Our Town of the Dead [Act III]

[...Posted by Ted H]

Holy fucking shit, it's done!

All in all, if you knew what comprised the original version of this travesty, then you would agree that this version is way better. I'm a bit on the fence over it to be honest. The original had a constant theme of chaotic stupid to it that made it a cute diversion to the seriousness of the original. This remake retained some of that original humor but I forced more drama into it to make a better overall product. At times the theme is bipolar and it suffers. Then theres my attempt at romance towards the end....

A few more things I wanna say about the play Ill hold off on since it requires a bit of spoiling. Next week maybe? Until then, please enjoy the fruits of an almost year long labor...

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[Our Town of the Dead]

Act III

At the far left of the stage are a row of chairs. No one enters to accompany them. The STAGE MANAGER takes his usual place in the middle of the stage.

STAGE MANAGER:
Oddly enough, this is the safest place in all of Grover’s Corners, the cemetery. Of the dead that stayed behind, few if any are left now. While some of the living deemed it necessary to abandon Grover’s Corners, others felt the need to fight. Valiantly they fought, in vain, but it showed the resiliency of some who refused to resign to the fate of an undead takeover. The pushback was over almost as quickly as it began, but the survivors weren’t ready to surrender their home. So while George and company try to escape, others have different plans.

Enter DOC GIBBS.

Take Doc Gibbs for instance. Sure he could escape, but he felt it more important to understand what exactly happened. Not an advisable idea, but given how we last left George, it seems father Gibbs chose right, at least for now.

DOC GIBBS:
Now I know that lab was around here somewhere.

Enter a CRAWLING ZOMBIE as it moves across the floor and grabs DOC GIBBS’ leg.

CRAWLING ZOMBIE:
I just knew a fresh meal would find its way up here eventually!

DOC GIBBS:
What the fuck is this shit? I don’t get a named zombie? Just a faceless throwaway?

CRAWLING ZOMBIE:
Hey buddy, we’re fresh out of named people to toss into this play.

DOC GIBBS:
Well what about Joe Stoddard? His corpse hasn’t shown up yet.

The STAGE MANAGER tosses his script into the air and storms off stage.

STAGE MANAGER: *off stage*
Does anyone fucking read the script?

Enter JOE STODDARD running up to DOC GIBBS with a shovel and slams it onto the CRAWLING ZOMBIEs head.

JOE STODDARD:
Doc Gibbs? What the hell are you doing here of all places?

DOC GIBBS:
I’m looking for that laboratory that Willard and his friend had been using. I just know that whatever’s inside is the cause of all this.

JOE STODDARD:
You mean Birkin? I know the lab. Follow me. I’ve managed to kill off most of the stragglers up here but the occasional one pops up from time to time.

DOC GIBBS:
Lead the way, Joe.

Exit JOE STODDARD and DOC GIBBS. Enter the STAGE MANAGER.

STAGE MANAGER:
I believe we’ve let you folks dangle long enough over the fate of George Gibbs and the rest of his party.

Enter GEORGE GIBBS and JOE CROWELL sprinting over and closing an imaginary door behind them.

GEORGE:
Help me block the door!

JOE:
What good will that do? Soda shop has mostly windows. If anything, you want to block out only exit! Just lock it for now!

GEORGE:
Alright, done. We can’t rest here long, those things will break through any minute now.

JOE:
At least I can catch my breath. How you doing on ammo?

GEORGE:
Not much left. You?

JOE:
Empty like your sisters head. Where is she, anyway?

GEORGE:
We all got separated. I don’t know when we lost her or Mr Webb but I wouldn’t hold out hope.

JOE:
You’re a real optimist, you know that George?

GEORGE:
Yeah well you’re not exactly the person I’d like to die with.

JOE:
I still blame you for all this.

GEORGE:
If I was somehow behind this, why would the undead want me dead too?

JOE:
They wanted you alive, same with Webb.

GEORGE:
Still, why would I try and keep you alive then?

JOE:
So why are you back, then?

GEORGE:
I…got a letter. Someone urged me to return, just for one day. I told them when I’d have a chance to come up and here we are.

JOE:
I still call shenanigans.

Both men pause to hear REBECCA GIBBS screaming off stage.

GEORGE:
Rebecca? She’s still alive!

JOE:
A lot of good that does us. Unless you got a plan, then we’re still stuck with no gas and no clue.

GEORGE GIBBS stays silent a moment before slowly standing up and handing JOE CROWELL the shotgun.

GEORGE:
I’ll distract them. Get to Rebecca, get the gas, and get the hell out of here.

JOE:
What’s your angle, farm boy?

GEORGE:
You said it yourself, they want me alive. I won’t be able to distract all of them, but hopefully enough will be preoccupied so you can sneak out the side.

JOE:
You plan on surviving, or am I leaving without you?

GEORGE:
I think you’re right. Me being here right now probably isn’t a coincidence, but I need to make sure. And if I’m right, then I doubt I’ll be leaving. Don’t wait for me, but make sure you leave with my father.

JOE:
Let’s get this done then.

JOE CROWELL exits while GEORGE GIBBS opens the imaginary door.

GEORGE:
I surrender. I’ll go, quietly.

GEORGE GIBBS exits.

STAGE MANAGER:
Well, things are certainly grim for Gibbs, and it would defiantly be a dick move to change the scene on you folks, but that’s just what I’m doing. Time to check in with the doctor, who is just now arriving at the laboratory we alluded to earlier.

Enter DOC GIBBS and JOE STODDARD.

DOC GIBBS:
This can’t be it, Joe.

JOE STODDARD:
Afraid so, Doc. You’re standing in ground zero, after a fire destroyed the place of coarse.

DOC GIBBS:
They started a fire before they invaded?

BIRKIN: (Off stage)
No. Not exactly.

BIRKIN enters.

BIRKIN:
Doctor Gibbs I presume? We never did have the pleasure of meeting in person before did we? I’m afraid to say that this entire mess has been of my own doing. I assure you I am making amends but I doubt you will agree with the methods I will take.

DOC GIBBS:
What happened here, Birkin? What do you mean this is your doing?

JOE STODDARD:
I think it best if you start from the beginning.

BIRKIN:
Right, well, picture in your mind if you will, Doctor Gibbs, a world where death was nothing more than an inconvenience. The brain is such an interesting specimen, and reanimation of the brain seemed like the ultimate goal. You see our brains are capable of functioning without the rest of the body even being alive, it just takes a little ingenuity to make it work.

DOC GIBBS:
To even attempt such a task…It’s…it’s horrific.

BIRKIN:
Yes, well, let it never be said I wasn’t a trailblazer. There was, however, one small roadblock in my theories; If the brain could self reanimate, then there wouldn’t be an issue. I needed a way to artificially reanimate the brain, then find a way to synthesize that reanimation method.

DOC GIBBS:
You needed a subject zero, didn’t you?

BIRKIN:
More or less. The subject was chosen by Willard, claimed that the entire town adored her in life. I didn’t mind. We brought the girl back after months of strenuous attempts, taking great care to never damage the brain more than we needed to. From there we found that her entire body excreted something that was not present before. That was the base of the synthesized reanimation chemical.

DOC GIBBS:
So you…You actually managed to cure death?

BIRKIN:
It wasn’t perfect. Nine out of ten test subjects failed to even show the slightest reanimation in the brain after injection. The others showed limited brain activity and almost no external awareness. Our zero however, she was fully aware and active. Bodily functions beyond the brain were nonexistent so no, I do not believe we cured death, merely gave it pause.

DOC GIBBS:
But how did things go from resurrecting one person to the destruction of Grovers Corners?

BIRKIN:
I…I shouldn’t have let Willard choose her…Of the subjects we were able to revive, they all showed a strong allegiance to Zero. As for Zero herself, as time wore on, the potency of the reanimation base she gave us increased, allowing more and more revivals giving her an ever increasing army right under my nose. I was too caught up in my work to notice her longing to truly live again. She wanted to stop the world where it was, keep everyone living in the current moment to “appreciate it more” as she put it. Then one day I wake up to find a group of the reanimated attacking Willard. I escaped, but Willard was done in. Then I find he reanimated as well and helped to raise damn near the entire cemetery.

DOC GIBBS:
There has to be a way to stop this. Grover’s Corners can’t contain them forever.

BIRKIN:
It can and it will. I set fire to the lab hoping it would end this invasion before it began but now I feel more drastic measures are required.

JOE STODDARD:
There’s a damn up north. Birkin and I have it rigged to blow.

DOC GIBBS:
You’re going to flood the town?

BIRKIN:
I know for a fact that none of them can swim. The flood won’t get them all but Mr. Stoddard here is more than willing to stay behind and hunt down the remaining.

JOE STODDARD:
I ain’t got much else to fight for except the town.

DOC GIBBS:
But you can’t just do that! There are still survivors in the town. My children are down there! Maybe we can get word out and bring in the army or something. We can fight back and retake Grover’s Corners! It doesn’t have to end!

JOE STODDARD:
I thought the same thing Doc, but this is the only way to assure they don’t escape and spread out through the world. Grover’s Corners was a lost cause. At the very least we can assure it ends here.

BIRKIN:
Really though, I get the whole small town pride and all but what worth is Grover’s Corners in the grand scheme of things?

DOC GIBBS:
I know it isn’t much to someone like you. But for people like Joe and I and our families, it’s all we know.

BIRKIN:
And all you know is burning. And there is nothing to strive for. Look, I found it quaint when I first got here that you people had set up a time capsule in the bank, so I decided to crack it open to see what you felt was important enough about your town to preserve.

JOE STODDARD:
You…Wait, what?

BIRKIN:
And you know what I found? A couple papers, a bible, the constitution and a few plays. Nothing of the soul of this town. Your paper acknowledged its existence but the capsule contained no evidence you actually lived.

DOC GIBBS:
You obviously didn’t read the one play we put in there.

BIRKIN:
This town was dead long before I decided to resurrect anyone. Should anyone ever bother to return, and drain the lake I’m about to make of it, they can dig out your little capsule and judge for themselves. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to make the final preparations to ensure my mistake doesn’t kill anyone else.

BIRKIN exits. DOC GIBBS takes a step to follow, but decides against it.

DOC GIBBS:
I can’t believe he’s so casual about erasing Grover’s Corners.

JOE STODDARD:
I know it smells something sour, Doc, but there really isn’t any other choice at this point.

DOC GIBBS:
I refuse to believe there are no other options. There’s always another way.

JOE STODDARD:
You thinking we should follow him and do something?

DOC GIBBS:
I will. Joe, I need you to go back to the town and help my family escape. Down the road from my house should be a car. From there head strait to the center of town. At some point you should find them if they’re still alive. Please, I need you to help them escape, especially if Birkin destroys the damn.

JOE STODDARD:
No problem.

DOC GIBBS:
And tell them not to wait for me. Get out as soon as possible.

JOE STODDARD:
Ok, Doc, and good luck.

DOC GIBBS and JOE STODDARD exit to opposite ends of the stage.

STAGE MANAGER:
It appears that time may be running short for Grover’s Corner’s. Now would be as good a time as any to see what fate awaits George.

Enter GEORGE GIBBS being led in by SIMON STIMPSON and PROFESSOR WILLARD.

SIMON:
Well that turned out to be painless, right George?

GEORGE:
I told you I’d go quietly.

SIMON:
Right well, you would excuse us for not taking you at your word.

WILLARD:
That Crowell boy must still have the weapons.

SIMON:
It is, as always, no issue. If you feel the need to though Willard, join up with Warren and hunt down the remaining. All the people we needed alive are accounted for.

WILLARD:
Delightful.

Exit PROFESSOR WILLARD.

GEORGE:
What is all this for? Why take anyone alive?

SIMON:
It’s nothing I would do, but you and Webb were requested to still be breathing. If not for the fact that you came with company, that request would’ve been ignored entirely.

GEORGE:
Who would request anyone be captured alive? One of your kind?

MR WEBB: (off stage)
Closer than you may think, George.

Enter MR WEBB. He has a distinguishing bite mark on his neck and has clearly just been turned into a zombie.

GEORGE:
Mr Webb, no…I…

MR WEBB:
Oh George, it’s wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to all of this.

GEORGE:
What is this Simon? I though you wanted us alive?

SIMON STIMPSON says nothing as he turns and exits.

MR WEBB:
I’ve been told that Willard may be able to bring my Myrtle back. I’m going to go collect the rest of her. Oh, I can’t wait, we’re going to be a family again!

Exit MR WEBB.

GEORGE:
Mr Webb, wait!

GEORGE GIBBS begins to follow until he hears a noise behind him. He turns and stares silently as EMILY enters.

GEORGE:
No…

EMILY:
Hello George.

GEORGE:
You’re the one who wanted me alive, weren’t you?

EMILY:
I didn’t want any harm to come to you. Not until I had a chance to see you.

GEORGE:
You sent that letter. You brought me back here just in time for this outbreak. Why?

EMILY:
It was the only way. They said you’d left. Changed. When I returned, I couldn’t bare the idea of starting over like you did.

GEORGE:
I…I didn’t start over. I just walked away and never really moved on.

EMILY:
It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that we’re together again, and not even death can come between us. Oh George, the others said it would get easier being dead, but they were wrong. I couldn’t let go, I refused to let go.

GEORGE:
It just isn’t the same, Emily.

EMILY:
You living never could appreciate the little things. You don’t really notice them until you’re dead, but when you do, you’d do anything to get it all back.

GEORGE:
Emily, this isn’t right. The dead shouldn’t come back.

EMILY:
Grover’s Corners is ours again, George. We can have it the way it was all that time ago. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since I was taken from you.

GEORGE:
You’ve let this get out of hand, Emily. The others don’t just want to live like it’s 1899 again. They want to go beyond Grover’s Corners.

EMILY:
I didn’t…Yes, well, some of the newer dead didn’t share in my dream. I’ve managed to keep them contained to this point. Hopefully long enough for Birkin to think of something.

GEORGE:
What do you mean?

EMILY:
He always said he’d think of something if it got out of hand…

GEORGE:
A way of containing this?

EMILY:
It can’t be contained. Only destroyed.

GEORGE:
So now what?

EMILY:
I’m not sure, but I just wanted to see you just once before I was taken away again. Maybe convince you to join me.

GEORGE:
I don’t want to be one of those things.

EMILY:
I wont force you. My father chose to turn, but I’d never force anyone.

GEORGE:
How is this Birkin destroying the zombies?

EMILY:
I don’t know, but all I can do is give him time.

GEORGE:
Then what can we do right now?

EMILY:
Honestly? After all this time? I really would like to…just talk.

GEORGE:
(pauses) …I’d like that too.

STAGE MANAGER:
Time is running out for all our friends. Time to reveal the fate of Rebecca and Crowell.

GEORGE GIBBS and EMILY retreat to the back of the stage where the lights over them dim. Enter JOE CROWELL and REBECCA GIBBS.

JOE:
C’Mon! I cleared them out but more are coming and George didn’t leave me much ammo.

REBECCA:
I’m filling as fast as I can!

JOE:
How’d you even last this long?

REBECCA:
Mr. Webb distracted them long enough for me to hide at the station. I found an empty gas can but was found before I could fill it.

JOE:
Then you screamed and I came over and saved you. [to audience] Everyone caught up now?

REBECCA:
Almost full.

JOE:
It don’t have to be full.

REBECCA:
I’m not taking chances. It’s not a very big can anyway. Who knows how much George’s car needs.

JOE:
Fords, amirite?

REBECCA:
Ok. Full.

Enter WARREN and more ZOMBIES. JOE CROWELL fires into the approaching horde.

JOE:
Crap. All out.

WARREN:
Such a pity.

JOE:
You realized I hit cleanup on the baseball team right?

WARREN:
What?

JOE CROWELL swings the shotgun like a bat and hits WARREN in the head, breaking his neck. More ZOMBIES approach.

REBECCA:
Gonna try that a hundred more times?

JOE:
Fuck that shit. Let’s go!

REBECCA:
What about George?

JOE:
If he can’t catch up in time, then that’s his problem. Now MOVE!

Exit JOE CROWELL and REBECCA GIBBS tailed by ZOMBIES. Enter BIRKIN and DOC GIBBS. Lights return over GEORGE GIBBS and EMILY. STAGE MANAGER takes position in the center, checks his watch, nods and looks out at the audience.

STAGE MANAGER:
Well, it’s about that time. The final moments of Grover’s Corners. Birkin is up at the dam, ready to blow it and stop the undead from spreading beyond the town, while the catalyst to the outbreak spends what time she can with the man she loves before she has to send him away. Not many people understand the notion that there can never be enough time to spend with the ones we care about most. Whether death is a surprise or an appointment made in advance, no one is ever truly ready to let go. Some handle it differently than others. Some like George never recover from the sudden blow. And Doc Gibbs, even though he knows what must be done, still can’t bring himself to let go.

DOC GIBBS:
Birkin, stop! There has to be another way!

BIRKIN:
And people like you are precisely why things got so out of hand to begin with. You don’t have the guts to do what is necessary.

DOC GIBBS:
We can reach out for help! The government, the guard, other police forces!

BIRKIN:
By time a proper defense is mobilized, it might be too late. This is the only way to prevent a global outbreak.

DOC GIBBS:
People will wonder what happened here. They’ll come and investigate.

BIRKIN:
And they’ll find nothing of the horrors that transpired here.

DOC GIBBS:
What about you? What’s stopping you from trying again somewhere else?

BIRKIN:
There are lessons to learn here. I plan on erasing this mistake, but not forgetting it.

BIRKIN proceeds to arrange a fuse, ignoring DOC GIBBS.

EMILY:
It’s time to go, George.

GEORGE:
I…I don’t want to leave you again.

EMILY:
I’m sorry I was selfish and dragged you into this.

GEORGE:
There’s nothing to feel sorry about.

EMILY:
You’ll die if you stay.

GEORGE:
I died when you died, Emily. I’ll die again if I leave here. It makes no difference what happens. After you died, I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything else. Then you bring me back here, and any sane person would turn and run at the sight of the zombies, but I fought on. I fought on and helped who I could because of you. For the first time since you died I actually gave a shit about the people here. I can’t leave you again. I don’t even know how I would be able to leave anyway.

EMILY:
Then all there is to do now is wait.

GEORGE GIBBS walks over and holds EMILY.

GEORGE:
I love you. That’s why I came back.

EMILY:
I know you do. And it’s why I asked you to.

Lights go out over GEORGE GIBBS and EMILY.

BIRKIN:
So what will you be doing now that you’re free of this town.

DOC GIBBS:
I…I don’t know actually.

BIRKIN:
I could use a doctor like you. Help prevent things like this from every happening again.

DOC GIBBS:
I’m not that kind of doctor.

BIRKIN:
Neither was Willard, but he found his use. You would be infinitely more useful.

DOC GIBBSS:
You need an assistant or a moral compass?

BIRKIN:
A bit of both I guess. I won’t stop trying to solve the dilemmas of life and death, but perhaps you can help keep things…more containable.

DOC GIBBS:
Perhaps.

BIRKIN:
Then before we move on, let us do what needs to be done.

Lights go out on stage. An explosion sounds. The dam is destroyed and Grover’s Corners is wiped out under a tidal wave of water. Exit EMILY, GEORGE GIBBS, DOC GIBBS and Birkin. A single light illuminates the STAGE MANAGER.

STAGE MANAGER:
And thus passes away Grover’s Corners into memory. In a way, the town isn’t truly dead, not while it lives on with its surviving citizens. And there’s always the time capsule, should anyone ever find it, which chronicles the existence of a town in New Hampshire. A small town. A quiet town. Our town.

Enter JOE CROWELL, JOE STODDARD and REBECCA GIBBS.

STAGE MANAGER:
This is the end of Grover’s Corners, but not of the play. We’re now at a gas station, just beyond the Massachusetts border.

JOE STODDARD:
Excuse me, do you work here?

STAGE MANAGER: (as a gas station attendant)
Yes sir. Awfully late for folks to be out, don’t ’cha think? Need me to fill up your car?

JOE:
Yeah and do you have a phone I can use.

STAGE MANAGER:
Broken I’m afraid. You’re gonna have to hit up the next town.

JOE:
That’s alright.

STAGE MANAGER:
You folks alright? You all look a bit worse for wear.

REBECCA:
We’re fine, thank you.

STAGE MANAGER:
Where you folks from, anyway?

REBECCA:
Grover’s Corners.

STAGE MANAGER:
Never heard of it.

JOE:
Yeah, well, it existed.

The STAGE MANAGER proceeds to fill the gas tank and sends everyone on their way. Exit JOE CROWELL, JOE STODDARD and REBECCA.

STAGE MANAGER:
I believe this would be a good enough time to close our play. But what of our surviving heroes you ask? Well suffice to say no zombie managed to escape to infect others. Most were caught by the impromptu flood Birkin set, swept away before they could advance. The remaining were hunted down by Joe Stoddard. Spent his remaining days in the area surrounding the lost town, hunting and making damn sure nothing got infected. A lonely way to go, but a guy like that was married to his hometown, and not everyone can simply let go.

Joe Crowell ended up going his own way in life. Never did find himself a new home he could live with so he joined the army. Ended up fighting in the war. Did a good job, too. Hard to be scared of anything else when you survive the zombie apocalypse. Men around him rallied behind his bravery. He eventually died in the war though; tried cooking a grenade in the heat of a battle and bam, all that bravery for nothing.

Rebecca Gibbs hung around with Crowell for a while. Popped out a kid for him but it didn’t make it passed two years. After Joe left her, she tried telling others about Grover’s Corners, even tried bringing people to where the town used to be. No one believed her and she ended up in one of those mental facilities for her troubles. She died there. Didn’t matter how much medication and therapy she was given, she knew what she saw, and all it did was drive her mad.

Birkin and Doc Gibbs both managed to get to New York after the fall of Grover’s Corners. From there though, no one ever saw or heard of them again. Word was that Birkin was trying to play God again, but with the Doc with him it was never as serious a threat.

The STAGE MANAGER pulls out his watch to check the time and nods.

At this point most everything is dead at Grover’s Corners. Sure there were survivors from both sides, but nothing to write home about. The remains of Shorty Hawkins crawled into dry land, but he didn’t last long before Joe Stoddard tracked him down and took care of things. You know it’s funny. People, religions and the like strain and strain at the question of whether or not there is life after death. Some seem to think there is with no evidence, others refuse to believe for the very same reasons. It’s all personal I guess, and I doubt you kind folks came here for a philosophical discussion…

The STAGE MANAGER winds his watch.

Hmm…Eleven o’clock in Grover’s Corners, or what would have been Grover’s Corners. You get a good rest now, good night.

Lights dim.

THE END.