City of Eden

 THE CITY OF EDEN
“Chapter One: Rebirth”

PAGE ONE (four panels)
Panel 1: Establishing shot: A MAN in his 30s is lying in dirt on his back, wearing no clothing. His body from head to toe is covered in dust and looks like he hasn’t washed for years. He appears to be at the bottom of a rather large pit. Nothing is around him except dirt and the glow of the sun rising in the East.
MAN: WHERE AM I?
Panel 2: Close on the man’s upper body. He tries to rise, but can’t as though he hasn’t used his legs in years. He looks around and begins to notice his surroundings.
MAN (thought): I DON’T KNOW THIS PLACE.
Panel 3: Beside the first panel. Close on the man’s hands upright in front of him. There is a faded tattoo on his left wrist of three vertical lines, the first the shortest, then the tallest and the second tallest all encompassed in a circle.
MAN (still in his head): I DO NOT KNOW THESE HANDS.
Panel 4: Takes up the rest of the page. Long shot on the man as he hangs his head.
MAN (whispering): WHO AM I?
PAGE TWO (four panels)
Panel 1: TWO MEN, one black named DAVE strong build in his 30s and one white named XAVIER, a handsome, but rugged man in his late 20s carry a third MAN down a dimly lit hallway with dirt walls. The man they are carrying is hanging his head and appears unconscious and injured.
Panel 2: They enter a separate room. It is small also with dirt walls. A cot sits in the middle.
Panel 3: As they are laying down the unconscious man on the cot A GIRL named ALEXIS small and attractive in her 20s runs into the room. Something is very wrong. Dave is at the injured man’s head and Xavier across from him and giving orders.
1 ALEXIS: WHERE’S JAKE?
2 XAVIER (ignoring): WATCH HIS HEAD. WATCH HIS HEAD.
3 ALEXIS: WHERE’S JAKE?
4 XAVIER: (to Dave): HAND ME THAT TOWEL.
Panel 4: Similar to panel 3. Xavier is pressing a towel against a huge wound on the man’s side. Alexis hovers over top him, fear in her face.
ALEXIS (yelling): XAVIER!
PAGE THREE (four panels)
Panel 1: Xavier stands up and walks over to where Alexis stands. He shows no signs of sympathy only pure brute anger.
1 XAVIER: HE’S NOT HERE ALRIGHT… HE’S GONE. THEY’VE TAKEN HIM AND YOU KNOW HE’S NOT COMING BACK…
2 XAVIER (quieter): ATHIESTS NEVER COME BACK.
Panel 2: Zoom out Dave stands over top the man who has just died.
DAVE: ALEXIS, TELL DARREL THAT WE’VE RETURNED.
Panel 3: Alexis leaves the room as Dave and Xavier exchange solemn looks.
PAGE FOUR (four panels)
Panel 1: Shot from behind Xavier very close to his shoulder. Xavier is barely in frame. He is at a door to a different, slightly larger room. Inside we see an older MAN named DARREL standing in front of a desk, with his back turned toward the door and Xavier. He does not turn around.
DARREL: COME IN X.
Panel 2: Xavier is now in the room, barely across the doors threshold. Medium shot from in front of Darrel who still hasn’t turned around. We can now see that his eyes are closed and he is clearly in some sort of emotional pain. He has brown hair streaked with lines of grey and is in his mid-50s. Xavier is in view behind him.
XAVIER: WE MANAGED TO GET SOME RADIATORS AND—
DARREL: GET READY. YOU’RE GOING BACK OUT IN 10.
Panel 3: Close up on Xavier. His face is in complete shock. He obviously does not want to go back out. We can see some small visible scars on his face.
XAVIER: WE WERE JUST OUT THERE!
Panel 4: Medium shot on Darrel who has now turned around to face Xavier. He has run out of patience. His face is very stern and very serious. Behind him is his desk made of Oak or something similar. It is very clean and organized unlike the dirt-walled office it is in.
DARREL: WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF CORES AND FAST, IF WE DON’T GET MORE WE’RE GOING TO BE DARK. IF THE BELIEVERS FIND OUT OUR SYSTEMS ARE DOWN, THEY WILL WALK PAST OUR DEFENSES AND WIPE US OUT LIKE SOME INSECT INFESTATION.
PAGE FIVE (four panels)
Panel 1: Medium shot on Xavier and Darrel. They are more or less in the same position.
1 XAVIER: NO ONE HAS EVER FOUND US BEFORE.
2 DARREL: OUR TRIP WIRES HAVE BEEN DETECTING MORE ACTIVITY IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS. WITH THE SYSTEMS DOWN WE’LL NEVER SEE THEM COMING. WE WOULD HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER PLACE TO HIDE… IF THERE ARE ANY OF US LEFT.
Panel 2: Similar shot to panel 1 except Darrel has now gone over to his desk to sit behind it. He does not make eye contact with Xavier, but is looking down at some papers on his desk.
XAVIER: DARREL WE LOST JAKE…YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE OUT THERE.
Panel 3: Medium shot on Darrel as he stands up in a rage. He looks as though he may lunge forward at Xavier.
DARREL: YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THE CITY OF EDEN! IF WE DON’T GET MORE ENERGY CORES THERE WILL BE NO MORE ATHEISTS. GATHER YOUR TEAM IN THE MUD HALL.
Panel 4: Medium shot from beside Darrel. Xavier has turned and is exiting the room.
XAVIER (whisper): THIS WHOLE DAMN PLACE IS A MUD HALL…
PAGE SIX (two panels)
Panel 1: Long shot on the unknown man from the first page. He is wearing very raggedy shorts. Behind him is a cliff that drops off. We can assume that this is the pit that he was in and has just climbed out. It is now dawn.
Panel 2: The man’s POV. In front of him is the ruined City of Eden. This is the first time we see the city. It should appear very large, but very broken. Everything about it screams post-apocalyptic except for three tall, pearl white towers in the distance. The man is holding his hand up in front of his face fist clenched. We see his tattoo on his wrist and the towers in the background, the first one the shortest, then the tallest, then the second tallest.
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1: Medium-long shot. Alexis leans on a wall with her arms crossed, eyes closed and head bowed. She is in a large, tall, dark room similar to a lobby with several doors and openings in the distance. Around her along the walls are extraordinary brass and marble carvings, most of them half destroyed. The room opens up to a once used fountain that has since stopped flowing and a golden statue of half a man, ending just above his abdomen. Dave walks down the hall to where Alexis is standing.
Panel 2: Medium shot on Dave standing beside Alexis.
DAVE: HE’LL BE ALRIGHT YOU KNOW. JAKE’S A TOUGH KID.
ALEXIS: AN ATHEIST CAN’T LAST A SECOND OUT THERE. IF A MERCENARY FINDS HIM, THEY WILL KILL HIM.
DAVE: THEY’RE GOING BACK OUT YOU KNOW.
Panel 3: Similar shot to panel 2 except Alexis has looked up in shock and stares at Dave’s face. Dave has reached out a hand and placed it on Alexis’ shoulder.
ALEXIS: WHAT! THAT’S SUICIDE!
DAVE: THEY’RE GOING TO BRING HIM BACK. DON’T WORRY.
Panel 4: Shot from behind Dave as Alexis is walking away.
Panel 5: Directly beside panel 4 and the exact same size. Close up on Dave’s face. By his facial expression we should assume that he is lying or at least very worried that he is wrong.
PAGE EIGHT (five panels)
Panel 1: Long shot. Dave walks into the mud hall. It is exactly what it sounds like, a large room with dark dirt walls. There are a few lockers along the walls and benches in the middle. We can see a door at the end of the room: the exit out toward the City of Eden. Xavier, MAC, and CAZ are strapping various garments and equipment to their body. Mac and Caz are similar age to Xavier and both fit. Mac has blonde, almost white hair and is very tall. Caz is shorter and has black hair.
Panel 2: We can see Mac and Caz in the background getting ready as Dave approaches Xavier in the foreground. They are far enough away from Mac and Caz to be out of earshot.
DAVE: YOU HAVE TO BRING BACK JAKE.
XAVIER: JAKE’S GONE DAVE. WE’RE NOT GOING INTO THE CITY. WE’RE JUST LOOKING FOR CORES. NO ONE CAN SURVIVE OUT THERE AT NIGHT, IF THE MERCENARIES SEE HIM THEY WILL KILL HIM.
Panel 3: Extreme close up on Xavier’s mouth. He is smirking.
XAVIER: THAT IS IF THE CRAWLERS DON’T GET TO HIM FIRST…
Panel 4: Medium shot on Xavier and Dave. Xavier is still smirking.
1 DAVE: CRAWLERS AREN’T REAL. IT’S JUST A BEDTIME STORY TO SCARE KIDS OUT OF GOING OUT AT NIGHT.
2 XAVIER: DID YOU SEE HOW WE FOUND GEOFF? NO ONE MAN IS CAPABLE OF THAT.
3 DAVE: WELL IT WASN’T CRAWLERS. BELIVERS ARE OUR ENEMIES XAVIER.
4 XAVIER: OKAY DAVE.
Panel 5: Long shot behind Dave as Xavier is walking away.
1 DAVE: IT WASN’T!
2 DAVE: X?
PAGE NINE (three panels)
Panel 1: Extreme long shot. We are back at the open pit from the beginning. The shot is from outside the pit and we can see that it is about 50 feet deep and about 200 feet wide. Two MEN are standing in the middle of the pit.
MAN: HE LAY THERE. DO YOU SEE THAT?
Panel 2: We are much closer now and can see the two men from head to foot. They are wearing suits and staring at the earth below their feet. Their names are KARL and KANE and look very similar, they could be brothers. Both men have short blonde hair and are wearing black sunglasses. There is nothing around it is just a giant empty pit.
KANE: YES. HE CAN’T BE FAR. SURVEY THE AREA.
Panel 3: Medium shot on Kane. Kane has crouched down to feel the dirt in front of him. Karl is in the distance searching the area.
1 KANE (to himself): IT’S HOT…
2 KARL (shouting): KANE! OVER HERE!
PAGE 10 (two panels)
Panel 1: Medium shot. Kane stands beside Karl. They are at the wall of the pit staring at something on the wall.
Panel 2: Close up. We see Kane and Karl from the front, from the POV of what they are staring at. We cannot see what that is.
KANE: I THINK WE FOUND HIS TRAIL.
PAGE 11 (six panels)
Panel 1: Long shot on the man from the beginning, from behind him. He is in the city now, walking down a rough road. There are houses on his left and right, none of them look fully stable. There are bricks and rubble scattered everywhere. In the distance are the three pearl towers. The sun is shining through some of the buildings as it begins to enter the sky.
Panel 2: Long shot from in front of the man. Same size panel just from the opposite view. Behind the man two MEN have turned the corner. They are MERCENARIES. One of them is looking down at the ground, he is ZAFF. The other looks straight ahead and notices the unknown man standing there. He is DANE. They both carry shotguns in holsters at their sides.
DANE: OI, ZAFF!
Panel 3: Medium shot on both of the mercenaries. Dane now has his shotgun raised and is pointing it at the unknown man. He has short brown hair that sticks up in different directions. Zaff stands beside him with a stupid smile on his face. Zaff has long stringy brown hair that looks as though it has never been washed. Both of the men wear very worn clothing that look much like old army uniforms.
1 ZAFF: LOOKS LIKE WE GOT OURSELVES A LOST ONE.
2 ZAFF (to the unknown man): LOST YA CLOTHES? OR YOU JUS’ OUT FOR AN EARLY MORNIN’ STREAK EH?
Panel 4: Long shot angle from beside the unknown man. We can see him standing there turned around to face them. The two mercenaries are visible in front of him. Dane has moved closer, shotgun pointed at his chest. Zaff stands between two broken buildings. Both mercenaries are smiling.
DANE: YOU KNOW YOU’RE QUITE LUCKY TO RUN IN TO US. MOST’D SHOOT YA, SHOWIN’ NO SIGIL OR NOTHIN’.
ZAFF: ABANDON YOUR PEOPLE HAVE YA?
Panel 5: Extreme close up on Zaff smiling stupidly.
ZAFF: SHOOT HIM.
Panel 6: Close up on Dane. He has raised his shotgun up to his eye level to aim at the unknown man.
PAGE 12 (five panels)
Panel 1: Action shot. Close up on Dane. An arrow has pierced his left arm in the bicep. His shotgun is in his left hand and now points out toward the sky. A blast has just left it. BOOM. Gun flash fills the upper left corner of the panel. His face shows extreme agony. ARRRGH.
Panel 2: Medium shot on Zaff as he reaches for his shotgun in his side holster on his right. The shotgun is half out of the sheath. A HOODED MAN has leaped out of the broken building to his right and holds a long curved knife up to his throat. The hooded man’s face is not visible except for his teeth.
HOODED MAN: I WOULDN’T DO THAT IF I WERE YOU.
Panel 3: Long shot. Everyone should be visible in this shot. TWO MEN have walked out of the dark building on the mercenaries left. The FIRST MAN has his bow drawn with a fresh arrow pointing it at Dane whose shotgun now lies on the floor. The SECOND MAN has moved toward Dane. Both men also wear hooded cloaks. The hooded man from the last panel is Mac stands beside Zaff, with his knife to his throat. The unknown man stands frozen watching.
SECOND MAN: LOOK MAC. COUPLE OF MERCENARIES OUT PATROLLING, MAKING EDEN A NICER PLACE TO LIVE.
MAC: NEVER BEEN TOO FOND OF BELIVERS MYSLEF.
Panel 4: Medium shot on the second man as he stands facing Dane. His hood is now off revealing himself to be Xavier.
XAVIER (staring into Dane’s eyes): TIE THEM IN THE HOUSE. TAKE ANY WEAPONS AND SUPPLIES THEY HAVE… AND LEAVE THEM.
Panel 5: Long shot on Xavier and Dane and the first man, whose hood is now off revealing him to be Caz. Caz stands beside the unknown man making sure he doesn’t run off.
CAZ: LEAVE THEM? THEY SHOULD BE KILLED! IT’S WHAT THEY DESERVE.
XAVIER: I SAID LEAVE THEM.
Panel 5: Long shot on Xavier as he walks away from Dane and toward the unknown man. Caz, Dane, Mac and Zaff all watch Xavier.
XAVIER: AND TAKE HIM.
PAGE 13 (five panels)
Panel 1: Long shot on the exact same place we were except now everyone is gone. Kane and Karl stand in the street looking around.
Panel 2: Medium shot from behind Karl as he enters the broken house. In front of him are Zaff and Dane tied up, unconscious with heads hanging. From Dane’s neck hangs a steel chain.
Panel 3: Close up on Kane who crouches in front of Dane. Kane is studying the chain around Dane’s neck in his hand. The pendant is a straight vertical line with a horizontal Diamond shape in the middle.
KANE: SECT OF LARSI. YOU PRAISE THE 40 LORDS, RULERS OF WARFARE AND CREATORS OF WEAPONRY.
Panel 4: Medium shot on the four men. Kane and Karl are now standing. Zaff has woken up and looks up at Karl.
ZAFF: YOU’RE G-GOVENORS…
KANE: WHO DID THIS TO YOU?
ZAFF: IT WAS ATHEISTS.TH-THREE OF THEM. THEY HAVE A DESTERTER WITH EM.
KANE: KILL THEM.
Panel 5: Low angle on Karl who holds a handgun toward the camera. BANG!
PAGE 14 (three panels)
Panel 1: Long shot from in front. Xavier walks beside the unknown man. Beside him is Mac holding onto his arm in case he decides to run. Caz is visible behind them following. They are still walking through the city, but in a different part. It is in more shambles and narrow roads
providing more cover than where they ran into the mercenaries. Xavier is looking over at the unknown man.
XAVIER: SO. DECIDED THE HOLY LIFE ISNT QUITE FOR YOU?
XAVIER: IT IS VERY FOOLISH TO BE WALKING AROUND EDEN WITHOUT SIGIL. YOU’RE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE.
Panel 2: Medium shot. They have stopped walking Xavier has turned to face the unknown man.
XAVIER: WHAT RELIGION DID YOU SAY YOU LEFT? MAYBE WE SHOULD KILL YOU RIGHT NOW.
UNKNOWN MAN: I DIDN’T.
Panel 3: Same shot as panel two except now Mac is smiling brightly
XAVIER: HE SPEAKS!
MAC: THAT RULES OUT THE VOICLESS VISIONARIES THEN.
CAZ (OP): X!
PAGE 15 (two panels)
Panel 1: Long shot on Caz from inside a building. Caz stands in an opening where part of the wall to the house is missing. His face is of pure horror. He holds in the opening afraid to move.
Panel 2: Xavier, Mac and the unknown man run toward Caz who is frozen outside the building.
PAGE 16 (one panel)
Panel 1: Inside the house a MAN is hanging from his right ankle by a rope connected to beams above him. He wears nothing but torn shorts. On his chest he bears a bloody symbol that looks like it was carved with a rough knife or sharp tool. The symbol is a horizontal line with three vertical lines shooting off it, the first the shortest then the tallest then the second tallest. Blood runs down the man’s entire body and a large pool of blood lies below the man’s head. He is dead.
PAGE 17 (two panels)
Panel 1: Medium shot on Xavier Mac and Caz. They are now inside the house and all stare at the body everyone is in shock and disgust.
MAC: NO!
XAVIER (whisper): JAKE…
Panel 2: Back on JAKE’S mangled body. Behind him out of the shadows appear Kane and Karl.
KANE: YOU HAVE SOMEONE WHO BELONGS TO US.
KANE: MUCH UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE, WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR HEATHEN MORALS. GIVE HIM UP AND YOUR LIVES WILL BE SPARED.
PAGE 18 (three panels)
Panel 1: Long shot from the side. Kane and Karl are visible just in front of Jake’s body. Xavier, Caz and Mac should be visible on the right side of the panel. They are all facing each other. The tension should be very high. Xavier should be particularly angry.
XAVIER: DO YOU THINK WE KNOW NOTHING? I KNOW YOUR RELIGION. YOU WORSHIP THE OLD GODS. YOU WAIT FOR THE DAY THEY COME DOWN TO RESTORE EDEN TO ITS FORMER GLORY. YOU WISH TO LIVE AMONG THEM. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT SLAVES.
XAVIER: HOW WOULD THEY FEEL IF YOU LET ATHEISTS GO?
Panel 2: Long shot on Caz as he pulls out his bow. He reaches for an arrow but his hand is shot by one of the Governors.
Panel 3: Long shot on Mac. Mac pulls out his knife and lunges forward toward Kane.
PAGE 19 (four panels)
Panel 1: Long shot on Kane as he throws Mac to the side of the building.
Panel 2: Long shot on Mac. He is under a pile of rubble and not moving.
Panel 3: Long shot from behind Caz and Xavier. Caz kneels on the ground clutching his injured hand, Xavier puts his hands in the air.
PAGE 20 (four panels)
Panel 1: Long shot of Kane and Karl holding their guns outward
Panel 2: A blast from nowhere fires in their direction and they are flown to the back of the building. The blast fills the air with heat and light.
Panel 3: Same shot except now slightly behind Caz and Xavier. Only blood lies where Kane and Karl once were as though they have exploded.
Panel 4: Xavier and Caz turn around to look in the direction that the blast had come from with looks of disbelief on their faces.
PAGE 21 (four panels)
Panel 1: The unknown man stands with his head bowed and arms stretched out in front of him. It is clear where the blast came from. Him.
Panel 2: The unknown man falls to the ground unconscious.
Panel 3: Caz and Xavier stand around him. His arm outstretched. If you look close enough you can see the symbol on his wrist.
Panel 4: Close up on Xavier’s foot beside the unknown man’s wrist.
End of Issue 1