rounds.
The guard scans it. Looks skeptical.
GUARD #1
No one told us about this.
Lara leans forward, steely.
LARA
Maybe ask yourself why command
didn’t trust you with the detail.
The guard stiffens reflexively, insulted.
Farid, deadpan:
FARID
Also, if you delay a mission marked
“critical,” I’m required to perform
a rectal exam on the nearest
ranking officer.
(beat)
You’re nearest.
The guard’s face drains.
GUARD #1
…Proceed.
Gate opens.
Farid gives a tiny bow as they pass.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
Confrontation with The Reaper
EXT. RUINED HIGHWAY – NIGHT
The Humvee crawls through the darkness, headlights off.
Moonlight glints off broken concrete and twisted metal.
The city looms ahead — glowing intermittently as artillery
flashes illuminate its skeletal remains.
Inside the cab, silence except the rumble of the road.
Farid finally speaks.
FARID
You know the Reaper’s probably
enjoying this, right?
Lara tightens her grip on the wheel.
LARA
This isn’t about him.
FARID
I didn’t say it was. But you’re
burning the candle at both ends and
then setting the table on fire. At
some point, something’s going to
give.
LARA
Good thing you came along to nag me
about mortality while we rush into
it.
FARID
It’s what I do.
The Humvee hits a patch of rubble — THUMP-THUMP — shaking
them.
Farid glances at her bandage.
FARID (CONT'D)
Side still hurting?
LARA
Like someone shoved a frozen knife
in me and then left it there.
FARID
Charming.
Lara stares ahead, but she’s sweating. Pale.
The ticking starts faintly… growing louder.
Farid notices.
FARID (CONT'D)
Lara… you hearing it again?
She swallows. Hard.
Suddenly, the HUMVEE LIGHTS FLICKER — the engine sputters.
Electronics glitch.
LARA
Hold on—
The Humvee dies. Coasts to a stop.
EXT. RUINED HIGHWAY – CONTINUOUS
The night goes unnaturally still.
Lara steps out, scanning the darkness. Farid follows,
flashlight shaking in his hand.
FARID
If this is a mechanical failure, I
want it registered that I blame you
personally.
Lara ignores him. Something is off.
The wind stops. Dust hangs motionless.
Lara’s breath fogs — a cloud in the cold.
LARA
(quiet)
He’s here.
Farid’s flashlight flickers out.
FARID
Goddamn it—
He slaps it. Nothing.
Then a shape forms behind them.
THE REAPER.
Not hostile. Not friendly. Just inevitable.
THE REAPER
Your path diverts.
Lara doesn’t bother pretending she isn’t terrified.
LARA
You killed the engine?
THE REAPER
Death halts motion. It is my
nature.
Farid, trembling:
FARID
Great. Fantastic. Physics with the
Grim Accountant. Wonderful.
Lara steps forward.
LARA
If you came to warn me off—save the
poetry. I’m not turning around.
The Reaper clicks open the watch.
Inside, the gears glow faint gold — then flicker red.
THE REAPER
Your next choice affects more than
your years.
(a beat)
It affects mine.
Lara arches a brow.
LARA
Yours?
For the first time, something in the Reaper’s posture shifts
— irritation? Frustration?
THE REAPER
You are rewriting trajectories
faster than I can reconcile.
(MORE)
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
(cold)
It is… inconvenient.
Farid whispers:
FARID
Oh God. She’s giving Death an
administrative headache.
Lara ignores him.
LARA
If you don’t want me saving people,
stop me. But you won’t. Because on
some level, you want to see how far
I’ll go.
The Reaper leans close. Face still hidden, but presence
crushing.
THE REAPER
I want balance, Lara Eshkan.
Nothing more.
LARA
Then stay out of my way.
Silence hangs like a blade.
Finally — the Reaper gestures.
The Humvee’s lights flicker back on. Engine roars to life.
THE REAPER
Drive, then.
A beat.
Three breaths from now, everything changes.
Farid looks horrified.
FARID
Everything?!
THE REAPER
Three.
He dissolves.
Lara dives into the driver’s seat.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Two.
She slams the Humvee into gear.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
One.
Genres:
["Drama","Supernatural","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Chaos in the Grey Zone
EXT. APPROACH TO THE GREY ZONE – NIGHT
BOOOOOOOM.
A massive explosion ahead lights up the skyline.
The ENTIRE HORIZON briefly becomes white fire.
Lara jerks the wheel, stopping the Humvee atop a rise.
Farid climbs out, stunned.
FARID
…What in God’s name—
In the distance, a huge plume of smoke billows upward. A
neighborhood — one of the densest in the grey zone — is gone.
Flattened.
LARA
They shelled it.
(her voice cracks)
They shelled the civilians’
quadrant.
Her knees almost buckle.
Farid steadies her.
FARID
We get there. We do what we can.
That’s all we’ve ever done.
Lara wipes her eyes, furious.
LARA
He said ninety-three would die
tonight.
She stares at the inferno.
He was wrong.
Farid looks at her, confused.
FARID
Lara…
She climbs back into the Humvee.
LARA
Because I’m not letting a single
one more die.
EXT. GREY ZONE – OUTSKIRTS – NIGHT
The Humvee barrels down shattered streets, weaving around
debris.
Smoke chokes the landscape; flames lick collapsed buildings.
Screams echo between the ruins — dozens, maybe hundreds.
Farid clutches the dash.
FARID
Okay—this is… significantly worse
than last time.
LARA
Get ready. We’re going straight
into the center.
FARID
We’re both going to die.
LARA
Probably. Grab the defib kit.
He groans loudly but reaches for the gear.
EXT. DESTROYED APARTMENT BLOCK – NIGHT
They arrive at ground zero.
The building is a smoking crater. Civilians wander in shock.
Some cry. Some dig with bare hands.
Children scream for their parents. Parents scream for their
children.
This is hell.
Lara jumps out, shouting—
LARA
If you can walk, form a line! If
you can’t walk, shout your
location! Farid — triage point
there!
Farid sets up in the shadow of the Humvee, instantly
surrounded by wounded.
A WOMAN grabs Lara’s coat, frantic.
WOMAN
My husband—he went inside before
the second hit! He hasn’t come out!
Lara looks at the barely-standing skeleton of the inner
structure.
LARA
Point me.
The woman gestures.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
A Race Against Time
INT. COLLAPSED INTERIOR – NIGHT
Lara climbs inside — coughing through thick dust.
Half the building is missing. Steel rods hang like rib bones.
Smoke curls along the ceiling.
She hears faint banging. A trapped survivor.
She moves toward it, weaving through the unstable wreckage.
Her flashlight beam catches—
A CHILD (7), half-buried, eyes wide.
Lara races to him.
LARA
Hey—hey—look at me. What’s your
name?
CHILD
Samin…
LARA
Okay, Samin. I’m going to get you
out. I need you to stay very still.
She pulls debris away — but a slab is pinning his leg.
Ticking begins again.
She grimaces.
LARA (CONT'D)
Not now.
The Reaper fades into view at the end of the corridor, half-
shrouded.
THE REAPER
The structure will fall in nineteen
heartbeats.
Lara snarls.
LARA
Then hold it up!
THE REAPER
I do not intervene. I only measure.
Her fury flares.
LARA
Then measure this.
She digs deeper, throwing debris. She wedges a support beam
under the slab.
THE REAPER
Sixteen heartbeats.
LARA
Shut up.
She pumps the jack. Concrete groans.
THE REAPER
Thirteen.
Sweat pours down her face. Her hands shake. She’s losing
strength.
A memory flickers — Zoe, from earlier images — no, someone
else. A woman’s voice:
VOICE (V.O.)
“Lara, everything ends. What
matters is what you do before it
does.”
She roars, forcing the slab upward.
THE REAPER
Four.
Lara yanks the child free, scooping him into her arms.
She sprints for the exit—
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
One.
The entire corridor gives way.
The ceiling collapses behind her as she leaps through a gap—
THOOMPH — a cloud of debris shoots out the doorway.
She barely makes it.
EXT. DESTROYED APARTMENT BLOCK – CONTINUOUS
Lara bursts out with Samin, covered in dust.
Civilians rush to her, taking the child.
Farid stares at Lara — stunned — because something is
different:
A second streak of white now cuts across her hair.
And beneath the dirt, her skin looks slightly older again —
like she’s fast-forwarding through years one rescue at a
time.
He whispers:
FARID
Lara… how much are you giving
away…?
Lara watches the civilians gather around Samin — alive,
crying, breathing.
Her voice is barely a whisper.
LARA
As much as it takes.
She looks back at the smoking ruin — then at the dozens still
screaming inside it.
She picks up her medical bag.
Moves back toward the flames.
CUT TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Supernatural"]
Ratings
Scene
15 -
Myth in the Ashes
EXT. GREY ZONE – MAKESHIFT TRIAGE – DAWN
First light seeps through a choking haze of dust and smoke.
A rough triage area has sprung up around the Humvee: tarps
stretched over broken rebar, bloodied blankets on the ground,
IV bags hanging from rusted poles.
LARA moves between patients like a ghost — exhausted,
streaked with soot, hair now threaded with two distinct white
streaks.
FARID works beside her, face gray with fatigue, barking
orders at VOLUNTEERS and OLDER KIDS drafted into service.
FARID
(to a teenager)
Keep that pressure steady — you’re
holding his artery in, not fluffing
a pillow.
The kid nods, trembling, doing as told.
Lara finishes stapling a ragged scalp wound on a middle-aged
MAN.
MAN
(dazed)
You… you were inside when the
building fell. How did you—
LARA
Don’t move your head for twenty-
four hours. Or ever. I’m not picky.
She gets up, limping toward the next screaming voice.
A WOMAN clutches her as she passes.
WOMAN
Doctor… they say you walked out of
the fire with my neighbors’ boy.
They say you can’t die.
Lara freezes for half a second.
She pulls free gently.
LARA
Everyone dies.
WOMAN
Not like the rest of us.
Lara forces herself to move on.
EXT. GREY ZONE – PERIMETER STREET – CONTINUOUS
Lara steps away from the triage for a moment, just to
breathe.
The city around her is a bleeding ruin — buildings like
snapped teeth, streets cratered, the sky a dirty bruise.
She leans against a half-standing wall, closing her eyes.
VOICE (O.S.)
Doctor Eshkan?
She looks up.
A YOUNG MAN (20s), civilian, dusty but intact, holds out a
cup of steaming tea.
YOUNG MAN
We boiled the water. It’s… probably
only half toxic.
She takes it, surprised.
LARA
Thanks.
YOUNG MAN
They’re saying…
(awkward, but sincere)
They’re saying you pulled people
back from the dead.
She stares at him, unreadable.
LARA
People say a lot of things when the
world’s ending.
He nods, embarrassed — but his eyes never leave her. Awe
mixed with fear.
As he walks off, Lara watches him join a group of survivors.
They glance back at her, whispering.
She’s become a story.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
Operation Retrieval
EXT. BASE ECHO – COMMAND TENT – SAME TIME
A large digital map glows on the table. Red and blue icons
blink across the city.
COL. MARLOWE studies it, tight-lipped.
KELLER stands opposite, uniform dusty, forehead stitched.
A LOGISTICS OFFICER and a RADIO TECH linger nearby.
RADIO TECH
Humvee Seven left the motor pool at
0200 on an unscheduled supply run.
Never checked back in.
Marlowe taps a tablet — pulls up a still frame from a
security camera: Lara and Farid in the Humvee.
MARLOWE
How far out?
RADIO TECH
Last ping was just inside the grey
zone perimeter, then it went dark.
KELLER
She stole a truck and went back
into the kill box. Of course she
did.
Marlowe glances up at him.
MARLOWE
You’re not surprised.
KELLER
Honestly, sir, I’m surprised it
took her this long.
Marlowe exhales slowly.
MARLOWE
Doctor Eshkan is not combat
personnel. She’s a civilian
contractor. If she dies out there,
we wear it.
KELLER
With respect, sir, if we drag her
back here in cuffs, we wear that
too. With two thousand civilians
screaming our name.
Marlowe’s jaw clenches.
MARLOWE
You think I care about optics right
now?
KELLER
I think you care about morale. And
right now she’s the only one they
talk about like she’s not a walking
funeral.
A beat.
Marlowe stares at the map — the grey zone blinking like an
infected organ.
MARLOWE
Assemble a retrieval unit. Small,
fast, low profile. You lead it.
Keller nods.
KELLER
Rules of engagement?
Marlowe looks sharply at him.
MARLOWE
Bring her back alive. And if she’s
turned that place into an
unauthorized outpost, you shut it
down.
Keller doesn’t like the second part, but salutes anyway.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Defiance in the Grey Zone
EXT. GREY ZONE – TRIAGE AREA – LATER (DAY)
The sun is an anemic glare through the smoke.
The triage is busier. Word has spread. More CIVILIANS gather
with makeshift stretchers, carrying wounded from surrounding
blocks.
Lara moves through the chaos, checking pulses, stitching
wounds, calling for fluids.
Farid joins her, shoving a protein bar into her hand.
FARID
Eat. Or I start inserting calories
intravenously.
She eyes it like it’s a personal insult, then takes a bite.
LARA
Status?
FARID
We’re out of morphine. Down to
local lidocaine and creative lying.
Saline is half gone. I’m pretty
sure that last IV bag was actually
dish soap.
Lara wipes sweat from her brow.
She spots a SMALL ALTAR on a nearby crate: candles, a few
religious icons — and in the center, a hand-drawn sketch of a
woman with a stethoscope surrounded by flames.
It’s crude, but unmistakably her.
She walks over, staring at it.
LARA
What is this?
A YOUNG WOMAN fussing with the candles looks up, startled.
YOUNG WOMAN
We… we made a place to say thank
you. For the ones you brought back.
Lara’s jaw tightens.
LARA
Blow those out. It’s a fire hazard.
The young woman looks hurt.
YOUNG WOMAN
But—
LARA
(blunt)
I’m not a saint. I’m a very tired
doctor with a stolen truck and a
questionable relationship with
painkillers. Don’t pray to me. Pray
for more gauze.
The young woman hesitates, then slowly blows out the candles.
Farid watches, eyes sharp.
FARID
You realize you just shut down your
own cult.
LARA
Good. Last thing I need is people
thinking I can decide who lives.
She walks away, but her face is tight.
EXT. GREY ZONE – ALLEYWAY NEAR TRIAGE – MOMENTS LATER
Lara steps into a narrow alley, away from eyes.
She braces a hand against the wall, breathing hard.
The ticking begins again — faster, more insistent.
LARA
(under her breath)
Don’t. Not now.
The alley darkens as if a cloud passed overhead, but the sky
is clear.
THE REAPER appears at the far end, half-silhouetted by the
smoky light.
THE REAPER
They build shrines. They whisper
stories. They shift probability
with belief.
Lara doesn’t turn to face him.
LARA
I didn’t ask them to.
THE REAPER
You altered the pattern. The
pattern responds.
She finally looks at him, eyes blazing.
LARA
Your pattern is broken. Somebody
had to do something.
He tilts his head.
THE REAPER
You believe I write the pattern.
LARA
Don’t you?
THE REAPER
I read it.
He steps closer. Her breath frosts.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
But where you walk, the ink smears.
Lara’s voice is tight.
LARA
Good. Let it smear.
A long beat.
THE REAPER
Every life you deviate generates…
turbulence. For you. For me. For
others.
LARA
Then help funnel it. Or get out of
the way.
He seems to consider that.
THE REAPER
The ledger does not care what the
living think of you. But they will
not stay satisfied with miracles.
They will ask why you did not save
the ones you let go.
That one lands.
Images flash in Lara’s mind:
— The boy she didn’t reach in time.
— The patients she had to tag as expectant.
— The faces of the dead.
Her jaw tightens.
LARA
I already live with their ghosts.
You’re just new decoration.
She steps around him, back toward daylight.
THE REAPER
(softly)
You are not the first to bargain,
Lara Eshkan.
A beat.
You might be the first to argue.
She stops — just for a fraction.
Then keeps walking.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Retrieval Mission: Tensions in the Grey Zone
EXT. BASE ECHO – MOTOR POOL – DAY
KELLER checks gear on a small armored patrol vehicle —
lighter than an APC, heavier than a Humvee.
Three SOLDIERS strap in:
HARRIS (the resurrected rifleman), VEGA (30s, sniper), and
ROWE (20s, driver).
Harris slams a fresh mag into his rifle.
HARRIS
Permission to speak freely, Major?
KELLER
No. Do it anyway.
Harris glances up.
HARRIS
If Doctor Eshkan’s out there, those
people… they might actually have a
shot. Should we really be dragging
her back?
Keller looks at him for a long moment.
KELLER
I don’t like this any more than you
do. But command needs their medic,
not a martyr with a fan club.
Harris hesitates, then:
HARRIS
Respectfully, sir… she brought me
back when there was nothing left to
bring back.
Keller studies him, a flicker of something troubled.
KELLER
She gave you a second chance. Don’t
waste it arguing with me.
He climbs into the front.
KELLER (CONT'D)
We retrieve her. We assess the
situation on the ground. After
that…
(beat)
…we improvise.
Harris nods, satisfied enough.
The engine ROARS to life.
EXT. GREY ZONE – TRIAGE AREA – AFTERNOON
The worst of the morning rush has passed. For the moment,
there is a lull.
Lara sutures a gash on a teen girl’s leg. The girl bites on a
strip of cloth, eyes watering.
Farid sits on an overturned crate, finally taking a second to
drink water.
A LOCAL MAN in his 50s, wearing an improvised armband that
marks him as some kind of neighborhood organizer, approaches.
LOCAL MAN
Doctor. We’re setting up lookouts
on the roofs. If the shelling comes
again, we need a plan.
Lara nods, finishing the stitch.
LARA
You get any warning, you move the
non-ambulatory down into basements.
Spread the rest out. No clusters.
No lines. You make it hard for them
to hit more than five at once.
He nods, impressed.
LOCAL MAN
They speak of you already. They say
the soldiers tried to take you away
but you ran back into the fire.
She shrugs, annoyed.
LARA
They’re bad at keeping me where
they put me.
LOCAL MAN
(smiles)
We’ve been bad at that, too. For
years.
He moves off.
Farid watches her.
FARID
You know the revolution always
starts with someone who didn’t plan
to become a symbol.
LARA
I’m not a revolution.
FARID
Tell that to the altar.
Before she can retort—
A low RUMBLE builds. Not artillery this time.
Engines.
They both look up.
EXT. GREY ZONE – APPROACHING STREET – CONTINUOUS
The RETRIEVAL VEHICLE appears through the smoke — the light
armored patrol truck led by Keller, flanked by two smaller
escort jeeps.
They roll slowly, guns scanning rooftops.
Civilians freeze. Some panic. Others just stare.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
Tension at Triage
EXT. TRIAGE AREA – CONTINUOUS
Lara’s posture tightens. She recognizes the silhouette of the
vehicle instantly.
Farid mutters:
FARID
Ah. The adults have arrived.
The truck stops just short of the triage. Soldiers dismount,
weapons at low ready but not pointed.
Keller steps forward, helmet off, trying to project calm
authority.
KELLER
Doctor Eshkan.
Lara doesn’t salute. Obviously. She wipes her hands on a
bloody towel instead.
LARA
Major.
Around them, CIVILIANS edge closer, protective of “their”
doctor.
Keller takes in the makeshift clinic, the crowd, the scars on
Lara’s face, the new streaks in her hair.
He looks older just seeing it.
KELLER
You stole government property,
disobeyed a direct order, and
established an unapproved forward
aid station in a hot zone without
support.
Farid raises a hand.
FARID
Technically, I stole the good
antibiotics. She just stole the
truck.
Keller ignores him.
KELLER
I’m here to escort you back to Base
Echo.
The civilians murmur, uneasy.
Lara’s voice is low but firm.
LARA
These people have nowhere else to
go.
KELLER
We’re arranging transport corridors
from the south—
LARA
They won’t make it. They can’t even
make it to the next street without
someone bleeding out.
Keller’s jaw tightens.
KELLER
Doctor, I don’t have the luxury of
feelings. I have orders.
A CHILD nearby — Samin — clutches his mother’s hand and pipes
up, small but clear:
SAMIN
You can’t take her.
Everyone goes silent.
Keller looks at the kid, then back at Lara.
KELLER
I am not here to hurt anyone.
(a beat)
But if this place takes a direct
hit again and we’re not here to
support it, every life in this
square is on our conscience.
Lara steps closer.
LARA
You mean yours.
That stings.
EXT. TRIAGE AREA – CONTINUOUS – WIDER
The Reaper stands at the edge of the crowd, invisible to all
but Lara.
He watches the standoff like a spectator at a chess match.
His voice drifts coolly:
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Two forces. Duty and defiance. The
board tilts.
Lara’s eyes flick toward where he stands… then back to
Keller.
LARA
You bring me back, you pull the
only doctor out of a bleeding
artery.
(gesturing)
You want me at Echo so your
casualty reports look cleaner. You
want me here so your conscience
does.
Keller doesn’t snap back. He looks… tired.
KELLER
I want you alive.
They hold each other’s gaze.
Farid clears his throat.
FARID
If it helps, I would also like to
vote “alive” on the Doctor Eshkan
question.
Keller glances at him, then at the civilians.
Something in his stance softens.
KELLER
We can’t fortify this place. We
don’t have the manpower. We can
spare ammo and supplies, maybe a
small detail for a short time.
That’s it.
Lara seizes on that.
LARA
Then do that. Rotate a squad. Drop
crates. Give them a radio that
actually works. Don’t turn your
back on an entire district because
the spreadsheet says “non-viable.”
He looks at her, frustrated — because she’s right and they
both know it.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
Negotiating Hope Amidst Chaos
EXT. TRIAGE AREA – MOMENTS LATER
Keller paces, thinking, while Vega and Harris watch the
perimeter.
VEGA eyes the civilians, then Lara.
VEGA
(quiet, to Harris)
That her? The miracle doc?
Harris nods.
HARRIS
Last time I saw her, I was dead.
Vega gives him a sidelong look.
VEGA
You sure you’re not just bad at
diagnosis?
He doesn’t answer. His eyes are haunted.
Nearby, the Reaper drifts past Harris, pausing. He inclines
his head, studying him like a misfiled document.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Out of sequence. Interesting.
Lara senses it — turns sharply, eyes locking on the empty
space near Harris.
Keller finally stops pacing.
KELLER
Okay. Here’s what I can authorize.
He points:
KELLER (CONT'D)
We leave one jeep, two soldiers,
and a crate of supplies. They help
you stabilize this position for
twenty-four hours. After that, they
rotate out. No promises beyond
that.
Lara considers.
LARA
And me?
KELLER
You come back to Echo. You
resupply. You rest. And then we
talk about how this…
(gestures around)
…can exist without you dying in the
process.
Her expression hardens.
LARA
You think I haven’t already started
dying?
Keller looks at her — really looks — seeing the accelerated
wear, the streaked hair, the tremor she hides.
It rattles him.
KELLER
I think whatever you’re doing to
yourself… you’re not done yet.
A long beat.
Farid leans in.
FARID
Lara… we could actually use more
supplies. And maybe medical staff
who don’t talk to invisible
auditors.
She gives him a look.
He shrugs.
FARID (CONT'D)
What? If we’re negotiating with
warlords in uniforms, may as well
aim for more bandages.
The corner of Keller’s mouth twitches. Almost a smile.
EXT. TRIAGE AREA – LATER
A small compromise in action.
SOLDIERS help erect sturdier tarps. A crate of ammunition and
medical supplies is unloaded.
Locals work alongside them, forming bucket brigades for
rubble clearing.
Lara updates a hand-drawn map with Farid, marking damage
clusters.
Keller watches, talking quietly with Vega and Harris.
VEGA
We’re really leaving them here,
sir?
KELLER
We’re not leaving. We’re dividing.
There’s a difference.
Harris looks at Lara — at the way civilians gravitate toward
her.
HARRIS
Feels like… I don’t know. Like the
front line moved and no one told
us.
Keller glances at him.
KELLER
The front line is wherever people
are bleeding and no one’s writing
it down.
He looks back at Lara.
KELLER (CONT'D)
Right now, that’s here.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Fragile Defiance
EXT. TRIAGE AREA – EDGE OF THE SQUARE – SUNSET
The sky bleeds red through the smoke. For the first time all
day, the guns are quiet.
Lara stands at the edge of the square, looking out at the
shattered streets beyond — the city still full of people she
hasn’t reached.
The Reaper stands beside her like a dark reflection.
THE REAPER
You chose to divide your defenders.
LARA
I chose to multiply our chances.
He studies her.
THE REAPER
You bargain with soldiers as you
bargained with me.
LARA
Difference is, they get to argue
back.
He almost sounds amused.
THE REAPER
Do you think you are winning?
She watches a small cluster of kids chasing a salvaged soccer
ball between rubble piles — laughing, somehow.
LARA
I think I haven’t lost yet.
A long silence.
THE REAPER
The ledger is not simple, Lara
Eshkan. Lives saved here ripple
elsewhere. A soldier who does not
die today kills many in another
tomorrow. An old woman spared in
this street births a child whose
war will be worse.
She closes her eyes, pained.
LARA
If I try to do math like that, I
stop moving.
THE REAPER
Perhaps you should.
Her eyes snap open.
LARA
I’m not a god. I’m not a prophet. I
can’t see the grand design. I can
only see the hole in a kid’s chest
and the time it takes him to bleed
out.
Her voice cracks.
LARA (CONT'D)
So I’ll keep putting my fingers in
the leaks, one by one, until I run
out. If you want to call that
imbalance, go file a complaint.
He regards her for a long time.
THE REAPER
You accuse me of cold arithmetic.
Yet you, too, choose who receives
your hands and who receives your
silence.
She flinches — because it’s true.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Tell me, Lara Eshkan… how will you
live with the ones you did not buy?
Her eyes glisten.
LARA
Same way I live with the ones I
couldn’t save before you. Badly.
She turns away from him — back toward the square, toward
Farid, Keller, the patients.
LARA (CONT'D)
You keep the ledger. I’ll keep the
names.
The Reaper’s hood angles downward, as if in grudging respect.
As she walks away, he fades into the lengthening shadows.
Off the square — a fragile little island of defiance in a sea
of death, holding for now—
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
22 -
Strategic Shadows
INT. ENEMY FORWARD COMMAND – NIGHT
A dark, reinforced room buried under sandbags and concrete.
Maps pinned to boards. Old computers. A weathered radio bank.
The air is thick with cigarette smoke.
GENERAL RAZIM NADER (50s) stands over a table, studying
aerial RECON PHOTOS. Hard eyes. Precise movements. A man who
views cities as equations.
An AIDE (30s) hovers nearby, nervous.
On the photos:
— The GREY ZONE before the last strike.
— The same area AFTER the strike, a crater.
— And now, new images: a cluster of tents, vehicles, and ant-
like figures.
A growing TRIAGE CAMP.
AIDE
Satellite confirms new activity in
Sector Delta-Seven.
(points)
Here. Civilian concentration.
Tents. Vehicles. Heat signatures
beyond expected.
Nader flicks ash into an overfull tray.
NADER
They were shelled yesterday.
AIDE
Yes, sir. Casualty models projected
eighty to ninety percent fatality.
Nader taps the photo.
NADER
And yet…
He picks up a printed report.
NADER (CONT'D)
(interested)
“Survivor density exceeds
projection by a factor of three.”
(beat)
Someone’s keeping them alive.
The aide is unsettled.
AIDE
Humanitarian doctors, perhaps. Or—
NADER
No. This pattern is… persistent.
(points at multiple
circles)
(MORE)
NADER (CONT'D)
Every time we clear a grid, this
cluster reappears. Like mold.
He straightens.
NADER (CONT'D)
Mark this as a priority target. Not
just to break bodies. To break…
morale.
AIDE
Understood, sir. Full battery?
NADER
No. Something… precise. Enough to
erase this anomaly without wasting
shells.
He studies the photo of the triage — a tiny rectangle amid
ruins.
NADER (CONT'D)
Whoever is disrupting attrition
there…
(a slight smile)
…I want them gone.
EXT. GREY ZONE – TRIAGE SQUARE – NIGHT
The square is calmer. Lanterns glowing. Wounded sleeping.
Occasional coughs, muffled sobs.
LEILA (30s, Samin’s mother) organizes a line of WOMEN filling
canteens from a salvaged water tank.
YARA (17, the girl with the stitched leg) limps between cots,
delivering blankets.
KAREEM (30s, thin, tired, holding a baby) helps Farid lift a
wounded man onto a pallet.
Lara checks a few patients, then steps back, just… observing.
Seeing the system start to work without her hands on every
piece.
For a second, she looks almost… proud.
EXT. GREY ZONE – SIDE STREET NEAR TRIAGE – MOMENTS LATER
Farid and Kareem haul a makeshift stretcher away from the
main square.
On it: a MAN in tattered military uniform, late 20s, pallid,
clutching his side. Bandages soaked with blood.
He bears the insignia of the enemy artillery corps.
They duck into a partially collapsed SHOPFRONT.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
Tension in the Shadows
INT. COLLAPSED SHOPFRONT – CONTINUOUS
Dim. Dust motes swirl in shafted moonlight.
Farid and Kareem set the stretcher down.
The wounded man, QASIM (28), grits his teeth.
QASIM
(weak, accented)
Should’ve left me. My commander…
he’d shell this place twice if he
knew you dragged me in.
Farid kneels, checking the wound.
FARID
Good news: he doesn’t know. Bad
news: you’re bleeding like it’s on
trend.
Kareem hovers, wary.
KAREEM
He’s one of them.
Qasim tries to sit up, pained.
QASIM
Not anymore.
Farid shoves him gently back.
FARID
Saving lives is above my paygrade
for moral sorting. You’re bleeding,
I patch. That’s the contract.
Farid digs into his kit, working.
FARID (CONT'D)
Who were you with?
Qasim hesitates. Sweat beads his brow.
QASIM
Artillery. Third battery. Under
General Nader.
Farid’s hands slow.
FARID
Nader.
(a beat)
The one who shelled this sector
yesterday.
Qasim nods, breath ragged.
QASIM
He thinks this district… harbors
fighters. Says civilians are…
necessary sacrifice.
Kareem’s jaw clenches.
KAREEM
My wife died in that “sacrifice.”
Qasim won’t meet his eyes.
QASIM
I objected. Once.
(weak laugh)
Now I am here.
Farid tightens a bandage — Qasim winces.
FARID
You deserted.
QASIM
I ran when the second volley hit.
Shell landed short.
(he gestures to his side)
Friendly fire. Poetic.
Farid weighs something.
FARID
What does Nader know about us?
Qasim closes his eyes.
QASIM
He has pictures. Listens to
intercepted calls. There was talk
of… a doctor… in the ruins.
(MORE)
QASIM (CONT'D)
One who keeps casualties from
“settling” the numbers.
Farid’s face hardens.
FARID
A “doctor in the ruins.” Great.
She’s officially a glitch on the
enemy spreadsheet.
QASIM
He says he’ll erase your camp.
Completely. No time for rescue. No
time for screams.
Kareem stiffens.
KAREEM
You need to tell Lara.
Farid shakes his head.
FARID
If I tell her, she’ll walk into the
shells to try to catch them.
(beat)
We need intel. How, when, from
where.
Qasim’s breath grows shallower.
QASIM
Battery moves often. Harder to
find. But…
(struggling)
…they like patterns. Same angles.
Same arcs. They think…
He coughs, blood flecking his lips.
Farid leans closer.
FARID
They think… what?
QASIM
They think God is on their side.
Farid snorts bitterly.
FARID
God must have lousy aim.
Qasim grabs his wrist.
QASIM
If Nader knows survivors cluster
here… he will not leave you a place
to cluster.
He slumps back, breath shallow.
Kareem swallows.
KAREEM
If this is true—
FARID
It’s true enough to scare me.
That’s all it needs to be.
He finishes stabilizing Qasim as best he can.
FARID (CONT'D)
We keep him here. Quiet. Away from
soldiers.
(to Kareem)
You… watch him. If he crashes, you
shout. Loud.
Kareem nods.
KAREEM
And Lara?
Farid hesitates, then:
FARID
If the bombs start falling, she’ll
know. She always does.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
24 -
Planning in the Shadows
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – NIGHT
Lara stands atop a broken COLUMN, addressing a small group:
Leila, Yara, Kareem (back from the shop), and a few OTHER
LOCALS.
A hand-drawn MAP of the immediate blocks is spread over a
crate.
LARA
If shells hit again, we move on
three paths: here, here, and here.
Basements, subway access, sewer
tunnels—whatever holds a ceiling.
Leila points.
LEILA
This building… it floods when it
rains.
LARA
Then nobody goes there. Cross it
off.
Yara limps forward.
YARA
The rooftop two blocks east—good
sightline. I can go. If they start
lining up artillery, we see the
flashes.
Lara shakes her head.
LARA
Your leg’s half sutured and you
still owe me three days of bedrest.
Yara lifts her chin, stubborn.
YARA
And you owe yourself a month. But
here we are.
Lara’s lips twitch. She gives a tiny nod.
LARA
Fine. You go. But you take a
spotter and you come down at the
first whiff of incoming.
Yara grins — proud to be useful.
Kareem speaks up, baby asleep against his chest.
KAREEM
People are scared, Doctor. They
hear rumors. Some say the shelling
is punishment because you defy
what’s “meant to happen.”
Lara’s jaw tightens.
LARA
It’s not punishment. It’s tactics.
You’re not sinners. You’re targets.
Leila looks at her.
LEILA
And you?
Lara holds her gaze.
LARA
I’m just the idiot who stayed.
Leila nods slowly.
LEILA
Then we stay too.
Around them, heads nod. A fragile consensus. A small
rebellion.
Off to the side, at the edge of torchlight—
THE REAPER watches, arms folded in his tattered rags, like a
judge at a trial no one else can see.
His watch ticks faster.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
25 -
Orders and Loyalties
INT. BASE ECHO – COMMAND TENT – SAME TIME
Marlowe stares at a fresh intel packet.
A liaison officer from higher command, CAPTAIN DYKSTRA (40s),
stands stiff at attention.
DYKSTRA
Enemy movements indicate a
concentration of artillery barrels
repositioning north by northeast.
Vector aligns with—
MARLOWE
Sector Delta-Seven.
Dykstra nods.
DYKSTRA
Grey zone. Same one that took
yesterday’s hit.
Marlowe’s eyes flick to Keller’s last report on his tablet:
“UNOFFICIAL FORWARD TRIAGE ESTABLISHED. LOCAL COOPERATION
HIGH. CASUALTY REDUCTIONS SIGNIFICANT.”
He exhales.
MARLOWE
Lara…
Dykstra continues.
DYKSTRA
Higher is concerned about resource
drain. They recommend “non-
interference” with enemy attempts
to reclaim contested zones.
Marlowe looks up sharply.
MARLOWE
“Non-interference.”
DYKSTRA
We don’t broadcast locations. We
don’t reinforce with additional
hardware. We accept losses where
the map is already red.
Marlowe’s jaw works.
MARLOWE
Doctor Eshkan and my Major are in
that red.
Dykstra’s expression doesn’t change.
DYKSTRA
Then they are aware of the risks.
Marlowe stares at him for a long beat.
MARLOWE
Patch Keller through.
EXT. GREY ZONE – OUTSKIRTS, KELLER’S POSITION – NIGHT
Keller stands by the parked jeep, radio pressed to his ear.
Vega and Harris keep watch.
MARLOWE (V.O.)
(over radio, filtered)
…do not attempt to extract unless
you are already in motion when the
barrage starts. We will not cover
you.
Keller’s eyes go cold.
KELLER
So we leave them?
MARLOWE (V.O.)
We… do not impede enemy fire. That
is the language they used.
Keller hears the subtext.
He looks out toward the faint glow of the triage camp.
KELLER
Copy, sir.
He lowers the radio, jaw tight enough to crack.
Harris watches him.
HARRIS
What did they say?
Keller stares a moment longer.
KELLER
They said the map doesn’t care
about names.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
26 -
Night of Reckoning
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LATE NIGHT
Everything feels… on edge.
Lara stands in the center of the square, looking up at the
sky.
The air feels thicker. Charged.
Farid approaches, dark circles under his eyes.
FARID
The deserter’s stable. For the
moment. He has a charming
personality and a bullet wound that
disagrees.
Lara turns.
LARA
Deserter?
Farid realizes he just stepped in it.
FARID
…Surprise?
She studies him.
LARA
Where?
INT. COLLAPSED SHOPFRONT – MOMENTS LATER
Lara kneels beside Qasim, studying his bandages, his face,
the insignia.
LARA
Artillery?
Qasim nods weakly.
QASIM
You are… the doctor who should have
left.
Lara gives a humorless smile.
LARA
You deserters always this good at
PR?
He coughs, grimacing.
QASIM
Your name is on the radio. They
call you… disruption. An anomaly.
Nader. He… does not like anomalies.
Lara’s eyes narrow.
LARA
Good. I don’t like war criminals.
Farid shoots her a look.
FARID
He also said the quiet part: Nader
will try to erase us completely. No
near-misses, no half-collapses.
Just… gone.
Lara looks back at Qasim.
LARA
How would you do it?
Qasim forces his eyes open.
QASIM
Wait until you think today’s
strikes were the worst.
(MORE)
QASIM (CONT'D)
Then hit at night, when the wounded
are still. Sleep makes for cleaner
counts.
Lara’s jaw clenches.
LARA
Sweet.
QASIM
Nader believes in… clean lines. No
survivors to tell stories.
Lara stands, mind racing.
LARA
Then we don’t sleep.
Farid pinches the bridge of his nose.
FARID
Of course not. Why rest when we can
flirt with psychosis as a group
activity?
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
27 -
The Inevitable Breach
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – PRE-DAWN
A restless stillness.
Civilians doze lightly, boots on, bags packed. Kids nest in
corners.
Sentries on rooftops, including YARA and another YOUNG MAN,
scan the horizon.
Leila sits with other women, prepping bandages from torn
sheets.
Keller’s jeep is parked on the edge, engine off, Keller
pacing.
He looks like a man waiting for a train he knows is coming —
he just doesn’t know when.
The Reaper stands on a half-toppled statue, looking down at
the square like a king surveying a fragile kingdom.
His watch ticks faster than ever.
Lara approaches him, exhausted but steady.
LARA
It’s coming, isn’t it?
He doesn’t pretend otherwise.
THE REAPER
The breach approaches.
LARA
How many this time?
He looks across the square.
THE REAPER
If the pattern holds… seventy-
three.
Her eyes close briefly.
LARA
And if it doesn’t hold?
His gaze returns to her.
THE REAPER
Then I do not know. And that… is
why we are here.
A beat.
LARA
I’m not bargaining with you this
time.
He tilts his head.
THE REAPER
You would let them die to spare
your years?
LARA
No.
(beat)
I’m going to try to save them
without cheating. And if the
universe doesn’t like that…
Her voice shakes.
LARA (CONT'D)
…it can file a complaint too.
For the first time, something almost like… apprehension…
passes through his posture.
THE REAPER
You are destabilizing the ledger
enough as it is.
LARA
Good. Maybe it needed
destabilizing.
EXT. ROOFTOP OVERLOOKING TRIAGE – SAME TIME
Yara scans through binoculars.
The horizon is eerily quiet. No muzzle flashes yet. Just low,
distant thunder.
YOUNG MAN
Maybe they won’t come.
Yara lowers the binoculars, eyes tired but sharp.
YARA
They always come.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – MOMENTS LATER
A low, distant THUMP.
Lara’s head snaps up.
Another THUMP. Closer.
Keller steps into the center, shouting:
KELLER
INCOMING! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!
Chaos — controlled chaos — erupts.
Leila starts ushering people toward the pre-marked routes.
LEILA
Basement teams! Now! Grab who you
can!
Farid grabs his kit, running toward the most vulnerable cots.
FARID
If you can walk, carry someone who
can’t!
Lara stands still for one beat, counting breaths.
The ticking in her skull is deafening.
The Reaper’s voice is low, almost… pleading.
THE REAPER (V.O.)
Lara. You cannot intercept an
entire storm.
She opens her eyes.
LARA
Watch me.
The first shell screams in.
WHIEEEEEE—
Genres:
["Drama","War","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
28 -
Fractured Realities
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – CONTINUOUS
BOOOOOOM.
The blast hits at the edge of the square, hurling debris. A
building façade collapses, showering stone.
Lara is thrown off her feet, lands hard, ears ringing.
Slow motion:
— Kids blown backward.
— A tarp ripped from its poles.
— A lantern spinning through the air.
Lara’s vision doubles. The world wavers… like bad reception.
Then—
A STRANGE GLITCH.
The blast rewinds two seconds.
The façade RISES BACK UP. Debris reverses. Lantern returns to
its hook.
Sound warps.
We’re back to:
— Kids still running.
— Tarp still up.
— No explosion yet.
Lara sucks in a breath, eyes wide.
LARA
…No.
The Reaper appears beside her, alarmed for the first time.
THE REAPER
What did you do?
She staggers to her feet.
LARA
I— I didn’t—
Time SNAPS FORWARD again.
The shell hits — but slightly off. Instead of the center, it
obliterates a wall further out, sparing several cots.
Still hell. But different hell.
Keller stares, disoriented. Deja vu thrums through the air.
Farid collapses to his knees, overwhelmed.
FARID
I— I swear that building already
fell—
Another WHISTLING SHELL.
Lara’s heart slams.
Her vision flickers:
— one version of the square with bodies down,
— another with different bodies down,
— overlays of carnage as if possibilities are crowding each
other.
She clutches her chest, gasping.
LARA
Stop… stop—
The Reaper grabs her shoulders — his hands actually touching
her for the first time, solid, cold.
THE REAPER
You are cracking it.
LARA
Cracking what?
THE REAPER
The sequence.
BOOOOOM — another shell hits, this time overhead, dropping a
section of roof toward a cluster of people.
Lara moves before it falls — like she already saw it.
She dives, shoving Leila and Kareem out of the way.
The roof section slams into the ground where they stood a
split-second before.
Leila stares at her, stunned.
LEILA
You— how did you—
Lara’s eyes are wild.
She looks up at the sky.
Time seems to stutter, the clouds jumping like frames out of
order.
The Reaper’s voice is tight, almost angry.
THE REAPER
You refused the terms. You reach
beyond your purchase.
LARA
I didn’t make a deal!
THE REAPER
Exactly.
He looks… shaken.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
You have done something
irreversible.
Another shell screams in— closer, louder—
We freeze on Lara, caught between multiple overlapping
futures, the square fracturing in her vision—
SMASH TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
29 -
Fractured Realities
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – CONTINUOUS AFTER BLACK
Silence.
Then—
A HIGH-PITCHED RINGING bleeds in.
Dust hangs in the air like snow in hell.
Shapes flicker — people running, people frozen, people
doubled.
The world is a half-glitched broadcast.
LARA rises slowly. Her vision lurches:
three versions of the square phasing over each other.
She blinks — and sees:
— Version A: Yara is dead on the rooftop.
— Version B: Yara is wounded but alive.
— Version C: Yara is screaming for help.
The images overlap.
Lara grabs her head, staggering.
LARA
(whisper)
No… no, no, no—
THE REAPER appears inches from her face — closer than he’s
ever stood.
His voice is low, tight, dangerous.
THE REAPER
You are seeing too much.
Lara looks around, horrified.
LARA
What’s happening—?
He grips her arm. His fingers sink through her skin like
smoke that still burns.
THE REAPER
Reality does not like being argued
with.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – DIFFERENT ANGLES
KELLER sprints through debris, shouting to Vega.
KELLER
Check north flank for survivors—
MOVE!
Vega nods, but hesitates — her eyes flicker with
disorientation.
VEGA
Major…
(beat)
Did that hit twice?
Keller doesn’t answer. He feels it too.
HARRIS helps an elderly woman stand.
ELDERLY WOMAN
(confused)
I dreamed a building fell on me…
Harris freezes. Because that building did fall — in one
timeline. He saw debris rise and fall differently.
He looks toward Lara — suspicion and awe mixing.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LARA & REAPER – CONTINUOUS
Lara pants, gripping her chest. The ticking in her skull is a
runaway train.
LARA
I didn’t do anything!
THE REAPER
You violated the sequence. You
refused the cost but reached for
the power.
LARA
I didn’t reach for anything!
The Reaper circles her like a storm given legs.
THE REAPER
Your will sought a path. The world
bent to avoid your grief.
(beat)
That is not a gift.
It is a tear.
Lara looks around, seeing triple layers of carnage and almost-
carnage.
LARA
Then stitch it! Fix it!
He stops.
THE REAPER
I cannot.
(quiet)
Because you caused the tear inside
yourself.
Lara’s breath catches.
Farid rushes up, coughing.
FARID
Lara! Lara— you okay?!
She looks at him — but sees two Farids overlapped:
one bleeding, one intact.
She sways.
LARA
Farid… don’t move.
FARID
Why—?
A chunk of concrete CRASHES where he would have stepped — in
one timeline.
Farid jumps back, shaken.
FARID (CONT'D)
Okay. New rule. I don’t move unless
you tell me.
EXT. ROOFTOP – SAME MOMENT
YARA (one version of her) lies unconscious, leg pinned by
rebar.
But as reality stutters—
— she blinks awake,
— then vanishes,
— then reappears, screaming.
A beat later, she stabilizes — alive, trapped, bleeding.
KAREEM rushes to her from the adjacent roofline, shouting for
help.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LARA – CONTINUOUS
Lara hears Yara’s scream echo three different ways.
She sprints for the stairwell.
THE REAPER
Do not climb. Your body is
unstable—
Lara ignores him.
EXT. ROOFTOP – MOMENTS LATER
Yara cries out as Lara reaches her, dropping to her knees.
The rebar is wedged deep.
YARA
I saw myself die—
(tears)
Doctor, I saw—
LARA
(shaky, gentle)
Look at me. Look at me— you’re
here. Right now. With me.
Yara tries to breathe.
YARA
Which “me” is with you?
Lara’s eyes dampen — because she has no answer.
LARA
Hold still.
Kareem arrives, terrified.
KAREEM
I thought you— I thought—
Lara motions him to help stabilize Yara.
She braces herself.
LARA
On three.
(beat)
One—
She PULLS on “one.” Quick, brutal.
Yara screams — but the rebar slides free.
Kareem stares.
KAREEM
You didn’t count two or three.
Lara wipes sweat from her brow — angry at herself.
LARA
I couldn’t risk my hands shaking on
the other numbers.
Behind them, The Reaper appears on the far edge of the roof,
watching in judgment.
Genres:
["Drama","Fantasy","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
30 -
Dawn of Choices
EXT. ENEMY FORWARD COMMAND – DAWN
A reconnaissance DRONE FEED displays the grey zone — smoke,
but not annihilation.
General Nader frowns.
AIDE
Sir… expected destruction levels
not achieved.
Nader leans close.
NADER
Impossible.
He zooms in: civilians evacuating, smoke clearing, the triage
still functioning.
Then he sees Lara — tiny in the frame, but moving with
purpose.
NADER (CONT'D)
There.
(points)
The anomaly.
The aide hesitates.
AIDE
Sir, she appears to be… just a
woman.
Nader smiles — cold, thin.
NADER
Nothing is “just” in war.
(beat)
Prepare a barrage.
A real one this time.
The aide’s eyes widen.
AIDE
A full battery strike? Sir— that
will flatten half the civilian
block.
NADER
Yes.
(smiles)
But in return, we eliminate the
variable.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – DAWN AFTER STRIKE
Everything is smoke, grit, bruised light.
Lara descends from the rooftop, limping slightly.
Keller meets her halfway.
He looks shaken — but trying to mask it.
KELLER
What happened out there?
Lara hesitates.
LARA
Shells. Collapse. Bad physics.
Keller steps closer.
KELLER
Don’t insult me. I watched a wall
rise and fall in two different
ways.
(beat)
I’m a soldier, Lara. I don’t scare
easy.
(quiet)
But that scared me.
She looks past him — seeing three versions of Keller
flickering for a split frame.
LARA
You need to pull your people back.
KELLER
We’re not leaving these civilians.
LARA
You don’t have a choice. Your
command already cut you loose.
Keller stiffens.
KELLER
How do you—
She nods toward his radio.
LARA
I overheard.
(beat)
Or… saw you overhear. It’s
complicated.
Keller studies her — concern deepening.
KELLER
Lara… what’s happening to you?
She struggles for words.
LARA
I think I broke something.
(beat)
Inside myself. And outside the
world.
Keller doesn’t look away.
KELLER
Then we fix it.
She almost laughs — exhausted, bitter.
LARA
It's not a Humvee, Keller.
KELLER
Everything is fixable until it
kills you. And even then,
sometimes…
He glances at Harris, who stiffens, uncomfortable.
Lara’s eyes soften — for a moment.
Until another vision slams into her:
— A future Keller, dead on the square.
— Another Keller, wounded but alive.
— Another, abandoning the camp.
She gasps.
KELLER (CONT'D)
Lara?
She steadies herself.
LARA
Your choices matter more than usual
right now.
KELLER
They always matter.
LARA
Not like this.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
31 -
Desperate Warnings and Imminent Doom
INT. COLLAPSED SHOPFRONT – SAME TIME
Qasim convulses. Kareem panics, yelling for Farid.
Farid rushes in.
FARID
Okay, okay—
Qasim grabs Farid’s arm, desperate.
QASIM
Nader…
(strained)
…isn’t finished. He will erase this
place. Entire block. No survivors—
FARID
We know. We know—
QASIM
No. Not barrage.
(beat)
Full battery. Saturation fire.
He wants the doctor.
He thinks she… bends outcomes.
Farid goes pale.
FARID
He thinks she’s a weapon.
Qasim nods, trembling in pain.
QASIM
He thinks she’s a fairy tale.
He exhales sharply — and passes out.
Kareem looks at Farid, terrified.
KAREEM
Tell Lara.
Farid shakes his head — terrified.
FARID
If I tell her, she’ll stand in the
center of the square and try to
catch artillery with her bare
hands.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – DAWN LIGHT SHARPENS
Lara, Keller, Harris, Vega, Farid, Leila — all converge in
the square as civilians gather anxiously.
The Reaper stands on a toppled slab, silent, watching.
Lara senses him — and turns.
LARA
Tell me how to stop this.
THE REAPER
You cannot.
LARA
Then tell me how to survive it.
THE REAPER
You cannot.
Her hands tremble.
LARA
Then what do I do?
The Reaper’s voice is quiet, almost mournful.
THE REAPER
Choose the losses you can bear.
Lara’s jaw tightens — fury boiling.
LARA
No.
(beat)
I choose NO losses.
For the first time, the Reaper looks… afraid.
He steps closer.
THE REAPER
Then the world will break you.
Lara leans in, trembling with exhaustion and rage.
LARA
Then let it try.
A LOW, FAR THUNDER rumbles across the sky.
But it’s not weather.
It’s artillery repositioning.
Keller looks up, dread forming.
KELLER
…That’s not good.
Farid runs to Lara, breathless.
FARID
We’ve got intel— Nader’s prepping a
full battery strike. Saturation. He
wants everything gone. Us. The
wounded. The square. You—
Lara’s breath catches.
The civilians collectively inhale in fear.
LEILA
(full of dread)
What do we do?
Lara looks across the square — at every face: wounded, old,
children, exhausted fighters of life who didn’t sign up for
any of this.
Reality flickers again — split frames of futures where they
all die.
Her hands shake violently.
The Reaper whispers:
THE REAPER
Your next act will define us both.
And Lara steps forward into the center of the square—
…knowing the next 10 pages will either make her a martyr, a
miracle, or something the ledger has never seen before.
CUT TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
EXT. ENEMY ARTILLERY RIDGE – PRE-DAWN
A battery of MASSIVE ARTILLERY GUNS sits on a ridgeline like
blunt, smoking fingers pointed toward the city.
Crews load SHELLS with mechanical efficiency.
GENERAL NADER stands at an observation point, binoculars
raised. The distant city flickers with sporadic fires.
His AIDE consults a tablet.
AIDE
Battery calibrated. Wind minimal.
Full saturation of grid Delta-Seven
on your command.
Nader lowers his binoculars. His face is calm, almost bored.
NADER
The anomaly is still there?
The aide nods.
AIDE
Drone confirms. Human concentration
remains above projected
survivability.
Nader’s jaw twitches.
NADER
Then today we fix the projections.
He raises a hand.
NADER (CONT'D)
On my mark.
Beat.
Fire to erase all variables.
He drops his hand.
The guns ROAR — a deafening, rolling thunder. Barrels recoil,
smoke belches.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
32 -
Rallying in the Chaos
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – PRE-DAWN
The square vibrates with distant concussions.
LARA stands in the center, eyes scanning the faces gathered
around: LEILA, YARA (bandaged, on crutches now), KAREEM with
his baby, FARID, KELLER, HARRIS, VEGA, dozens of CIVILIANS.
The air feels electrically charged.
LARA
Listen up!
Voices die. All eyes on her.
LARA (CONT'D)
This isn’t a maybe. It’s coming.
(beat)
So we do what we always do: move
fast, carry each other, and make
the math harder for the bastard
with the map.
A few nervous chuckles.
She points, rapid-fire.
LARA (CONT'D)
Route One — basements and tunnels.
Leila, you lead. Get the non-
ambulatory down first.
Route Two — south alley shelter. Kareem, you’re point. Take
anyone who can move under their own steam.
She turns to Yara.
LARA (CONT'D)
You’re off rooftops. You run
messages. If a corridor collapses,
you redirect.
Yara opens her mouth to protest.
YARA
But—
LARA
No glamor, all survival. Are we
clear?
Yara nods, swallowing.
Farid edges closer.
FARID
And what about you?
LARA
I’m everywhere.
He hates that answer.
FARID
Try to narrow it down. The universe
is already confused.
Keller steps up.
KELLER
My squad splits. Harris with Leila.
Vega covers the south route from
the rooftops. I stay with the doc.
Lara gives him a look.
LARA
You sure you want to tie your fate
to mine? I’m not exactly trending
“low risk.”
KELLER
Somebody has to yell at you when
you do something suicidal.
FARID
Get in line.
Another distant BOOM. Closer.
The ground trembles.
The Reaper stands at the edge of the square, half in shadow,
watching like a referee for a game no one agreed to play.
His watch ticks in manic staccato.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – MOMENTS LATER
Controlled chaos.
Lines of CIVILIANS, some carrying the wounded, stream toward
marked exits.
Leila directs traffic.
LEILA
Basement group, with me! No shoving
— if you push, we bottleneck and
die!
Yara limps between groups, shouting updates.
YARA
The north stairs are blocked! Use
the east stairwell! Don’t stop—!
Kareem adjusts the baby sling, then hoists an older man’s arm
over his shoulder.
KAREEM
You walk, I carry both of us. Deal?
The man nods, shaking.
Farid rushes from patient to patient, checking bandages,
slapping awake those slipping toward shock.
FARID
If you’re conscious,
congratulations, you’ve been
drafted into the “carry someone”
program—move!
Lara stands in the middle, turning, scanning, her pupils
dilating strangely.
She’s seeing more than one version of the square.
Her POV:
— Version 1: A shell hits the south route, killing Kareem and
twenty others.
— Version 2: The north exits collapse, trapping the non-
ambulatory.
— Version 3: A stray round hits the rooftop, killing Vega and
Yara.
All there at once, overlapping.
Lara grips her head.
LARA
Stop. Stop…
The Reaper appears beside her — closer than ever, almost
desperate.
THE REAPER
You cannot see all paths and remain
whole.
LARA
Then narrow them.
THE REAPER
That is not my role.
She rounds on him, eyes blazing.
LARA
Then whose is it?
He studies her for a painful beat.
THE REAPER
Yours.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
33 -
Choices Amidst Chaos
EXT. ENEMY ARTILLERY RIDGE – SAME TIME
The guns fire in a deadly rhythm.
Spent shells clatter to the ground.
Nader watches a tablet displaying a simplified grid overlay.
Each shell’s target flashes as a pulsing dot.
AIDE
First volley impacting in twenty
seconds.
Nader’s voice is calm.
NADER
Then let’s see if the anomaly
survives mathematics.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – BUILDING TENSION
The whine of incoming shells rises like ripping metal in the
sky.
WHIEEEEEEE—
Keller grabs Lara’s arm.
KELLER
We need to get you under cover—
Her eyes are far away, tracking invisible possibilities.
LARA
If I hide, they bottleneck at the
basements. If I go south, Kareem
dies. If I send Yara back up, the
roof collapses.
Keller stares.
KELLER
You’re guessing.
She looks at him — and he sees it: she’s not guessing. She’s
seeing.
LARA
No. I’m not.
He swallows.
KELLER
Okay. Then pick the least bad
future.
Her jaw clenches.
LARA
They all have bodies in them.
The Reaper’s voice threads the air.
THE REAPER
Choice collapses the wave.
Lara’s head snaps his way.
LARA
What?
THE REAPER
Until you act, infinite patterns
exist. When you choose, the others
die unborn.
(beat)
You cannot save them all. You never
could.
Tears burn in her eyes.
LARA
I know.
She turns back to the chaos.
LARA (CONT'D)
(to Keller)
You trust me?
He doesn’t hesitate.
KELLER
Unfortunately, yes.
LARA
Then when I move, you move. No
questions.
Another shell SCREAMS overhead.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","War"]
Ratings
Scene
34 -
Visions of Survival
EXT. TRIAGE – FIRST IMPACTS
BOOOOOOM.
A shell obliterates a building on the north side — exactly
where one of her “versions” predicted.
Lara’s vision-glitch settles for half a beat. She chose wrong
for someone. Right for others.
Screams.
Dust wave.
HARRIS
(shouting)
North flank hit! I’ve got
survivors!
Lara sees, in another flicker, a version where Harris dies
trying.
She grabs Keller.
LARA
GO! Cover him! Now!
Keller sprints with two soldiers toward the north, laying
covering fire at imagined threats.
Farid drags a stunned woman away from falling debris.
FARID
If you can scream, you can move!
That’s the deal!
Another incoming.
Lara sees it — three branches:
— Branch A: Shell hits the south route, kills Kareem & baby.
— Branch B: Shell hits the center, kills Leila & a cluster of
wounded.
— Branch C: Shell hits an empty building if she can get the
people clear in time.
She spins, breath heaving.
LARA
LEILA! GET OFF THE SOUTH ROUTE—
NOW!
Leila doesn’t question. She starts shoving people sideways,
redirecting the stream.
LEILA
Move! Change line! CHANGE LINE!
KAREEM
What—?
LEILA
Just MOVE!
Lara stumbles toward the center, screaming:
LARA
CLEAR THE SQUARE! HUG THE EAST
WALL!
People run, trip, drag each other.
The Reaper watches, fascinated and horrified.
THE REAPER
You are carving the pattern with
your fear.
LARA
Whatever works.
WHIEEEEEEE—
The shell slams into a mostly empty
SOUTH BUILDING — shaking the earth,
shattering windows, but missing the
bulk of the evacuees.
Shockwave knocks people down but doesn’t wipe them out.
It’s still hell. But a hell with more survivors than math
allows.
EXT. ENEMY ARTILLERY RIDGE – SAME TIME
The aide stares at the monitor.
AIDE
Impact patterns… slightly off, sir.
Nader’s eyes narrow.
NADER
Casualty density?
The aide works numbers, horrified.
AIDE
Lower than projected. Again.
(beat)
Sir… this isn’t possible without
foreknowledge of impact points.
Nader clenches his jaw.
NADER
Then they have foreknowledge.
His eyes harden.
NADER (CONT'D)
Either intelligence leaks… or they
have a seer.
The aide half-laughs, then sees Nader isn’t joking.
EXT. TRIAGE – THIRD WAVE
More WHISTLES. More IMPACTS.
Lara’s body moves on instinct, guided by the horrible gift:
— She pushes a kid left before a falling beam crushes the
spot where he stood.
— She yanks Farid back just as a shard of metal spears the
air where his throat was a heartbeat “ago.”
— She screams at Vega on the roof.
LARA
VEGA DOWN— NOW!
Vega doesn’t argue. She throws herself flat as a shell
detonates above, shattering the parapet where she’d been
standing.
Chunks of concrete explode around her.
Vega coughs, stunned.
VEGA
(over radio)
Okay, I vote we listen to the witch
doctor from now on—
On the ground, Keller fires toward a distant muzzle flash,
then glances back — seeing Lara in the middle of an
impossible dance with death.
The Reaper stands within arm’s reach, watching her bleed
years with every decision.
His voice is low.
THE REAPER
This is not what your bargain
bought.
She doesn’t look at him.
LARA
Then send me a bill.
Her knees buckle. Her skin is ashen. New fine lines etch
around her eyes. Another streak of white threads through her
hair.
Farid sees her sway.
FARID
Lara! You’re burning up!
LARA
I don’t have time to burn. Keep
them moving!
Genres:
["Drama","Action","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
35 -
The Woman Who Walks Between Shells
EXT. TRIAGE – LULL
Abrupt silence.
No more whistling shells.
Just ringing ears, groans, crackle of fire.
The smoke drifts, revealing a square that is broken… but
still there.
Two buildings gone. One collapsed alley. Many wounded.
But far fewer bodies than there should be.
Leila stares around, dazed.
LEILA
We’re… we’re still here.
Kareem clutches his baby, crying quietly.
KAREEM
Thank God…
Farid looks at Lara — and almost doesn’t recognize her.
She looks a decade older. Cheeks hollowed, posture stooped
with invisible weight. Her hands tremble uncontrollably now.
FARID
You traded again.
LARA
(shakes head)
I didn’t… I didn’t say yes this
time.
The Reaper steps closer, watch in hand.
THE REAPER
You did not bargain.
(beat)
You simply… bent.
He opens the watch.
Inside, the gears are SPARKING, jumping backward and forward,
skipping teeth. The hands spin erratically.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
The ledger is… rewriting itself.
Lara sways.
LARA
Is that… bad?
THE REAPER
For you.
(beat)
For me.
(beat)
For everyone who thinks tomorrow is
owed to them.
A small girl clings to Lara’s leg, sobbing.
Lara looks down, stunned she didn’t even feel her approach.
GIRL
You… you moved us… like in a story…
Lara kneels, barely.
LARA
I just yelled. You moved
yourselves.
The girl shakes her head.
GIRL
No. You knew.
The crowd’s eyes slowly drift toward Lara — awe mingled with
fear.
Whispers ripple.
SURVIVOR #1
She knew where they’d hit…
SURVIVOR #2
She walks where death hasn’t walked
yet…
SURVIVOR #3
She’s not just a doctor.
Lara’s stomach drops.
LARA
No. Don’t start—
Leila steps forward, voice trembling but strong.
LEILA
You saved us.
LARA
I didn’t save all of you.
She looks at the bodies being covered at the edges of the
square.
LEILA
No one could.
(beat)
But without you, there would be no
one left to cover.
That lands.
Keller watches, caught between respect and concern — hearing
the birth cry of a myth.
The Reaper’s tone is almost bitter.
THE REAPER
I told you belief distorts.
Now you will learn what it means to be distorted.
EXT. ENEMY ARTILLERY RIDGE – SAME TIME
The guns go silent.
Nader stares at updated casualty estimates. His knuckles are
white.
AIDE
Sir… city sensors indicate
survivorship in Delta-Seven at—
(beat)
—over forty percent.
Nader closes his eyes briefly. Rage simmers.
NADER
They are not dying correctly.
The aide doesn’t know what to do with that.
NADER (CONT'D)
Where is our humint on the ground?
AIDE
We lost contact with most cells.
Some radio chatter mentioned… “a
woman who walks between shells.”
Nader opens his eyes.
NADER
A story.
AIDE
Stories move people, sir.
Nader finally smiles, thin and cruel.
NADER
Then we will tear out the story.
He taps the tablet, zooming on a still of the triage — one
frame where LARA stands in the middle of a shell-battered
square, alive.
NADER (CONT'D)
I want a squad moved into the
ruins. Quietly. Find her.
(beat)
Bring me the anomaly.
Genres:
["Drama","War","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
36 -
Defiance in Triage Square
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LATER
The immediate panic has shifted into frantic work.
SOME tend to the wounded. OTHERS clear debris. Soldiers and
civilians labor side by side.
Keller stands with Harris and Vega, watching Lara as she
moves through the aftermath — pausing occasionally,
disoriented, like she’s hearing echoes no one else can.
HARRIS
Sir… did you see…?
Keller nods slowly.
KELLER
Yeah. I saw.
VEGA
This level of survival? That wasn’t
tactics. I’ve run numbers my whole
life. This?
(shakes head)
This is… wrong.
Harris glances at Keller.
HARRIS
What do we tell Base Echo?
Keller looks toward his radio. Then toward the people.
After a beat, he picks up the handset.
EXT. KELLER’S JEEP – CONTINUOUS
Keller steps a bit away, composes himself, then keys the
radio.
KELLER
Base Echo, this is Zero-Three. Come
in.
Static. Then MARLOWE’S voice crackles through.
MARLOWE (V.O.)
Zero-Three, this is Echo. Report
status.
Keller looks back at the bustling triage — wounded but alive,
civilians moving.
Then he looks at Lara, bent over a patient, hair streaked
with white.
He makes a decision.
KELLER
Sector Delta-Seven experienced full
battery saturation.
(beat)
Forward triage was…
(beat)
…destroyed.
Marlowe is silent for a beat.
MARLOWE (V.O.)
…Confirm. No survivors?
Keller’s throat tightens.
He watches Leila hand bandages to Yara. Farid smack a soldier
awake. A kid kick a dented can like a soccer ball.
KELLER
(low)
Confirm. No organized presence.
Area is… non-viable.
Silence. Then:
MARLOWE (V.O.)
Copy, Zero-Three. Return to Echo
when able.
Keller stares at the radio.
KELLER
…Negative, Echo. Vehicle damaged.
Comms intermittent. Will advise
when mobile.
He clicks off.
Vega approaches, eyebrows up.
VEGA
So. We’re dead now.
KELLER
Officially.
Harris looks uneasy.
HARRIS
Sir, that’s—
KELLER
—The only way Command doesn’t turn
this place into someone else’s
problem.
(beat)
We hold here. Off the books. As
long as we can.
Vega smiles, grimly impressed.
VEGA
Congratulations. You just defected
without moving.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
37 -
Moments of Connection
EXT. TRIAGE – EDGE OF SQUARE – SAME TIME
Farid knots a bandage tight, then pushes to his feet, knees
cracking.
He spots Lara sitting on a broken step, alone for the first
time in hours.
He weaves through the crowd to her.
Up close, she looks wrecked — hands trembling so badly she
has to press them between her knees.
FARID
You look awful.
LARA
You always know what to say.
He sits beside her with a groan.
FARID
You know, when I became a medic, I
pictured boring clinics and maybe
the occasional dramatic car
accident. Not… whatever the hell
this is.
She stares at her hands.
LARA
I saw them, Farid.
(beat)
All the versions where I didn’t get
there in time. Where Samin died.
Where you… didn’t.
He goes still.
FARID
Me?
She nods, eyes welling.
LARA
You die a lot, apparently.
(tries to joke, fails)
Terrible survival instincts.
Farid swallows.
FARID
But I’m here.
She nods, tears spilling over.
LARA
Because I chose you over someone
else in one of those branches.
(beat)
There’s blood on that choice either
way.
He watches her, face softening.
FARID
Lara… I don’t know what you’re
becoming.
(beat)
But I know what you are.
She looks at him, vulnerable.
FARID (CONT'D)
You’re the one in the square when
everyone else runs.
He shrugs.
That counts for something.
She huffs a broken laugh.
LARA
It counts for gray hair.
He squints.
FARID
On you? Works. “Distinguished
battlefield witch-doctor.”
She elbows him weakly.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
38 -
Shadows of Resolve
EXT. TRIAGE – QUIETER CORNER – TWILIGHT
The sun is a faint smear behind the smoke.
Lara steps away from the noise, toward a collapsed wall near
the square’s edge.
The Reaper waits there, half-merged with shadow.
THE REAPER
You lied to your commander.
She doesn’t jump anymore when he speaks.
LARA
It was Keller’s lie. I just
benefitted.
THE REAPER
You hide a pocket of life inside a
war that wants it gone.
He tilts his head.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Do you know what happens to
pockets?
LARA
They get turned inside out?
A faint, reluctant pause. If he could smirk, he would.
THE REAPER
They get noticed.
She leans against the wall, exhausted.
LARA
Nader will come?
THE REAPER
He is already coming.
(beat)
He is not like you. His ledger is
made of numbers, not names.
She looks at him.
LARA
What about yours?
He looks away.
THE REAPER
Mine was numbers once.
That surprises her.
LARA
What changed?
He studies her — genuinely, almost painfully curious.
THE REAPER
You did.
They share a quiet, uneasy beat.
LARA
If I keep doing this… what happens
to me?
The Reaper opens the watch again.
This time, instead of gears, she sees a faint REFLECTION of
herself — older, hollow-eyed, surrounded by overlapping ghost
images of the same square.
THE REAPER
You may not die as you were meant
to.
(beat)
You may not live as the living
understand it.
Her voice is barely a whisper.
LARA
What does that even mean?
THE REAPER
It means you are walking toward a
place my book has no page for.
She swallows.
LARA
And if I stop?
He closes the watch.
THE REAPER
Then the war continues as it always
has.
Children die on schedule.
Men like Nader write clean reports.
She looks back at the square — at Leila comforting a child,
at Yara limping but alive, at Keller working beside Kareem to
shore up a wall.
Lara’s answer is simple.
LARA
Then I don’t stop.
A long, heavy silence.
The Reaper watches her like someone watching a star about to
go supernova.
THE REAPER
You are not the first to defy
death, Lara Eshkan.
(beat)
But you might be the first to drag
it with you.
She straightens, despite the tremors.
LARA
Good. He should get out more.
She walks back toward the people — toward work, toward the
next impossible decision.
The Reaper lingers in the shadows, watch ticking unevenly.
Off the square — scarred, defiant, very much alive — as
unseen enemy ground forces begin slipping through the ruined
streets toward them…
CUT TO:
EXT. RUINED STREETS – NIGHT
Shattered buildings loom like broken teeth.
SHADOWS move with purpose — NADER’S STEALTH SQUAD (8 MEN), in
dark gear, camouflaged to blend with rubble. Night-vision
goggles. Suppressed weapons. Knives.
Their leader, SERGEANT HALIM (40s, cold, efficient), signals
with precise hand gestures.
They move low and silent, hugging walls, stepping over
corpses without looking down.
Through a crumbling archway ahead: the faint glow of the
TRIAGE SQUARE.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","War"]
Ratings
Scene
39 -
Urgent Warning in the Shadows
INT. COLLAPSED SHOPFRONT – SAME TIME
QASIM lies propped on blankets, sweating, his breathing
ragged.
KAREEM sits nearby, rocking his baby, keeping half an eye on
Qasim.
Qasim suddenly goes rigid — listening.
KAREEM
You okay?
Qasim’s eyes sharpen. He hears something under the night
sounds — faint BOOTS on rubble, the soft CLINK of gear.
QASIM
(whisper)
They’re coming.
Kareem frowns.
KAREEM
Who?
Qasim’s hand gropes for the wall, trying to pull himself
upright.
QASIM
Not… shelling. Footsteps.
Patterned. Spread four-two…
(terrified recognition)
It’s Halim. Nader’s ground blade.
Kareem stiffens.
KAREEM
Can you be sure?
Qasim closes his eyes, listening like a man trying to decode
a ghost.
QASIM
They’re in column, not line. No
shouting. No wasted speech.
(beat)
Nader’s elite.
He staggers to his feet, almost collapsing.
KAREEM
You’re bleeding—
QASIM
I know how they come.
(grim)
I helped teach them.
He grabs Kareem’s arm urgently.
QASIM (CONT'D)
Go. Tell the doctor. Tell the
soldiers. They will flank, then
take hostages to force surrender.
Kareem hesitates, looking at Qasim’s shaking body.
KAREEM
You need a medic—
QASIM
I need this not to end the way it
always does.
His eyes burn.
QASIM (CONT'D)
Go.
Kareem sprints out with the baby.
Qasim leans on the wall, catching his breath—
Then limps toward the door himself.
Genres:
["War","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
40 -
Triage Under Threat
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – NIGHT
The square is running on fumes.
Lanterns burn low. People move slower, exhaustion heavy in
every step.
LARA checks on a row of patients. Her hands tremble so badly
she fumbles a syringe.
She stares at it — furious at her own nerves.
LARA
Come on…
Her fingers spasm. The syringe slips, clattering to the
ground.
Farid notices.
FARID
I’ve seen drunk interns steadier
than that.
She forces a fake glare.
LARA
You want to try threading a vein in
the half-light while aging in dog
years?
Farid bends, picks up the syringe, tosses it into a waste
bucket.
FARID
I want you to admit your body has a
vote in this now.
Her jaw tightens.
LARA
My body is outvoted.
She turns to move to another patient — but her leg buckles.
For a split second, the world DOUBLES — she sees herself fall
and not fall simultaneously.
Then reality chooses: she FALLS.
Farid catches her just before she faceplants.
FARID
Okay. That’s not a vote. That’s a
veto.
She struggles to stand.
LARA
I’m fine.
He doesn’t let go.
FARID
You’re shaking like a cheap
generator. Sit. For once in your
overachieving life, sit.
Across the square, LEILA sees Lara on her knees, concern
flashing.
The Reaper stands nearby, a dark sentinel, watching her body
finally refuse.
His voice is low, almost clinical.
THE REAPER
Your vessel reaches fatigue. Bones
cannot carry what you ask of them.
Lara hisses under her breath.
LARA
Not now.
THE REAPER
There is no “now.” There is only
accumulation.
Her hands spasm again. She bites back a groan.
EXT. TRIAGE EDGE – SAME TIME
KELLER and VEGA survey the darkened streets beyond the
square.
HARRIS checks his rifle, scanning rooftops.
The night is too quiet.
VEGA
Sir… artillery stops, but no
repositioning noise. That bother
you?
KELLER
Everything bothers me.
He listens — straining.
Footsteps. Very faint. Too ordered.
KELLER (CONT'D)
…They’re coming on foot.
Harris stiffens.
HARRIS
How sure?
KELLER
I’ve been the boot in the dark. I
know the sound.
Before they can move—
KAREEM runs up, panting, baby against his chest.
KAREEM
Major— there’s a man— the deserter—
he says Nader’s elite are coming.
They take hostages. They… they’ll
go for the doctor.
Keller’s face hardens.
KELLER
Of course they will.
To Harris and Vega:
KELLER (CONT'D)
Positions. Quiet. No warning shots.
If they hit the square, they hit
prepared.
Vega nods, moving off toward an overwatch point.
VEGA
On it.
Harris checks his mags again, adrenaline cutting through
fatigue.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
41 -
Tension in the Shadows
EXT. RUINED STREETS – APPROACH TO SQUARE – NIGHT
Halim’s squad moves with ghostlike efficiency.
He raises a fist. The squad HALTS.
He points two fingers left, two right. The team SPLITS into
wings, circling the square like predators.
One soldier taps Halim’s arm, then signals: SEVEN HOSTILES,
MANY CIVILIANS.
Halim nods.
He holds up a small PHOTO — blurry drone print of the triage.
In the middle: tiny figure of LARA, streaked hair, surrounded
by activity.
He taps her image.
HALIM
(quiet)
Objective.
Then cuts his hand across his throat.
HALIM (CONT'D)
All others… optional.
They move out.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – NIGHT
The tension thickens.
Leila and other civilians sense the change — some animal
instinct warning them.
Leila grips a piece of pipe like a bat.
Yara, on crutches, hands out rocks to kids.
YARA
If someone you don’t know grabs
you, you hit them. Hard. Then you
run to me or Doctor Lara.
Understand?
The kids nod, wide-eyed.
The Reaper stands near the center, head tilted — listening to
something beyond human hearing.
The watch on his chest suddenly GLOWS faintly, glyphs
flickering across its surface like burning script.
He pauses, startled.
THE REAPER
…No.
Lara, still on the step with Farid, looks up, breath ragged.
LARA
That sounds bad.
His voice shifts — colder, heavier, as if layered with
others.
THE REAPER
There is… an inquiry.
She frowns.
LARA
An inquiry?
From the watch, a second TICKING joins his own — deeper,
slower, like a JUDGE’S GAVEL.
The Reaper stiffens in discomfort.
THE REAPER
The higher ledger has noticed
irregularity.
(beat)
They question whether the
instrument —
(quiet)
— or the anomaly should be removed.
Lara’s eyes widen.
LARA
You mean me.
He looks at her.
THE REAPER
And me.
For the first time, genuine fear edges his tone.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
If I interfere beyond measure, I
risk deletion.
(beat)
Erasure from causality.
He looks away — ashamed to admit it.
LARA
That… can happen?
THE REAPER
Even death can die.
She swallows. Her own fear flickers, but she shoves it down.
LARA
I didn’t ask you to help.
THE REAPER
You did when you demanded a
different pattern.
He looks back at her, torn.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
Do not ask again. Or I will have to
decide whether your defiance is
worth my end.
Farid glances between them — seeing only Lara talking to
empty air, looking more shattered than ever.
FARID
Who are you arguing with now?
She shakes her head.
LARA
The auditor.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
42 -
Tension in the Triage
EXT. SQUARE’S NORTH ALLEY – SAME TIME
Two of HALIM’S MEN crawl along the shadows, hugging the wall.
They peek around the corner — see a small knot of civilians
moving supplies.
One soldier gestures: HOSTAGES.
They move in, quiet and precise.
A hand clamps over a WOMAN’S mouth. Another grabs a TEEN BOY
by the collar.
But before they can drag them—
HARRIS steps out from a recessed doorway, rifle up.
HARRIS
Don’t.
The soldiers freeze, suppressors pointed back at him.
Tense standoff.
Then— a KNIFE flashes from the side, cutting Harris’s arm as
a THIRD soldier appears.
Harris fires reflexively — silenced muzzle flash, one soldier
drops.
Chaos erupts.
The civilians SCREAM and scatter.
The remaining soldier DRAGS the teen boy back, using him as a
shield.
Harris, bleeding, ducks behind cover.
EXT. TRIAGE EDGE – SOUTH SIDE – SAME TIME
VEGA lies prone on a low-rise rooftop, scope searching.
She catches movement — two ENEMY SOLDIERS slipping along the
street’s edge.
Her finger tightens.
VEGA
(mutters)
Got you.
She fires. One drops. The other bolts into another shadow.
She shifts position, moves to new cover — too pro for a
second shot from the same spot.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – CONTINUOUS
Gunfire snaps. Shouts echo closer now.
Civilians panic.
CIVILIAN #1
They’re here—!
CIVILIAN #2
Soldiers! Not ours!
Leila swings into action, shouting.
LEILA
Basements! Tunnels! MOVE!
Yara hobbles toward the sound of gunfire instead of away.
YARA
I’m going—
Lara sees her— then sees three futures:
— Yara shot in the chest.
— Yara grabbed as a hostage.
— Yara tripping, drawing fire away from kids.
Lara lurches forward.
Her legs fail. She staggers, falls to one knee.
LARA
Yara—! Stop!
Her voice cracks — weak.
Yara hesitates, torn.
Farid grips Lara’s shoulders.
FARID
You’re not sprinting anywhere. Your
legs have left the chat.
Lara shoves at his hands, furious.
LARA
I can still—
Her vision fractures, the square spinning in overlay.
Sound warps. Her heart stutters.
For a terrifying second, her body seizes — a full-blown
tremor. She can’t move her arms.
She watches, helpless, as Yara limps toward danger on
crutches.
This is it. Her weakness is about to cost a life.
EXT. NORTH ALLEY – CONTINUOUS
Halim arrives, calm amid chaos.
He sees his wounded man, the dead one, the teen hostage,
Harris pinned.
He steps to the boy’s back, gun at his head.
HALIM
(sharp, accented English)
Drop your weapon. Or the boy drops.
Harris, breathing hard, aims— but can’t get a clean shot.
His eyes dart, desperate.
Back in the square, Keller hears the shouting. He runs.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
43 -
Sacrifice in Triage Square
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LARA’S POV – CONTINUOUS
Lara tries to stand.
Her legs will not obey.
Her hands curl into claws, nails digging into her own skin.
LARA
Move. MOVE—
The Reaper watches, intangible, eyes burning.
THE REAPER
You are at your limit. There is
nothing left to trade.
She grits her teeth, tears streaming from sheer frustration.
LARA
I don’t care—
She sees two futures:
— Future 1: Keller runs in blind, gets shot.
— Future 2: Keller hesitates, the boy dies.
She tries to scream a warning—
Nothing comes out but a hoarse wheeze.
This is the breaking point. The moment where her body betrays
the vision.
Farid sees her crumble, panic in his voice.
FARID
Lara—!
EXT. COLLAPSED SHOPFRONT / STREET – SAME TIME
Qasim staggers out of the shopfront, clutching his side.
He sees HALIM in the alley, the hostage, the soldier’s
stance.
Recognition hits like a weapon.
QASIM
(whisper)
Halim…
He knows the formation. He knows the blind spot.
He limps toward the alley, determination overriding pain.
EXT. NORTH ALLEY – CONTINUOUS
Halim presses the barrel harder into the boy’s skull.
HALIM
(sharp)
Weapon. On the ground. Now.
Harris’s eyes flick from the boy to Halim.
Then — behind Halim — he sees QASIM staggering into view.
Qasim raises a trembling hand.
QASIM
Halim!
Halim half-turns, keeping the boy shielded.
HALIM
…Qasim.
(disgust)
Traitor.
QASIM
You don’t have to do this.
Halim’s jaw flexes.
HALIM
You left your brothers under the
shells you refused to call in. They
died for your conscience.
Qasim’s eyes shine.
QASIM
They died for yours.
Halim sneers.
HALIM
Stand down, or I finish what the
shrapnel started.
Qasim glances at the boy. Then at Harris.
A memory of training snaps into place.
He sees the angle. The way Halim’s weight is shifted. The way
his arm is exposed—
QASIM
(to Harris, low)
Left knee. Two inches below the
plate.
Harris frowns.
HARRIS
What?
QASIM
(urgent)
Do it.
Halim tightens his grip on the boy.
HALIM
Last chance—
Qasim moves.
In a burst of suicidal courage, he SLAMS himself into Halim
from behind, knocking the gun off-line.
The boy jerks, free for a half-second—
HARRIS
Now!
Harris fires exactly where Qasim told him.
The round punches through Halim’s exposed leg, sending him
sprawling.
The hostage boy bolts, sprinting back toward the square.
Halim hits the ground hard, gun skittering.
Qasim, bleeding badly now, lands in a heap.
He coughs, red bubbling up.
Harris advances, gun trained.
HARRIS (CONT'D)
Don’t move.
Halim glares at Qasim — contempt, betrayal, reluctant
respect, all tangled.
HALIM
You always were bad at dying on
schedule.
Qasim wheezes a weak laugh.
QASIM
Learning from the doctor.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – CONTINUOUS
The boy stumbles into the square, sobbing.
Yara catches him, hauls him behind improvised cover.
Lara watches, shaking, unable to stand — realizing she did
nothing to save him. Someone else did.
The guilt hits like shrapnel.
LARA
(whisper, broken)
I… I couldn’t…
Farid grips her tighter, like anchoring her to the world.
FARID
You don’t get all the saves, Lara.
That’s not how this works.
Her eyes squeeze shut. Her body trembles uncontrollably.
EXT. NORTH ALLEY – MOMENTS LATER
Keller arrives, gun up.
Harris has Halim at gunpoint. Qasim lies nearby, bleeding
out, barely conscious.
Keller takes in the scene quickly.
KELLER
You okay, Harris?
HARRIS
He tried to take a kid. Qasim blew
his cover.
Keller glances at Qasim, surprise flickering.
KELLER
The deserter?
Qasim tries to smile, teeth red.
QASIM
Told you… I know how they move.
Keller cuffs Halim, rough.
KELLER
Tie him. Gag him. He’s intel now.
Halim snarls.
HALIM
You think you’ve won something?
Nader will burn this city until
your bones are dust.
Keller leans in.
KELLER
Then he can start with us. We’re
already ghosts on the map.
He turns to Qasim, kneeling.
KELLER (CONT'D)
You did good.
Qasim’s eyes flick toward the square.
QASIM
Did… she… make it?
Keller nods.
KELLER
Doctor’s alive.
Qasim exhales — a mix of relief and resignation.
QASIM
Good.
(beat)
Then… somebody worth the shells…
finally.
His eyes flutter, on the edge.
Genres:
["Drama","Action","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
44 -
Confronting Fate in Triage Square
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LATER THAT NIGHT
The immediate firefight has died down.
Nader’s men have been pushed back or pinned. The square holds
— barely.
Civilians huddle deeper into cover. Kids whimper. Lanterns
flicker.
Lara sits propped against a low wall, legs refusing to
cooperate.
Her hands shake in her lap, beyond her control.
Farid stands over her, scanning for new threats.
Leila approaches, dirt on her face, pipe still in hand.
LEILA
We heard there were more soldiers
in the alleys.
FARID
There were. Now there are fewer.
Leila looks at Lara.
LEILA
You need to rest.
Lara laughs — a bitter little sound.
LARA
If one more person tells me to
rest, I’m prescribing myself
something I can’t pronounce.
Leila kneels, serious.
LEILA
You fell. You couldn’t move. I saw
you.
Lara’s gaze drops, shame flooding in.
LARA
I froze.
(beat)
I saw the boy die in three
different ways and I still couldn’t
move.
Leila studies her.
LEILA
And yet… he’s alive.
Lara blinks.
LEILA (CONT'D)
Not every miracle has to come from
your hands.
That lands. Hard.
Leila stands, squeezes Lara’s shoulder, then moves off to
help others.
Farid watches Lara, gentle.
FARID
You’re allowed to be human, you
know.
She looks at him, eyes rimmed red.
LARA
I don’t think I am anymore.
EXT. QUIETER CORNER OF THE SQUARE – LATER
The square buzzes with low-level activity, but this corner is
momentarily clear.
The Reaper stands opposite Lara, who sits slumped, sweat-
damp, visibly older than when this started.
His watch still glows faintly with alien glyphs. The
secondary ticking — the higher ledger — pulses through the
air like distant thunder.
THE REAPER
The inquiry intensifies.
She looks up, hollow.
LARA
What does that mean?
THE REAPER
They measure deviation.
(beat)
They count how many lives have
moved beyond statistical tolerance
because of you.
She lets out a bitter breath.
LARA
Sorry for the inconvenience.
He steps closer.
THE REAPER
Do not joke.
(quiet, urgent)
If the higher ledger judges this
anomaly unsustainable, they will
excise the problem.
She swallows.
LARA
Excise… how?
His voice drops.
THE REAPER
By removing the aberrant variables
from the system.
(beat)
You.
And those whose trajectories orbit you too closely.
Her stomach drops.
Her eyes dart toward Farid. Leila. Yara. The kids.
LARA
They’d erase them… because of me?
THE REAPER
If your existence threatens the
coherence of causality, they will
rewrite you as if you never were.
Along with all dependent events.
Her voice is a whisper.
LARA
That sounds… worse than dying.
THE REAPER
It is worse than dying.
(beat)
It is un-being.
She stares, shaken.
LARA
And you? What happens to you?
He looks at his watch — the glyphs flaring hotter, the second
ticking now almost painful.
THE REAPER
I am the instrument that allowed
this deviation to persist.
(beat)
I am being audited.
He looks at her — for the first time, nakedly vulnerable.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
If I touch the thread again — if I
intervene to tip scales in your
favor — they may delete the
function. They may… erase death.
Her breath catches.
LARA
Isn’t that… good?
He almost laughs — a hollow, echoing thing.
THE REAPER
Without death, there is no
movement. No urgency. No meaning to
sacrifice.
(beat)
Life without death is not mercy. It
is stagnation.
She leans her head back against the wall, overwhelmed.
LARA
So if I keep trying to save
everyone…
(beat)
…I might kill the thing that makes
saving anyone matter.
He considers her carefully.
THE REAPER
Or they may simply erase you and
reset the pattern.
She closes her eyes, the weight almost too much.
Then, quietly:
LARA
If they erase me… these people
still die, right?
He nods.
THE REAPER
Yes.
LARA
So the math doesn’t change. Only
the story does.
He studies her, struck by the simplicity of that.
She looks up at him, resolve flickering back beneath the
exhaustion.
LARA (CONT'D)
Then I keep going.
(beat)
If someone has to get erased, I’d
rather it be the one who chose
this.
He stares at her — torn between duty and something
dangerously like admiration.
THE REAPER
If you keep going, I may die with
you.
She holds his gaze.
LARA
Then make your own choice, Reaper.
A long, thick beat.
He looks down at his glowing watch, at the burning glyphs, at
the trembling hands.
For the first time, his voice trembles.
THE REAPER
I do not know if I am capable of
choice.
She smiles weakly.
LARA
Then consider this… your first
lesson.
Her body shakes, exhausted, but her eyes burn steady.
Off them — a battlefield medic and the embodiment of death,
both staring down the possibility of un-being as enemy
shadows regroup in the ruins beyond—
CUT TO BLACK.
(End of approx. pages 81–90.)
This section:
* Gave you Lara’s physical breaking point — she literally
cannot move when it matters.
* Made Qasim essential, with him recognizing Halim, calling
the shot, and turning the ambush — at great cost.
* Raised the Reaper’s stakes: he’s facing audit and potential
deletion from a higher ledger, which transforms him from
aloof cosmic function into someone with something to lose.
Next 10 (91–100) should push into:
* Nader tightening his strategy after the failed ground hit.
* Lara grappling with the guilt of failure and the threat of
erasure.
* Keller and the civilians fortifying for what might be the
last stand.
* The Reaper edging closer to making a real choice — whether
to break his own rules in the final confrontation.
When you’re ready to push into the Act II->III bridge:
“Continue pages 91–100.”
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Bottom of Form
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Genres:
["War","Drama","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
45 -
A Night of Reckoning
EXT. NORTH ALLEY / MAKESHIFT HOLDING POINT – NIGHT
HALIM sits against a wall, wrists bound, leg bandaged tight.
Rage simmers beneath his controlled exterior.
KELLER stands over him. HARRIS nearby, watching the
perimeter.
QASIM lies on a stretcher a few yards away, Farid working
frantically over him.
Qasim’s shirt is soaked dark. Each breath sounds like it
might be the last.
FARID
You couldn’t just hide like a
normal traumatized deserter, could
you?
Qasim’s lips twitch, a ghost of a smile.
QASIM
Boring… way to die.
Farid presses gauze, trying to stem an impossible bleed.
FARID
Who said anything about dying? I’m
very invested in your continued
discomfort.
Keller glances over, sees how bad it is. His face hardens.
He kneels beside Qasim.
KELLER
You bought us time. You saved that
boy.
Qasim’s gaze drifts toward the square, where faint lantern-
glow flickers.
QASIM
I… helped… kill so many boys
before.
(weak)
This… makes the ledger… less ugly.
Farid’s hands still for a beat, that word hitting.
FARID
Don’t steal her vocabulary. She’ll
sue.
Qasim’s eyes find Keller’s.
QASIM
Don’t let… Halim… go back. He… he
knows how Nader thinks.
Keller nods, grim.
KELLER
He’s not going anywhere.
Behind them, Halim watches Qasim with a mix of contempt and
something like grief.
HALIM
You betrayed your brothers.
Qasim wheezes.
QASIM
No.
(beat)
I stopped betraying… everyone else.
Farid swallows, blinking hard.
Qasim coughs, blood bubbling.
QASIM (CONT'D)
Tell her…
(beat)
Tell the doctor…
(he struggles)
I believed the numbers.
(weak smile)
Now I believe… the names.
His eyes fix on something no one else can see.
For a flicker, THE REAPER stands behind Keller, watching.
Qasim’s gaze meets his — and for a second, there’s
recognition.
QASIM (CONT'D)
(whisper)
There you are…
His chest rises… falls… stills.
Flat.
Farid bows his head.
FARID
Damn you for making me like you.
Keller gently closes Qasim’s eyes.
He looks to Halim.
KELLER
You just lost the only man in this
alley who didn’t want you dead.
Halim’s jaw tightens, but he says nothing.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
46 -
Cold Calculations
EXT. ENEMY FORWARD COMMAND – LATER THAT NIGHT
The artillery ridge is quieter, guns resting like beasts
between feeds.
GENERAL NADER reviews a report on a tablet.
Drone stills show:
— Halim’s team in contact.
— Distant muzzle flashes.
— Then… nothing.
The AIDE stands stiffly nearby.
AIDE
We’ve lost Halim’s tactical feed.
Last telemetry indicated engagement
near the anomaly’s camp.
Nader’s eyes are flat.
NADER
Casualty estimates?
AIDE
Mixed. Some signatures vanished.
Others remain.
(beat)
The doctor’s camp still shows
activity.
Nader exhales slowly, almost a sigh.
NADER
Shells fail. Steel fails. Men fail.
He sets the tablet down.
NADER (CONT'D)
We are done trimming at the edges.
The aide shifts uneasily.
AIDE
Sir?
Nader taps a different file on the tablet.
A schematic appears: a THERMOBARIC WARHEAD — fuel-air
explosive. Big, mean, illegal as hell.
NADER
We level the grid.
The aide blanches.
AIDE
Sector Delta-Seven contains at
least three hundred civilians.
NADER
Not if we do this correctly.
He zooms in on the grey zone.
NADER (CONT'D)
The blast will erase structures,
tunnels, basements.
(beat)
Nothing to shelter inside. Nothing
left to rally around.
The aide swallows hard.
AIDE
Command will require justification—
Nader’s expression never changes.
NADER
The justification is simple.
(beat)
An anomaly disrupts attrition. We
restore equilibrium.
He looks to a COMM TECH.
NADER (CONT'D)
Open a channel on all bands. And
prep the loudspeakers on the south
approach.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
47 -
Whispers of Exhaustion
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – WEE HOURS
The adrenaline has faded to a heavy, buzzing exhaustion.
People patch walls, tie splints, share boiled water.
The air feels… off.
A lantern on a crate FLICKERS — bright, dim, bright — then
for a second exists in two places at once, like a bad double
exposure, before “choosing” one spot and staying there.
YARA notices, brow furrowing.
YARA
…Did you see that?
The KID next to her shrugs, too tired to care.
Farther away, a DEAD MAN being prepared for burial suddenly
GASPING—
— then instantly still again.
LEILA yelps, dropping the sheet.
LEILA
Jesus—
She checks. No pulse. Dead as before.
She looks around, rattled.
Nearby, HARRIS pauses mid-step — his boot lands and for a
split second he sees two footprints appear, then one
vanishes.
He shakes his head like trying to clear a buzz.
HARRIS
(to himself)
Get it together, man.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – LARA’S CORNER – SAME TIME
LARA sits against a low wall, blanket around her shoulders.
Her hair is now streaked with white almost from temple to
temple.
Her hands tremble in her lap, fingers twitching in arrhythmic
spasms.
FARID approaches, carrying two dented mugs.
He hands her one.
FARID
Gourmet boiled water. Pairs nicely
with existential dread.
She takes it with both hands — one isn’t enough to stop the
shaking.
LARA
You should open a restaurant. “The
Defiant Triage.”
He sits beside her, sighing.
FARID
No. I’ve seen what you people do to
kitchens.
They sit in silence for a beat, watching the square.
A CHILD runs by, laughing at something stupid. Somehow.
Farid glances at Lara.
FARID (CONT'D)
You going to pretend what happened
back there was fine?
She stares ahead.
LARA
Which part?
FARID
The part where your body went on
strike while a kid had a gun to his
head.
She flinches — no defense.
LARA
My legs… just stopped.
(beat)
I saw it, Farid. I saw him die.
Three different ways. I saw Keller
get shot. I saw you go down.
(voice small)
And then my muscles… just… quit.
She grips the mug tighter.
LARA (CONT'D)
I’m supposed to be the one who
moves when everyone else freezes.
That’s the deal. That’s why I
stayed.
He studies her.
FARID
The deal with who?
She doesn’t answer.
He nudges her shoulder.
FARID (CONT'D)
You’re not a machine. You’re a
human who’s been playing a game
against a calculator and somehow
winning.
(a beat)
Eventually, the flesh calls in a
favor.
Her eyes glisten.
LARA
What happens when the next kid has
a gun to his head and my hands
won’t move?
He looks at her, softer than usual.
FARID
Then someone else moves. Like
Qasim. Like Harris. Like Leila with
her pipe.
(beat)
You’re not the only player on the
board, Lara.
She stares down at her shaking hands.
LARA
Tell that to whatever’s rewriting
my insides.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
48 -
Defiant Resolve
EXT. TRIAGE – ANOTHER CORNER – SAME TIME
KELLER and HARRIS stand near the damaged jeep, half in
shadow.
Harris’s arm is bandaged where the knife cut him earlier.
HARRIS
Sir… about what you told command—
Keller looks away, jaw tight.
KELLER
We’re dead on paper.
(beat)
Means no reinforcements. No air
cover. No evac.
Harris swallows.
HARRIS
Means no one’s coming.
Keller nods.
KELLER
Also means no one’s coming… to tell
us to abandon them.
He nods toward the civilians.
Harris follows his gaze — sees Leila wrapping a boy’s ankle,
Yara teaching kids how to bandage each other, Kareem singing
quietly to his baby.
HARRIS
When this started… I thought we
were just plugging a hole until
command figured out the bigger
picture.
KELLER
There is no bigger picture.
(beat)
This is the picture.
Harris takes that in.
HARRIS
You really think we can hold if
they come again?
Keller’s silence is answer enough.
Finally:
KELLER
No.
(beat)
But I think we can make it cost
them something.
Harris nods slowly.
HARRIS
Then I’m in.
(beat)
If I’m going to die in a red square
on some colonel’s tablet, at least
let it be for something that looks
like it matters.
Keller gives him a rare, tired smile.
KELLER
That’s the spirit, Sergeant. Aim
for meaningful footnotes.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
49 -
Nader's Ultimatum
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – MOMENTS LATER
A strange, LOW HUM vibrates the air.
People look up, unsettled.
A VEHICLE somewhere in the distance — not close, but carrying
sound — a TRUCK with LOUDSPEAKERS.
The hum sharpens into a VOICE, distorted, booming over the
ruins.
NADER (V.O.)
(over loudspeaker,
echoing)
To the doctor in the ruins. To
those harboring her.
Heads turn. All eyes slowly drift toward Lara, even before
the voice finishes the sentence.
Lara stiffens, eyes narrowing.
The Reaper materializes at the edge of the square, cloak
flickering with static.
He listens.
NADER (V.O.)
You have altered the course of this
conflict. You have extended the
suffering of those who were meant
to die quickly.
Murmurs ripple. People exchange glances.
NADER (V.O.)
I offer you… mercy.
Farid snorts under his breath.
FARID
Whenever a man with artillery says
“mercy,” we should all dive for
cover.
The voice rolls on, implacable.
NADER (V.O.)
At dawn, you will present yourself
at the main road south of your
current position. Alone. Unarmed.
You will surrender.
Yara swallows hard.
YARA
Doctor—
NADER (V.O.)
If you do not, we will deploy
devices that will erase your
district completely. No bunker, no
basement, no tunnel will shield
you.
The word “erase” lands harder on Lara than the rest.
Her eyes flick sideways to the Reaper. He is very, very
still.
NADER (V.O.)
Your life for theirs. This is the
equation.
The PA crackles, then cuts.
Silence after is suffocating.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – CONTINUOUS
Everyone looks at Lara.
Leila steps forward first.
LEILA
You’re not going.
Lara blinks.
LARA
I didn’t say I was.
LEILA
You didn’t have to. That voice
walked straight into your head. I
could see it.
Farid moves to Lara’s other side.
FARID
We don’t negotiate with people who
use thermobaric anything in a
sentence.
Keller joins them, face grim.
KELLER
He’s not bluffing.
(beat)
You’ve embarrassed his math twice.
He’ll burn the grid to get rid of
you.
Lara’s breath shakes.
Reality around her flickers — for a heartbeat everyone in the
square appears twice, then snaps back to one.
No one else seems to notice this time.
Only her.
And the Reaper.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","War"]
Ratings
Scene
50 -
Confronting Fate
EXT. TRIAGE – QUIET SIDE – MOMENTS LATER
Lara steps away from the others, around a half-collapsed
wall.
The Reaper follows, limping slightly now, as if his form is
glitching.
Bits of his cloak PHASE OUT for a second, revealing bone
beneath, then reappearing.
The ticking from his watch is uneven — speeding up, slowing,
skipping beats.
THE REAPER
The higher ledger approves of his
equation.
Lara turns on him, angry.
LARA
Of course it does. “One life for
many.” That’s the kind of moral
math men like Nader sleep on.
His voice is softer.
THE REAPER
Not just his. The oversight above
me measures only stability.
(beat)
Remove the anomaly, and the pattern
returns to acceptable variance.
She laughs bitterly.
LARA
You mean: I die, and the war goes
back to killing people on schedule.
How comforting.
The Reaper’s form flickers. For a second, he disappears
entirely—
— then snaps back, staggering, as if yanked.
Lara’s eyes widen.
LARA (CONT'D)
What was that?
He looks… rattled.
THE REAPER
They are… testing excision.
(beat, strained)
Seeing what the ledger looks like
without my line.
She stares.
LARA
They just… turned you off.
THE REAPER
For a moment.
(beat)
It will grow longer.
She steps closer, searching his face — or what passes for a
face.
LARA
If they erase you… what happens
here?
He looks out at the square.
THE REAPER
At first… nothing. Bodies will
still break. Hearts will still
stop.
(beat)
But there will be no one to carry
the names. No… continuity of
endings.
She frowns.
LARA
So people just… die into nothing?
THE REAPER
Worse. They may not die at all. Not
properly.
(beat)
The world would fill with
unfinished departures. Clinging.
Hungry.
A cold shiver goes through her.
LARA
So if I keep doing this… if I bend
the ledger harder… they erase you
to stabilize the system.
His silence is confirmation.
THE REAPER
If you walk to that road and die as
they intend, the anomaly closes.
The audit ends.
(beat)
I continue.
She takes that in.
LARA
So I can save you… by letting them
kill me.
He doesn’t answer, but his hands flex — long bone fingers
clutching at nothing.
She looks out at the square — at Leila, at Yara, at kids
curled against their parents, at Keller and Harris checking
ammo.
LARA (CONT'D)
And if I don’t go?
His ticking stutters. His form flickers again, momentarily
headless, then whole.
THE REAPER
Then I may vanish. And they will
erase you anyway, eventually.
(beat)
With less… mercy.
She closes her eyes, overwhelmed.
LARA
So either way, I’m a rounding
error.
He steps closer.
THE REAPER
No.
(beat)
You are the one variable that asked
what the equation cost.
A beat.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
That is why they hate you.
She opens her eyes, meeting his gaze.
LARA
What about you?
(beat)
Do you hate me?
He hesitates — a long, grinding pause in his ticking.
THE REAPER
I do not know how to hate.
(beat)
But I know how to… fear.
He looks at his trembling hands.
THE REAPER (CONT'D)
And I am afraid… of not existing.
(beat)
For the first time.
She nods, oddly gentle.
LARA
Welcome to the club.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – PRE-DAWN
The sky is starting to gray. A sickly, ash-colored light.
People sleep in clumps. Others keep watch. The whole camp
feels like it’s holding its breath.
Keller walks the perimeter, doing one last check.
He stops near Leila, who sits awake, pipe across her knees.
KELLER
You should sleep.
Leila shakes her head.
LEILA
Slept enough in my old life.
(beat)
This one seems… shorter.
He manages a tired smile.
KELLER
You were a teacher, right?
She nods.
LEILA
Third grade.
(beat)
My biggest problem used to be
parents complaining about too much
homework.
She looks out at the broken buildings.
LEILA (CONT'D)
Now I teach kids which sounds mean
“run” and which mean “hide.”
Keller shifts, uncomfortable.
KELLER
I wish I could tell you this ends
well.
She looks at him.
LEILA
Can you tell me it ends at all?
He considers.
KELLER
Everything ends.
(beat)
Some endings are just less stupid
than others.
She huffs a small laugh.
LEILA
Then let’s aim for “less stupid.”
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","War"]
Ratings
Scene
51 -
Unresolved Sacrifice
EXT. LARA’S CORNER – SAME TIME
Lara stands now, leaning on a chunk of wall. Her legs hold
her, barely.
She looks older in this half-light — like the war has aged
her twenty years in two days.
Farid approaches, sensing something.
FARID
You’ve got that look.
LARA
What look?
FARID
The “I’ve decided to do something
insane and noble” look.
She tries to deflect.
LARA
Maybe I’m just constipated.
He doesn’t buy it.
FARID
We heard the broadcast. We’re not
idiots.
He steps in front of her.
FARID (CONT'D)
You’re not walking to that road,
Lara.
She studies him.
LARA
If I don’t, he burns the district.
FARID
If you do, he might burn it anyway
and get a bonus for efficiency.
She looks past him, at the sleeping faces.
LARA
Or maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he gets
what he wants — his scary story
ended, anomaly removed — and he
gets to write a neat after-action
report.
(beat)
Maybe that’s enough for a man like
Nader.
Farid’s voice tightens.
FARID
And what about men like me?
(beat)
What about the people who have to
live with the hole you leave?
She swallows.
LARA
If I stay, I risk more than my
life.
(beat)
The… system… doesn’t just want me
gone. It wants to erase everything
I’ve changed.
(voice low)
You. Leila. The kids who should
have died in that first strike.
He frowns, not fully tracking.
FARID
Erase how?
She glances toward the Reaper, who flickers in and out like a
bad signal.
LARA
Like we never happened. Like none
of this did.
Farid’s expression hardens.
FARID
Then they’re idiots.
(beat)
We happened. I’m here. I remember.
She looks at him, tears brimming.
LARA
That might not be enough.
He steps closer, fierce.
FARID
It’s enough for me.
A beat.
She reaches out, fingers brushing his wrist — a rare, small
gesture.
LARA
Either way… thank you.
He stiffens.
FARID
That sounds like goodbye. I don’t
like it.
LARA
You don’t like anything.
He searches her face.
FARID
If you leave… you break us.
(beat)
You break me.
That lands.
She swallows, voice barely above a whisper.
LARA
If I stay, I might break
everything.
They stand there, caught between impossible options.
Genres:
["Drama","War"]
Ratings
Scene
52 -
The Path of Sacrifice
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – JUST BEFORE DAWN
The first smear of orange touches the horizon.
A distant RUMBLE that is not artillery — heavy trucks
repositioning, something big being moved into place.
Everyone feels it in their bones.
The Reaper appears next to Lara again.
He’s fading — parts of him translucent, time skipping around
his movements like dropped frames.
His watch glows white-hot now, glyphs spinning.
THE REAPER
They are coming to erase the page.
She looks at him.
LARA
Then this is where the story ends.
He steps closer, his voice strained.
THE REAPER
If you walk to that road, you die
their way. The ledger closes
neatly.
(beat)
If you stay, everything tears
further. I may vanish. You may…
never resolve.
She breathes, slow.
LARA
What would you do… if you could
choose?
He flinches slightly at the word.
THE REAPER
I would do what preserves the
pattern.
She nods.
LARA
Of course you would.
She looks at the square — at every broken, stubborn,
breathing person.
LARA (CONT'D)
I’m not the pattern.
She meets his fading gaze.
LARA (CONT'D)
I’m the error message.
A beat.
LARA (CONT'D)
And maybe… the only way to fix this
is to… uninstall myself.
The Reaper stares, something like grief in his hollow eyes.
THE REAPER
If you step onto that road, I may
lose the only anomaly that ever
looked back at me.
She smiles weakly.
LARA
You’ll survive. You always do.
His form stutters — half-gone, half-here.
THE REAPER
I am not certain.
She inhales slowly — then squares her shoulders as much as
her shaking body allows.
LARA
Then I guess we both find out what
we’re made of.
She turns toward the south — toward the unseen road.
Far in the distance, beyond the ruins, a faint FLASH on the
horizon hints at something monstrous being armed.
Off Lara, stepping away from the fragile safety of the
square, toward an ultimatum that may cost her existence but
save everyone else—
CUT TO BLACK.
EXT. RUINED CITY – PRE-DAWN
LARA walks alone through the broken streets, heading south.
The sky is bruised purple. Her breath steams in the chill.
Every step is work.
Her hair is nearly all white now, loose around her face. She
looks like someone who has lived a lifetime in a week.
Behind her, far in the distance, the TRIAGE SQUARE glows
faintly.
The Reaper drifts a few paces behind, flickering in and out
like a glitching hologram.
His ticking is ragged.
EXT. SOUTH APPROACH ROAD – PRE-DAWN
A cleared stretch of asphalt cuts through rubble, ending at a
set of makeshift BARRIERS.
NADER’S CONVOY is there:
TRUCKS. ARMORED VEHICLES. A MOBILE LAUNCHER with a sleek,
ominous WARHEAD angled toward the sky.
SOLDIERS in hard armor ring the area, rifles up.
GENERAL NADER stands at the center, immaculate despite the
war.
LOUDSPEAKERS crackle nearby, mounted on a truck.
A TECH adjusts the angle on the THERMOBARIC MISSILE.
Lara’s small figure approaches along the road.
Nader watches her like a scientist watching a specimen.
EXT. ROAD TO THE CONVOY – CONTINUOUS
Lara’s POV:
The convoy looms.
The missile gleams, fuel lines coiled around it like a
sleeping snake.
The Reaper stumbles behind her, briefly phasing halfway into
the ground before snapping back.
THE REAPER
(strained)
You can still turn back.
Lara doesn’t break stride.
LARA
You told me turning back doesn’t
fix the math.
He winces as his arm half-disappears, then reforms.
THE REAPER
This… is more than math.
She stops for just a second, winded.
LARA
Everything is more than math.
Then she walks on.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","War"]
Ratings
Scene
53 -
Tension at Dawn
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – SAME TIME
The square stirs.
KELLER, FARID, LEILA, YARA and a handful of others stand near
the edge, watching the faint silhouette of Lara in the
distance.
YARA
She’s really doing it.
Farid’s jaw clenches.
FARID
Of course she is. She’s an idiot.
Keller raises binoculars, scanning the southern road.
Through the lens: he sees the convoy, the missile, the
soldiers, Nader.
KELLER
Shit.
HARRIS
(overhearing)
Sir?
Keller lowers the binoculars.
KELLER
He’s got a launcher primed. That’s
not a bluff.
Farid swears under his breath.
FARID
So what, she hands herself over and
he still wipes us off the map?
That’s not a deal, that’s customer
service for psychopaths.
Keller looks at the ragtag defenders.
KELLER
Gear up. Quietly.
(beat)
If this is a trap, we spring it
from both sides.
Leila steps closer.
LEILA
We’re coming too.
Keller shakes his head.
KELLER
You’re civilians.
LEILA
So are they.
She nods out at the sleeping families.
LEILA (CONT'D)
We’re done waiting to die politely.
Keller meets her eyes, sees the steel there.
He gives the smallest nod.
KELLER
Then stay low. Follow our lead.
EXT. SOUTH APPROACH ROAD – PRE-DAWN
Lara reaches the barrier.
Soldiers aim rifles at her chest. She stops, hands slightly
raised.
Up close, she looks ancient and young at once. Skin drawn,
eyes too clear.
Nader steps forward.
NADER
Doctor.
Lara studies him.
LARA
General.
They face each other like opposite theories.
Behind Nader, the THERMOBARIC MISSILE is being armed. Crews
move with clinical efficiency.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
The Reaper stands just behind Lara, invisible to everyone but
her, glitching badly now.
His cloak stutters in segments.
THE REAPER
He has no intention of sparing
them.
She doesn’t look back.
LARA
I know.
THE REAPER
You came anyway.
LARA
I had to see the man who thought he
could negotiate with a fire he
already lit.
Nader watches Lara, unnerved by the white hair, the weird
stillness.
NADER
You walk like someone already dead.
LARA
You talk like someone who’s never
met a corpse.
A flicker of annoyance.
NADER
I have met more than you.
He gestures toward the warhead.
NADER (CONT'D)
You have complicated a simple
equation. You’ve extended
engagements, increased supply
expenditure, created morale
anomalies.
He says it like she misfiled a form.
LARA
You mean I stopped some people
dying on your schedule.
NADER
You ruined symmetry.
He steps closer.
NADER (CONT'D)
But even anomalies obey certain
rules.
He nods to a nearby SOLDIER.
The soldier raises a small REMOTE — a safety key for the
missile.
Lara’s eyes dart — tiny detail.
EXT. TRIAGE SIDE STREETS – SAME TIME
Keller leads a small team — HARRIS, VEGA, and a few ARMED
CIVILIANS — through back alleys toward a flanking position
above the road.
Farid’s there, carrying a medic bag and a pistol he clearly
hates.
FARID
Just for the record, I’m opposed to
this plan.
KELLER
You were opposed to breakfast too.
Farid grumbles.
FARID
Breakfast never shot back.
They reach a vantage point — a partially collapsed building
overlooking the approach road.
Keller crawls to the edge, peeks out.
He sees Nader, Lara, the missile, lines of soldiers.
His face tightens.
KELLER
Yeah. Trap.
Genres:
["War","Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
54 -
The Weight of Fate
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Nader eyes Lara like he’s inspecting a glitchy program.
NADER
Kneel.
Lara raises one eyebrow.
LARA
Do your numbers need that for
closure?
He nods once to the loudspeaker operator.
The TRUCK SPEAKERS crackle to life again.
NADER (V.O.)
(over speakers, for the
district to hear)
To those in the ruins — the doctor
has arrived.
(beat)
If she accepts her fate, you will
be spared.
His voice echoes through the city.
Back in the square, civilians look at each other, a fragile
hope flickering.
Leila’s jaw works.
LEILA
Don’t you dare, Lara…
On the road, Lara looks back toward the city — just a faint
cluster of light in the distance.
She sinks slowly to her knees.
Not in reverence. In exhaustion and rage.
Nader smiles faintly.
NADER
Good. The equation balances.
Behind Lara, the Reaper trembles as if being pulled apart by
invisible forces.
The watch on his chest glows white-hot.
A second, deeper ticking pounds the air — the higher ledger.
THE REAPER
They approve of this path.
(beat, strained)
If you die now, I… remain.
Lara’s shoulders shake.
LARA
That’s not a great sales pitch.
He flinches — part of his skull fizzles away, then reappears.
THE REAPER
If you do not… they will erase you
more violently.
She looks up at Nader.
LARA
Tell me something.
He waits.
LARA (CONT'D)
After you erase us… do you sleep
better?
He tilts his head.
NADER
After I erase anomalies… I sleep at
all.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
55 -
Visions of Despair
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – LARA’S POV – CONTINUOUS
Her vision fractures again:
— Future 1: She kneels. Nader shoots her in the head. The
missile launches.
— Future 2: She fights. He kills her. The missile launches.
— Future 3: She runs. Snipers drop her. The missile launches.
In all of them:
The square is obliterated. Basements collapse. Children
vaporized.
She gasps.
LARA
(whisper)
There’s no version where you spare
them.
Nader doesn’t answer.
He doesn’t have to.
The Reaper confirms, voice like breaking glass.
THE REAPER
No.
Somewhere deep in his watch, glyphs flash: EXECUTION OF
CORRECTION.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – SAME TIME
The PA voice reaches them faintly.
Civilians cling to the edges of hope.
Kareem holds his baby tighter.
KAREEM
She’ll fix it. She always does.
Leila shakes her head, tears gathering.
LEILA
She’s not a spell.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Lara’s eyes glisten. She looks the Reaper dead in the face.
LARA
Show me.
He stiffens.
THE REAPER
I should not—
LARA
Show me the moment he erases them.
All the versions.
He hesitates.
For the first time, it feels like disobedience.
Then he lifts a shaking hand, palm open.
The air around them ripples.
VISION – MULTIPLE FUTURES – RAPID MONTAGE
— The missile launches. Fireball blossoms. The square becomes
a crater.
— Basements implode, people crushed by vacuum.
— Children disintegrate mid-scream.
— Tires melt. Bones flash.
— Farid dies mid-run, reaching for someone.
— Leila burns alive as she shields a child.
— Keller’s body lies half-buried in rubble, hand still
reaching.
Every version ends in the same silent void.
BACK TO SCENE – EXT. SOUTH ROAD
Lara reels, gagging at the images.
LARA
He never planned to spare them.
Nader watches, not knowing exactly what she’s seeing — only
that she is breaking.
NADER
Your suffering was always part of
the algorithm.
He nods toward the missile tech.
NADER (CONT'D)
Prepare to fire.
The tech moves to an ARMED panel.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Sci-Fi"]
Ratings
Scene
56 -
Countdown to Catastrophe
EXT. RUINED BUILDING OVERLOOKING ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Keller sees the tech’s hand go to the panel.
KELLER
They’re arming. That’s not
conditional. That’s happening no
matter what.
Harris swears softly.
HARRIS
So… surrender’s just theater.
KELLER
Yeah.
He looks at his team.
KELLER (CONT'D)
On my mark, we light up their
firing lane. We’re not stopping the
missile from here, but we can
scramble their plan.
Farid swallows.
FARID
And then what?
KELLER
Then we improvise.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Lara, still kneeling, looks up at Nader.
Something has changed in her face.
The surrender is gone.
What’s left is clarity.
LARA
You didn’t come here to bargain.
(beat)
You came here for a clean story.
Nader’s lip curls.
NADER
History prefers clean lines.
She shakes her head slowly.
LARA
History prefers witnesses.
He frowns.
She turns slightly, toward the Reaper.
LARA (CONT'D)
If I die here like this… you keep
carrying the names?
He answers automatically.
THE REAPER
Yes.
She nods, then looks back at Nader.
LARA
What if… that’s not enough anymore?
Nader gestures, impatient.
NADER
Your words don’t change the yield.
He raises his hand.
NADER (CONT'D)
Fire.
EXT. MOBILE LAUNCHER – CONTINUOUS
The tech flips the final safety cover.
His finger hovers over the FIRE switch.
At that exact moment—
A RIFLE SHOT rings out from the ruined building.
The tech’s hand explodes in blood.
He screams, falling back.
EXT. RUINED BUILDING – SAME TIME
Keller works the bolt, already shifting position.
KELLER
Move! Return fire!
Soldiers whirl, firing at the building.
Bullets chew stone around Keller’s team.
Vega picks targets, cool and fast.
VEGA
Right flank! Two down!
Farid flattens, covering his head.
FARID
I hate this plan! Just an update!
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Gunfire erupts.
Nader spins, shouting orders.
NADER
Take that building! Secure the
launcher!
Soldiers peel off, creating chaos.
In the confusion, Lara rises slowly from her knees.
She’s shaking, but she stands.
Nader turns back — surprised.
NADER (CONT'D)
I did not give you permission to
stand.
She smiles faintly.
LARA
I don’t remember needing it.
Behind her, the Reaper is barely holding together. His cloak
tears in invisible wind, shards of him blowing away like ash.
The ticking from the higher ledger BOOMS, like a countdown.
THE REAPER
They are moving to erase both of
us.
Lara’s eyes lock on the missile.
LARA
Then I guess we’re out of
extensions.
EXT. MOBILE LAUNCHER – MOMENTS LATER
A SECOND TECH, shaking, moves to take his colleague’s place.
Nader yells.
NADER
Fire! NOW!
The tech slams his palm onto the switch—
The launch clamps disengage.
The THERMOBARIC MISSILE kicks off the rail with a scream,
streaking upward.
EXT. RUINED BUILDING – CONTINUOUS
Keller sees the missile arc.
His face goes blank.
KELLER
…We’re too late.
Harris stares.
HARRIS
How big is that—
KELLER
Big enough.
He breathes once, looking toward the distant square.
KELLER (CONT'D)
I’m sorry.
EXT. SKY ABOVE CITY – CONTINUOUS
The missile arcs high, nose tipping toward the district.
Its exhaust leaves a dirty white trail.
Time feels like it’s speeding up.
Genres:
["Drama","Action","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
57 -
The Reaper's Sacrifice
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Everyone watches — soldiers, Keller’s team, civilians from
afar.
The Reaper looks up.
His ticking falters.
THE REAPER
This is the moment.
Lara follows the missile’s path with her eyes.
Her voice is barely audible.
LARA
You said you don’t know how to
choose.
He looks at her — what’s left of him.
THE REAPER
I am… function.
(beat)
Not will.
She steps closer.
LARA
You’ve been watching us die since
the first fire.
(beat)
(MORE)
LARA (CONT'D)
Don’t tell me you never wanted to
change the outcome.
That lands like a blow.
For a heartbeat, the ticking stops.
Then starts again — but different. Slower. Like it’s
thinking.
The Reaper looks at his own hands, dissolving at the edges.
THE REAPER
If I touch this…
(beat)
I end.
She holds his gaze.
LARA
If you don’t… they end.
He looks between the falling missile and the distant square.
His voice is very quiet.
THE REAPER
I was never meant to choose.
She smiles — exhausted, broken, still defiant.
LARA
Then die doing something you
weren’t meant to.
EXT. SKY – CONTINUOUS
The missile screams toward the city.
At the last possible second—
The Reaper APPEARS directly in its path, impossibly high,
cloak billowing like black wings.
Time HICCUPS.
The missile freezes mid-flight, vibrating with lethal energy.
The world goes silent.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD / CITY – SAME TIME
Everyone stares upward.
Nader’s eyes widen, for the first time genuinely shaken.
NADER
…What?
Keller’s mouth opens.
KELLER
Is that—
Farid squints.
FARID
Oh, now he decides to showboat.
EXT. SKY – CONTINUOUS
The Reaper spreads his arms.
His cloak wraps around the missile like a shroud.
The higher ledger’s ticking SLAMS into a single, massive
tolling sound.
Glyphs flare around him, burning, then cracking.
His voice, echoing everywhere:
THE REAPER
I choose.
The cloak tightens.
The missile begins to unravel — bolts pop free, plating
disintegrates, fuel vaporizes into harmless mist.
At the same time—
The Reaper’s body fractures, segments of him dissolving into
particulate light.
Bone turns to dust. Cloth turns to smoke.
His watch splinters, fragments spiraling outward as streaks
of pale fire.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Tiny motes of that same pale fire drift down across the
battlefield.
They land on helmets, rifles, rubble.
Where they touch, metal briefly phases — ghostly, then solid
again.
Lara watches, tears cutting lines through the grime on her
face.
LARA
(whisper)
Carry their names.
Up in the sky, the final piece of the Reaper — his hollow
face — looks down one last time.
A faint, almost human smile.
Then he’s gone.
The missile is gone.
The sky is empty.
EXT. ENEMY FORWARD COMMAND – SAME TIME
Sensors go crazy.
TECHS shout, screens glitching. Missile telemetry disappears
mid-path.
The THERMOBARIC ICON blinks… then blanks out.
The system throws up one simple word in red:
ERROR.
Nader’s aide stares, stunned.
AIDE
Sir… the warhead… it’s just… gone.
Nader’s composure fractures.
NADER
Weapons do not just vanish.
His voice borders on hysteria.
Genres:
["Drama","Sci-Fi","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
58 -
The Reckoning on South Road
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – MOMENTS LATER
The battlefield hangs in stunned silence.
Soldiers look around, lost.
Some cross themselves. Others mutter prayers. A few drop to
their knees.
One SOLDIER lowers his rifle entirely.
SOLDIER #1
We’re fighting… what?
Another backs away from Lara, shaking.
SOLDIER #2
This is cursed.
Lara stands in the middle of it all, breathing hard.
Her hair is now pure white, luminous in the weak dawn light.
For a heartbeat, she seems… bigger. Not in size, but in
presence. Like reality is bending around her instead of the
other way around.
A soft ticking returns — not from the Reaper, but from
somewhere around her.
Nader stares at her like she is the equation that broke his
career.
NADER
What… are you?
She looks at him, eyes old as the war itself.
LARA
I’m the part of the ledger that
learned to say no.
His jaw clenches. Rage surges back in.
NADER
You think this changes anything?
I’ll level your district with
conventional rounds. I’ll turn your
square into dust with tanks.
(beat)
My numbers always adapt.
He grabs a nearby rifle, shoulders it himself, starts firing
toward Lara.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Bullets scream toward her.
And then—
They stutter in the air, flickering out of sync.
For a split second each bullet appears in two places at once,
then drops harmlessly to the asphalt.
Nader stares, unbelieving.
His own gun JAMS, the slide locking halfway.
He yanks the trigger. Nothing.
Keller’s team seizes the moment.
KELLER
Now! GO!
They open fire on the convoy — controlled bursts, targeting
tires, weapon mounts, radios.
VEHICLES blow tires, spin out.
Radios SPARK, channels flooded with overlapping voices from
three different times.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – SAME TIME
Back at the square, people flinch at distant gunfire—
—but the killing rain never comes.
They wait for the death-blast.
It never arrives.
Instead, a gentle fall of pale motes drifts down — remnants
of the Reaper.
They land in children’s hair, on Leila’s shoulders, on
Qasim’s wrapped body.
Leila looks up, tears in her eyes.
LEILA
He… he stopped it.
Kareem holds his baby up to the light, shaking with relief.
Genres:
["Drama","Action","Fantasy"]
Ratings
Scene
59 -
The Reckoning on South Road
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Panic sweeps Nader’s soldiers.
Fields of probability are failing them. Bullets misfire.
Vehicles stall.
One soldier rips off his helmet.
SOLDIER #3
I’m not dying for this. For… her.
He drops his gun, backs away.
Others follow — some fleeing, some just standing down.
Nader roars.
NADER
Cowards! Get back in line! This is
not chaos— this is an anomaly!
He lunges toward Lara, gun half-working.
He’s close now — close enough to see the fine cracks at the
edges of her eyes, like porcelain under pressure.
He points the rifle at her chest and fires point-blank—
The gun EXPLODES in his hands.
He screams, thrown backward, fingers mangled.
He lands hard on his back.
EXT. SOUTH ROAD – CONTINUOUS
Nader gasps, staring up at the sky like it betrayed him.
Lara limps toward him.
Each step ages her another year.
By the time she reaches him, she looks like she’s in her
seventies. Deep lines, ghost-pale, hair a white halo.
She looks down at him.
LARA
Your math was right about one
thing.
He grits his teeth.
NADER
And what is that?
LARA
Everyone dies.
He laughs, ragged.
NADER
So… you kill me.
She shakes her head.
LARA
I don’t have to.
She looks over her shoulder.
Behind her, CIVILIANS are arriving — Leila, Yara, Kareem,
others who followed Keller and Farid, armed with pipes,
rocks, whatever they could grab.
They ring Nader at a distance.
Lara looks back down at him.
LARA (CONT'D)
You spent your life treating them
like numbers.
(beat)
Now you get to meet them as names.
She steps back.
The circle tightens.
Nader tries to crawl away, but his hand is shredded, his men
scattered or surrendered.
Faces loom over him — people he never counted.
The camera rises as the civilians close in.
We don’t need to see the rest.
Genres:
["Drama","Action","War"]
Ratings
Scene
60 -
Echoes of Resilience
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – DAY (LATER)
The sun is up.
The city is broken, but not gone.
Makeshift tents and tarps cover open spaces. Water is boiled.
Food is shared.
A WALL has been cleared and painted white.
NAMES are written on it in careful script — soldiers,
civilians, QASIM near the center.
Leila writes another name, then steps back.
Keller stands nearby, arm in a sling, watching kids play with
an improvised soccer ball.
Harris limps past with a box of supplies.
Farid exits a tent, wiping his hands, exhausted but alive.
He glances at the name wall.
FARID
We’re going to run out of space.
Leila shrugs.
LEILA
Then we repaint another wall.
Keller joins them.
KELLER
Command finally acknowledged
someone’s alive out here.
(beat)
They’re “reviewing options.”
Farid smirks.
FARID
We should send them a memo: “Option
A — don’t screw this up.”
Leila looks around the square.
It’s still ruined. But it’s theirs.
LEILA
Whatever they decide…
(beat)
We already changed it.
They share a quiet moment.
EXT. TRIAGE SQUARE – EDGE – DAWN (SOME DAYS LATER)
Farid stands alone at the edge of the square, looking out at
the city.
It’s quiet — that eerie, post-bombardment quiet.
The air has a faint ticking in it.
He frowns.
FARID
Okay. That’s new.
He turns slowly.
In a broken window’s reflection, for just a moment, he sees a
figure behind him:
LARA.
Older, white-haired, but… luminous. Not quite solid. Not
quite gone.
He spins around.
No one there.
He looks back at the glass.
Now the reflection is just him.
He exhales, shaky.
FARID
You better not be haunting me. I
don’t have the energy.
The air shifts.
A soft voice — LARA’S — not from behind him, not from
outside, but through the space.
LARA (V.O.)
(overlapping with the
ticking)
Keep them alive.
Farid closes his eyes, absorbing it.
When he opens them, the ticking fades, replaced by normal
morning sounds — coughing, kids, pots clanking.
He smiles, sad and proud.
FARID
I’ll try.
(beat)
But don’t audit my technique.
He heads back into the square, back to work.
THE END