The Countdown

SCENE opens on an 19-year-old girl, Nora, lying on the floor of an empty cell. She is wearing 'weekend' clothes: a tank top and skirt. From her perspective, we hear the voice of a man telling her to get up. As she comes to her senses, she opens her eyes and, through her POV, sees a man, Alan, clearly older than her, mid 30s, dressed in boring business clothes (math teacher). 'Are you okay?' He asks. She screams and tries to get away from him. The man also gets frightened and moves away in his corner. 'I don't want to hurt you, I'm in here like you!' The girl lets out a gasp and looks around the cell, nervously pacing. 'It's no use,' says Alan, nervously. 'I've tried.' 'Where are we?' asks Nora. 'I don't know! I think we might have been... taken!' While screaming and kicking, Nora notices a security camera in the corner of the cell, near the ceiling. She screams at it 'LET US OUT!' Alan, still in shock his corner of the cell, says 'I've been here almost a full day, they haven't said anything. I think they brought you in when I was snoozing.' Nora sits down, her head in her hands. 'What do they want from us?' Alan responds 'I don't know... all I know is that we are being watched .... and... there is...that!' He points to the '4th wall.' From the POV of the wall, Nora gets up and slowly walks towards the camera. A reverse shot reveals a big digital clock reading '23:55:04' and counting down. CUT TO TITLE PLATE CU of the clock: 19:59:39 and counting down. Under the clock are 5 unlit led lights. Nora is in a ball in a corner of the cell, rubbing her arms to be warmer. Alan is in the other corner resting. As she shivers harder and harder, Alan gets up. 'It's almost been 2 days, look at you ... you are shivering! I told you I am not going to hurt you. Come and sit next to me, I'll warm you up.' 'No thank you' she replies. Alan gets up and removes his dress shirt, leaving him in an undershirt. He walks towards Nora 'At least take this, I can't stand to see you like this!' She is clearly hesitant, but lets the man come closer. As he puts his shirt around her shoulder, he kneels and says 'here, at least you won't freeze!' He puts his hand on her folded leg. As soon as their skin touches, all lights shut down, and a mechanical sound is heard. When the lights come back on, two blankets and a whole chicken are on the ground. At first, both fear the noise, but then see the blankets and food. They both jump on it. They wrap themselves in the blankets and start eating like starved animals each in their corners. The camera slowly pans towards the countdown on the wall. 19:57:22. Smash cut to the bare chicken bones on the ground. We can hear their bellies grumbling. Both detainees are sitting in their corners. Nora speaks 'So... do you think at the end of this countdown they will let us go?' As she points to the clock, it now shows 37:13:45. 'I don't know,' says Alan, rubbing his wedding ring. 'I'm... I'm Nora by the way.' 'Alan.' A silent moment. Nora adds ' And... what were you doing before... you know.' 'I was going home from class... I... I teach math at Northwestern, and I'. Before he finishes, Nora cuts him 'I used to go there.' She tells him how she used to attend College to become a lawyer but dropped out when she turned 19 because she wanted to become a painter. He tells her how he was in a promising band in College but was pressured into taking a real job by his girlfriend of the time. They share a look that says, 'We are different but we are the same', followed by an awkward moment. 'Good night Alan' she says, before turning away in the blanket. 18:29:56 Nora is pacing the room as Alan is sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth rubbing his wedding ring. 'My wife must be worried sick.' 'You are married?' 'Yes, almost 10 years now. And now she must be alone, pregnant and scared.' 'Pregnant?' Nora asks. Alan starts crying. He explains how his girlfriend from college pressured him into taking a job because she was pregnant back then. They got married and then had the baby who then passed away. They didn't think they could have another one, the pain was too much. 'But then Maria got pregnant again... that was 6 months ago.' He sobs. Nora slowly walks toward him. 'Hey ... don't worry, I'm sure we'll get out'. She reaches her arm towards his shoulder. As soon as they touch, the lights go pitch black and, a moment later, pillows appear. They tense up and stare at them. Alan gets up, wiping the tears off his face. 'Wait a second...' He suddenly grabs her arm. The lights go out again, and candies appear. 'I get it,' says Alan, terrified, 'when I gave you my shirt, and just then my shoulder and now your arm... they want us to touch each other!' Puzzled, Nora puts a hand on Alan's chest, over his undershirt. Nothing happens. Alan moves her hand slowly to his exposed skin, the lights go black and more candies appear. CU on the security camera zooming in. They both look at each other. Alan is the first one to understand and takes a step back and says, 'Oh my god' as he grabs his face. Nora goes 'What? Now we know how to get food!' 'Don't you get it Nora...They are watching us... they reward us when we touch skin on skin. This is some twisted pervert!' (trailer moment). Nora stares at him. Then she looks at the clock. Then looks at the security camera, she walks towards it. She takes off her tank top revealing her breasts. A green light flashes, and the clocks beeps fast-forwarding to 09:59:59. Alan in horror tries to look away muttering 'what are you doing?'. She pulls down her skirt and panties. The green light flashes, and the clocks beeps fast-forwarding to 00:04:59:59. Her attitude suddenly changed, she is now more aggressive. She turns toward Alan and goes to him. 'Get naked Alan, that's what they want!' She tries to pull him up. He struggles to not look at her. 'Come on, you pussy, we're not at church! We can get the fuck out of here if we give them what they want! Strip!' Alan collects himself. 'All right... all right'. He takes off his undershirt and pants. The green light flashes, and the clocks beeps fastforwarding to 00:59:59 and counting down. As Alan finishes taking off his socks, Nora screams 'Ok! Now what!? You sick fucks!' When Alan is done, one of the five led lights under the clocks lights up. They stare at it for a beat. Nora turns to Alan 'You need to fuck me!' Alan stares back in silence. 'You were right Alan, this is a fucked up little circus we've been put into. I bet you they want us to fuck before the clock hits zero.' Alan stutters 'But I ... My wife... I just...' Nora pins him against the wall, 'Look, it's this or we are both gonna be in here for ever or until we starve. I know you are a good man, but I want to get out of here, I know you do too! Do it FOR your wife, do it FOR your own!' Nora points at the security camera as she says ' Tell them! Tell them you will fuck me!' Alan takes a moment, then says 'Ill... I'll do it. I'll fucking do it!'. Nora drops to her knees and start blowing him. After a minute or so, a second led light lights up under the clock. Alan says: 'It's working!' They descend in BG sex scene where Nora dominates and yells at the security camera 'You like what you see?' etc... As they change position, the led lights turn on one after the other leaving only one off. Alan's attitude gradually changes as he his pumped by Nora's yelling. As Alan is stroking his dick before cumming onto Nora's face, they both say the each other 'It's almost over, we're getting out! Almost there' and then to the camera 'That's what you wanted you twisted perverts?' He cums on her face. They take a beat looking into each other's eyes, proud of themselves. Alan is then struck by what he just did and stumbles backward. Nora then turns to the clock, now reading 00:00:20 and still counting down, with one led still off. 'It didn't work' says Nora. 'It's still counting down!' Alan comes near her. They both are now hysterical, yelling 'Wait, we'll do it again, please, no let us g..!'. Their voices are cut off over the image of the clock going to 00:00:00. Credits over total silence.