A Hero Needed Tonight

by Jaime Savage

  She holds up the item he had passed to her; keys to a door.

  LUKE (stunned)

  'What is going on'?

  AVA

  'Is Mickey behind this'?

  LUKE

  'Mickey? No way. He can't be'.

  The Turk is now at the podium.

  THE TURK

  'Thank you, thank you all. What an amazing night. What amazing people. There's no place I am more respected and no place I would rather be right now?well other than perhaps the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in America'.

  The crowd guffaws in laughter.

  THE TURK

  'No, no, no, all levity aside, as you are well aware I have received a lot of publicity in recent times-for better or for worse. In amongst all the scrutiny I take every possible opportunity I can to draw attention to animal welfare and animal rights. As an 'egotistical, brutish man of the highest order' as I was referred to only five minutes ago by one publication I have no trouble standing up for myself. What cannot stand up for itself, however, are the millions of creatures we share this miracle of a planet with'-

  Out of nowhere at all Luke starts a coughing fit. People in the immediate area around him start to stare.

  AVA

  'Are you ok? You haven't eaten anything, what are you choking on'?

  LUKE

  'I'll be back. I have to go'

  AVA (worried)

  'Luke'!

  He is lost in the crowd.

  THE TURK

  'The Gulf Oil Spill is by all accounts the worst oil spill in this region in documented history'-

  Ava stands there for some passing moment in her indecision. She finally decides to go after Luke.

  SCENE: OUTSIDE PALACE

  .

  She finds him sat outside in a deserted courtyard. His coughing fit has ceased.

  AVA

  'That's not the first time I've seen you do that. Is everything ok'?

  LUKE

  'Everything is fine'.

  Ava's not buying it.

  AVA

  'When we were in New York, why were you the only one not wearing a surgical mask'?

  LUKE

  'You don't need to worry about that'.

  AVA

  'It's a legitimate question'-

  LUKE

  'Don't worry about it'.

  AVA

  'I want to know'.

  LUKE

  'I have had the flu in recent weeks'.

  AVA

  'You're a bad liar'.

  LUKE

  'It's gone to my chest'.

  AVA

  'You don't give me much credit do you'?

  Luke stares aimlessly at the ground.

  AVA

  'I'll ask you again?what is'-

  LUKE

  'Just leave it'.

  AVA

  'I won't leave it. What is'-

  LUKE

  'Leave it'.

  AVA

  'I'm not going to just leave it. You said back in New York that there was to be no more secrets between us'.

  LUKE

  'I was joking'!

  AVA

  'Well I'm dead serious'.

  LUKE (agitated)

  'You really want to know'?

  AVA

  'Why yes'.

  LUKE

  'My lungs are fucked'.

  AVA

  'So why were you the only person not wearing'-

  LUKE

  'Ava enough'!

  She is taken aback.

  AVA

  'The pollution is bad I understand that, but maybe you'-

  LUKE

  'It's not like that at all'.

  AVA

  'Then what is it'?

  LUKE (grimacing)

  'I wasn't going to tell you but this is my last job before I give it up'.

  AVA

  'Last job'?

  LUKE

  'As in once we get back to America that's it I'm done. My health is deteriorating month by month'.

  AVA

  'I?I?I don't understand'-

  LUKE

  'You don't have to understand'.

  AVA

  'But'?

  LUKE

  'All I have to do is get you safely from point a to point b. That's what I'm legally contracted to do; that's all I have to do. But this job was different. Don't ask me why but I wanted to convince you that there was some good in this world. I told myself I would, no matter how strenuous such a task would be. After seeing this (he snatches the key from her) even I'm surprised. The Turk has a heart of gold it turns out. I really have seen it all now'.

  They sit there in silence for a few moments. There is an unspoken understanding between them; Ava doesn't need to ask any more questions. She snatches the keys back.

  AVA

  'You've convinced me about this ''outside world''. You've done your job. There's only one thing left to do now and that's to enjoy ourselves'.

  She walks back inside the palace. Luke smiles to himself. He has done what he thought to be impossible. He picks himself up and follows her inside.

  SCENE: PALACE HALLS

  (The third verse in 'Shot at the Night' by The Killers plays.)

  Ava and Luke run through the halls of the palace laughing. Luke is leading the way running like a football punt returner sidestepping his way past all the formal, impassive guests. Ava pushes the elevator button and attempts to catch her breath, fighting back laughter in the process.

  SCENE: ELEVATOR

  Luke and Ava wait in anticipation while the elevator rises floor by floor. A man dressed in a kandura waits with them. Luke stands tall and emotionless trying as hard as he can to look serious. Ava is not able to replicate him. The sight of Luke trying to look professional just makes her even more hysterical. The door opens and the kandura man departs. Higher and higher they elevate until they reach the highest floor of the palace. The elevator opens revealing a majestically carved wooden door at the end of a short hallway. Luke unlocks the door with Ava's key and pulls it back to reveal the most grandiose room they have both ever seen. A lavish indoor swimming pool dominates the ornate Art Nouveau styled room. On the far side of the room is a glass wall that provides a panoramic shot of the rainbow coloured spotlights being beamed from the centre of Ocean City hundreds of feet below. Surrounded by classical pillars and situated right by the glass wall utilizing the view is a jocose.

  Two pairs of swimsuits have been placed in anticipation of their arrival. Luke strips off his suit jacket and in no time has dive-bombed into the water. Ava is a little more leisurely in entering the water. She wades slowly into the pool and treads water heading towards Luke. Once she reaches him he pushes her head under. The two play fight, their voices echoing across the extravagant room.

  After their swim they sit in the jocose taking in the glorious view of the city from their position at the highest point of the city. Feeling free and alive Luke screams out through the open window to the city below. He feels invincible. Ava follows suit.

  ('Shot at the Night' by The Killers ends.)

  SCENE: HOTEL

  Luke and Ava lie in a hotel bed eating strawberries and ice cream. The television plays in front of them broadcasting Ocean City's take on late night television. A very raw presenter with a squeaky voice is interviewing a young woman. Despite the producers best efforts to mirror American style talk shows there remains a noticeable cultural disparity resulting in the show coming across even more artificial than the ones it is trying to replicate.

  HOST

  'They always told me that beauty is subjective but you are scientifically the most beautiful woman in the world'?

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'Scientifically'?

  The crowd laughs.

  HOST

  'I have just done what was previously thought to not be humanly possible. I have made a beauty concert sound lame. I have made a contest for the most beautiful woman in the world sound like a convention forum on
applied physics'!

  More laughter.

  HOST

  'But?just so the people understand three billion people voted across the planet in this competition'?

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'Three billion people yes. It's a lot'.

  HOST

  'Everybody?there is three billion reasons why aliens won't talk to us'.

  The crowd laughs.

  HOST

  'I mean they can't even get forty percent of people to vote in political elections in some countries and we can get three billion votes for a beauty contest. Are you kidding me'?

  The crowd laughs.

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'I know right'.

  HOST

  'And you're not?but you are now?well you weren't before?a model'?

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'No I was just a supermarket worker from Mackay, Australia before I submitted my picture'.

  HOST

  'Extraordinary; picked out from millions of contestants, whisked away and now you get to sit here talking to schmucks like me. I bet you can't believe your luck'?

  The crowd laughs and applauds.

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'There's no place I'd rather be'.

  HOST

  'Do you have any advice for the people'?

  YOUNG WOMAN

  'Youth is like a flower. Enjoy and appreciate it before the winter comes'.

  The crowd applauds.

  HOST

  'I think we may be on different hemispheres because winter has well and truly come for me'.

  The crowd laughs.

  HOST

  'I want to thank my guest, Hannah Kitten. That's all we have time for tonight. Join me tomorrow night where we have another exciting show. It may not be Jurassic Park- yes sadly their DNA is too old-but it is Elizabethan Park. We have the scientist that brought back a dodo to life which survived for five months'.

  LUKE

  'Why didn't you enter the competition'?

  AVA

  'I wouldn't be able to remember the carefully memorised lines. Youth is a flower and all that'.

  LUKE

  'I would have voted for you'.

  Ava puts her bowl of ice cream to the side and slowly sits on top of Luke.

  AVA

  'Really?

  LUKE

  'Maybe'.

  AVA

  'You'd do that for me'?

  LUKE

  'I'd have to check out the millions of other entries first of course'.

  AVA (grinning)

  'Sluck.

  LUKE

  'You've learnt to swear I see'.

  AVA

  'Am I saying that right? Sluck'?

  LUKE

  'What's Tony Perkins going to say when you get back home'?

  AVA

  'Blitzbuck'.

  She giggles.

  AVA

  'That's fun to say'.

  LUKE

  'You're going to have to explain so much to him. The sewer, the private jet, the festival, the Emir's private pool and now why you suddenly have added the word for a lightening quick man to your lexicon'.

  AVA

  'You left out how I'm going to have to explain to him why I'm making out with my bodyguard'.

  LUKE

  'We're making out'?

  She kisses him and slowly removes his shirt.

  AVA

  'How are you going to explain this to your boss'?

  She gives him a hickey on the lower part of his neck. Luke removes her bra and they start making out. In the background a music video from another of The Secret of Youth's number one hits has been playing.

  MUSIC

  'And you show me to the door.

  I'm surrounded by my own madness

  I'll just love you even more.

  Trying to fight through the darkness

  I'm addicted to you even more.

  Could you not have known I was unhappy?

  I'm fixated with you even more.

  Why didn't you love me?

  Haven't we been here before?

  You kick me to the curve because you know it hurts.

  But I'll love you even more'.

  SCENE: OCEAN CITY AIRPORT

  Ava and Luke sit in the departure gate at the Ocean City airport. Sun streams through the airport terminal window. On the departure board we see two commercial flights about to depart for Waddell City, Antarctica and Pyongyang respectively. Seated across from them is a man wearing a bowler hat who is reading Time Magazine. Gracing the cover of the publication is none other than Duncan Strepfield.

  Chapter 16

  SCENE: INTERSTATE HIGHWAY

  (The end of 'Dissolve me' by Alt J plays)

  A cameraman is riding on the back of a moving vehicle filming a tracking shot of a great spectacle. Tens of thousands of people march in unison along an interstate highway in California. At the very front of the legion is the leader of the movement, Jup. Jup is a twenty something man who wears a distinctive, coloured mirror lens visor which hides his eyes. Behind him people from all walks of life follow their leader. A number of young children walk alongside him at the very front of the movement. A giant banner is raised by people near the front of the movement, which reads: 'The March for Hope'.

  What had started as a dozen or so homeless people had morphed itself into one of the most iconic movements of the twenty first century. A couple of helicopters land and then take off dropping off supplies. There is a stretched convoy of buses and vehicles following behind the crowd offering all manners of support. This is no flash in the pan protest; it's a well oiled machine unlike anything the world has ever seen before.

  ('Dissolve me' by Alt J ends')

  SCENE: AIRPORT

  Luke and Ava disembark from a plane onto a runway. They take in their surroundings as the reality dawns upon them that they are now standing in the heart of war torn Central Africa. Once inside the airport terminal they soon start to realize that the worldwide celebration of the failed doomsday prediction appears to have been a tad premature. Panic stricken people rush in all directions throughout the terminal while fully clad military personal move with purpose. Everyone it appears cannot get out of here quick enough.

  Outside of the terminal the couple are escorted by an assembly of suited entourage past a myriad of military vehicles toward a modest two door van -a far cry from the limos they have been accustomed to in recent times.

  SCENE: HIGHWAY

  The van is speeding its way through the city. They are the only vehicle driving away from the airport. On the opposite side of the road cars are piled up in a traffic jam attempting to make their way to the airport to leave the country. Inside the van a security man debriefs them in patched English.

  SECURITY MAN

  'In and out. In and out; that's our mantra. I cannot stress this enough; in and out, in and out. We have not got a second to lose. Civil war could be but minutes away. The American embassy has fled. The business people, the volunteers, the politicians-they're all gone'.

  Ava looks at Luke. Despite his seemingly permanent aura of calmness even Luke is showing tell-tale signs that he thinks that they are out of their depth here. Ava presses her head against the window overwhelmed by the reality of her new found situation. In doing so she catches sight of a wounded dog lying helplessly on the side of the road. Another dog sits to the side of its stricken canine friend in an incredible display of solidarity and loyalty.

  AVA

  'That dog is hurt. We have to go back?it's been run over'!

  Her plea falls on deaf ears.

  AVA

  'What's wrong with you? It's dying'.

  There is silence. Before the vehicle speeds away Ava catches one last sight of the wounded dog's four legged friend barking desperately for help.

  AVA

  'I don't believe it'.

  One of the security men slowly pulls out his walkie talkie and makes some terse comments into it in his native tongue.

&
nbsp; SECURITY

  'I have let them know. I'm sure they will see what they can do'.

  Ava sinks back into her chair. As the van drives on Ava can only naively hope that something more would come of the request-if in fact it was a legitimate request at all.

  SCENE: JUNGLE

  The journey from the airport into the countryside is tedious. The infrastructure is clearly subpar at best and the constant chiming of sombre updates in the walkie talkie transmission has the effect of heightening their paranoia. The further they drive the denser the jungle becomes.

  One of the suited security men points out an interesting sight scattered amongst the rising terrain. Hidden behind a corrugated iron fence and blurred by hazy strands of mist they catch a glimpse of a small settlement. It is a remote commune of sorts in the midst of a jungle clearing.

  SECURITY MAN (laughing)

  'The Smithsonian'.

  AVA

  'The what'?

  SECURITY MAN

  'That's what they call it-The Smithsonian. Americans. From California originally. Many of them. They have not been seen in many days. They were very frightened of the end of the world'.

  Luke scrambles to try and catch any sign of life from the eerie community.

  SECURITY MAN

  'It's like magic; one minute they were here and then the very next they have disappeared'.