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The Werewolves of World War II Written by Aaron Berg Copyright © 2009 Aaron Berg Aaron Berg 314 N. Beaver #4 Flagstaff, AZ 86001 480.452.3666 gup.strong@gmail.com THE WEREWOLVES OF WORLD WAR TWO PART I The New Moon FADE IN: EXT. WOODS, DAY Rural England, 1939. The man who would become Sergeant John Westcroft is still just a man; walking a narrow path through the forest. He leaves the path, pushing through the brush. He comes to a clearing and removes his clothing, piling them near the center. He pisses in a circle, counterclockwise around the clothes. As he moves naked towards the woods, we follow and descend so as to watch him over his pile of clothes, which go from cloth to stone, becoming granite before our very eyes. As John Westcroft pushes back into the brush, he begins to hunch slightly. EXT. RURAL ENGLAND FARM, DAY A black Aston-Martin cruises to the farmhouse, then redirected towards Where John Westcroft lays fencepost. DRIVER Mister Westcroft? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes? DRIVER Sir, I'm here to-- JOHN WESTCROFT Look, I don't know what office You're with, but I've given you my answer. I'm not young enough to get sent off. DRIVER John, please, I'm not her to send you away to the safety camp. You're no pup. Look at you. You're a full grown man, and John, Your country needs you. Now John stops. He leans on the fence post he has just finished putting in the ground. We hear the faintest drone of planes in the background, coming from the west. JOHN WESTCROFT You want me to enlist? DRIVER Well, as a conscript the benefits are enormous. John, listen, if we just wait, if we won't decide to do something, then the decision will be made for us. JOHN WESTCROFT You remember learning about serfdom in history class? In primary? DRIVER John, that's a harsh-- As the conversation heats, the sound of the planes crescendo. JOHN WESTCROFT What the hell have they ever done to us? What have we ever done to them? We aren't Jewish. Hell, my family doesn't even know what a Jew is. What would we matter? DRIVER You don't get it do you? This psycho isn't going to stop until he owns the entire world. No treaties, no agreements, enslavement! JOHN WESTCROFT This is not my problem! It's not my family's problem! DRIVER John, England needs you! JOHN WESTCROFT What? A bunch of fat politicians, and a despondent king who cares nothing for his citizens? What, his highness on his way to, to help me post my fence here? We aren't moving, and I am damn sure not signing up to kill someone on behalf of my supposed masters! Good day, sir! DRIVER John, please-- JOHN WESTCROFT I said good day! The roar of the planes has hit it's climax, and the Luftwaffe deploy their payload. The bomb erupts on the farmhouse, killing everyone before they can scream. John stares. The valley, serene only moments ago, is alive with chaos, fire, smoke, and the resounding echo of detonation. INT. BLACK ASTON-MARTIN The engine, the wind, the rumble of the road they drive on. JOHN WESTCROFT I was just... Just saying you know how... how we'd never done anything to anyone... DRIVER John they don't care. They want the whole world ground under their boots. John is silent The remainder of the ride. He waves as the driver pulls away from a squat brown building. John enters and we cut to INT. RECRUITING OFFICE Where a strong jawed recruiting officer eyes him cool. JOHN WESTCROFT (slowly, lethal) Are you the man to talk to if one, say, possessed a burning desire to kill a fucking ton of nazis? The recruiting officer looks John up and down, and a broad grin spreads across his lined face. RECRUITING OFFICER Shit, son, I think you've come to the right place! We enter boot camp now with John. He excels at the physical, his endurance and stamina top notch. We see him on the rifle range, his marksmanship good, not phenomenal. He finishes gas mask training and walks towards the barracks with the other weary recruits. The sun sets on the training grounds, and we set with it, to arise at INT. BARRACKS The silent dark is split by an ear piercing whistle. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Up!! Up you maggots!! We will now see which one of you pasty sacks of afterbirth will fail me now!! We are having a surprise inspection right fucking now and you will all snap your sorry asses into gear this very second!! AH TEN CHUH!! The men line the barracks in their underwear at attention. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN (CONT'D) You will stand and be inspected! You will open your foot lockers in turn, and you will keep your mouths zipped tight! Is that understood? ALL IN UNISON (resounding) Hoo-Ra!! Enter Officer of the Secret Intelligence Service Raymond Sussex. We recognize him as the drive of the car that brought John here. He sniffs the air lightly. Drill Sergeant Durgan berates the recruits as he passes. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Sloppy. Wake up, arse! His highness' finest. What, Thompson, what is this, are you still wearing supper? Floor! Twenty up and down! Raymond's nose flares wild, hairs dancing on his neck. He makes the slightest gesture and catches Drill Sergeant Durgan's attention while he passes behind John Westcroft. Durgan berates his way up towards John and stops, eyeing coldly. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN (CONT'D) Foot locker! John hastily opens his locker and resumes attention. Durgan lifts, examines contents, gets right up in John's face. Very distant but very clear, a howl rings the woods beyond camp. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN (CONT'D) You are absolutely too fucking hairy, maggot. Fucking fire hazard. Pack your locker back up. You, you shitpile, let's see how you're going to embarrass the crown next. Right, right, open it up, you sheep fucker! What are you Irish? You smell Horrible. And on down the line as Raymond Sussex smiles a dire grin. He makes eye contact with John as he's closing the locker. INT. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN'S OFFICE The room is dim, and the atmosphere is starkly subdued compared to the loud, well lit barracks. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Well? RAYMOND SUSSEX (beat, tense) Do you know the organization I represent, Sergeant? DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Secret intelligence, Right? RAYMOND SUSSEX Right. So you understand how I can have some questions that I must ask, and not be able to give very many answers? DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Right, but what do you want with these green shits? I mean, you looking for a patsy or a, a test subject or something? RAYMOND SUSSEX Mmm. Would that I could say both and neither. I can't, however, even say that. The MI-6 wouldn't have it. Suffice to say I'm not changing anything or removing or adding any personnel or procedure. I do need to ask about that particular recruit. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN And you aren't going to tell me why? RAYMOND SUSSEX I thought I had made it quite clear that the details of my assignment are of the utmost confidentiality, sergeant. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN (beat, acquiescent) His name is Westcroft. You can find his service jacket down in records. He's an above average recruit. Right horse. Can run obstacles all day, that one. No bullseye, though. His marksmanship scores are less than impeccable. He sweats a little foul in his sleep. RAYMOND SUSSEX Anything else of note? DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Nothing comes to mind. RAYMOND SUSSEX (beat) Well, sergeant, thank you for your time. I suppose I'll find my way down to records. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN Yeah. You do that. Raymond stands and opens the door. He pauses. RAYMOND SUSSEX You understand that we are losing this war, don't you? (beat, no reply) I intend to do whatever it takes to make sure that we don't. We're on the same side here, Sergeant. The door closes gently. EXT. TRAINING GROUNDS, DAY The men train hard under hot sun. Drill Sergeant Durgan takes turn howling at various recruits. DRILL SERGEANT DURGAN The thing you miserable sops aren't pressing into your noggins is this; There is no more trench warfare. You are NOT EVER GOING TO SING CHRISTMAS CAROLS WITH THE NAZIS. Nazis don't even know what the fuck a Christmas Carol is, and would put a god damn bullet in your skull on December Twenty-Fifth just the same as December Twenty-Sixth, December Twenty-Seventh, fucking New Year's, God Dammit shitbag, get up over that thing!! Move your fat ass! The boys work, and work and work. John Westcroft is all hustle, all help, pushing and pulling, leading by example. We fade into graduation, crisp in dress uniform. We see Raymond Sussex in the crowd. Rise up into blue sky, And back down into the cold. EXT. CITY (NORWAY) WINTER, NIGHT (ROUGH DATE FEB. 2, 1941) Machine guns budda budda budda in the distance. A small company in frost covered green moves stalking down a narrow street. Boots stomp, buckles on bags clank, moves are surgical. PFC John Westcroft is on point; he holds up a fist and goes to one knee. LIEUTENANT CLIFT (crouched, whispering) You got a bead on him? JOHN WESTCROFT Got a swastika in a crosshair. We track down his barrel and see that he is being literal. LIEUTENANT CLIFT Go to work. John squeezes, grimaces, Squeezes again. The nazi on the business end of the rifle has just enough time to turn towards the sound of the first bullet as the second one splatters his head in a wet red butterfly spray. Lieutenant Clift is livid. LIEUTENANT CLIFT (CONT'D) (still whispering, pissed) God dammit, Westcroft, that shit would be funny if that weren't a man with a gun that wanted to kill me. Go hold up the end of the fuckin' line. JOHN WESTCROFT Sir. John looks down, dejected. He moves back as Lieutenant Clift points out a few buildings to another soldier. One of the men eyes John cruel on the way by. The wind howls and the snow races, and John spies the panzer a split second before the wall erupts, the men screaming. Most of them die instantly. John is thrown towards the tank, brick chunks and shards of wood embedding into him. Hearing what sounds like German infantry, he looks over his shoulder and sees no movement from his company, and turns in time for another panzer blast ripping the ground beneath him. Flying, smashing back to earth. Now he's pissed, bloody, and ragged. He charges toward the approaching Nazis and as he does, he begins to change. The first of the Nazis laughs and points a Luger, popping a round into the bloody thing that approaches, then another, noticing that the thing is getting bigger, and hair is sprouting from the altering muscle. The Nazi in front has broken into panic by the time John Westcroft, now an eight foot tall grinning man thing, tears his arm clean off. He bites damn near to the Nazi's bellybutton and spits the top half out, chomping into the freshly exposed viscera. Soft pink shreds drip from his maw as he curls his head and howls. He is a conglomeration, this man-wolf. He is neither particularly wolf, nor man. More akin to a three hundred pound dingo's lovechild with an eastern lowland gorilla. Huge clawed hands atop thick ropes of arms, powerful haunches, all of it densely matted with black hair, moving in a furry blur through helmets and swastika armbands, machine gun rounds sinking in and bleeding only for a brief second, rejecting and closing over. The beast that seconds ago was John Westcroft is slashing off whole legs, snapping heads and opening guts in wide gashes, exposing so much blood to air. The snarl in him is thunder as the panzer trains him with it's big gun. John leaps the thirty some feet to the tank, climbs under it and lifts. It almost gets off the ground, lifting for a split second, then slamming it back down. The motion jostles a fresh round loose from the big gun, recoiling the whole tank. The gorilla dog lifts again at the front of the tank, this time to no avail at all for his straining. Another of the Nazi infantry is firing on him. John the beast lunges, grabs him and swings him into the side of the tank like Lou Gehrig. Every bone in the body must have been turned into powder for how hard he hits the side of the tank. John flops the body over his shoulder, climbs the treads to the top of the panzer looks for what must be the access hatch, grabs it and yanks. PANZER DRIVER Mein Gott!! Der Affen-Jaghund! Nein! Nein! John, preternaturally fast, pokes the driver's blue eyes out with a clawed peace sign, a Three Stooges joke gone barbed. He stuffs the oozing infantryman into the tank, pulling pins on two grenades. He slams the hatch and holds it down, men shouting in German, crescendo and silenced. As the grenades explode inside, the windows flashing like contained lightning and then the tank billowing black smoke. John sees two men running and hops down from the tank. He gives chase, smashing them together, then bringing his hands together through the neck. The technique is crude and brutal, but terribly effective. He sniffs the still air. Satisfied, he walks down the alley, returning to his company. As he walks, his breathing slows and he gently shifts from a hulking black canine thing back into a man, his skin unmarked from the explosions and bullets. He is however, stark nude, and starting to become aware of it. He approaches a body of one of the men, rolls it over and sees it missing a face. Another he approaches until he sees that this one is not buried under the rubble, merely separated from the lower half of his body in a manner which, up against the pile there, looked like it was buried instead of absent. He hears a slight noise and immediately runs toward it. It is Lieutenant Clift, and there's a sucking chest wound that bubbles as he coughs. JOHN WESTCROFT Sir! Where's a radio, sir? LIEUTENANT CLIFT Wescroft? Are you fucking naked? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes, sir, I am sir, sorry about that. Listen, you need a medic right away and-- LIEUTENANT CLIFT You daft bitch. They've (coughs, shakes) They've taken my balls and my (ragged breath) My lung. Put a bullet in me. (beat) Do it before I lose my nerve. Lieutenant Clift Grabs feebly at the colt 1911 at his side, trying to bring it to bear. He fumbles it and we see it's black pearl handle glint in the gloom. LIEUTENANT CLIFT (CONT'D) Come on you fucking pussy!! Gimme a hot one, right through the noggin' here... Christ, I'd do it meself... Look, it's your fault, you twit, that SS shitbag squelched a fucking radio and it... His rage giving him strength, he racks the chamber on his sidearm, then hacks a mighty cough. LIEUTENANT CLIFT (CONT'D) I should fucking shoot you! (wheezing, sputtering) You fucking, fucking piece of shit! John takes the gun as Lieutenant Clift collapses into a fit of coughing. We pan up to a tiny sliver of moon. The coughing is silenced by a bang echoing down the street. EXT. CITY (NORWAY) WINTER, DAWN John has salvaged boots and pants, walking through back alleys avoiding patrols. He approaches the temporary headquarters for his company with his hands up and a set of presumably salvaged dog tags dangling from his neck. INT. COLONEL HETFIELD'S OFFICE Texas desert stretches out the window, and the buzz of the air conditioning is as noticeable as the fact that both men are still sweating. A secretary exits the room and Raymond Sussex sits down across the desk, smiling. RAYMOND SUSSEX Good morning Colonel Hetfield. COLONEL HETFIELD And you as well mister Sussex. I've just had ants in my pants to meet you ever since our phone call on Tuesday. Now, before we even get started, can I offer you a glass of lemonade, or a coffee? Even got a mighty fine mint julep if your so inclined... RAYMOND SUSSEX I'm afraid you'll just have to pardon my ignorance, Colonel, but what might a mint julep be? COLONEL HETFIELD Oh, it's positively rose water, mister Sussex. RAYMOND SUSSEX Please, feel free to call me Raymond. COLONEL HETFIELD Well, Raymond, a mint julep is traditionally made with mint, lightly mashed, bourbon, sugar and water. Around here we like 'em with a specific ratio. I know it's a little early for bourbon, but may it please, uh, heh heh, may it please the court... RAYMOND SUSSEX Y'know what, Colonel, I've been travelling for almost eighteen hours, and it's eight o'clock at night where I'm from. A splash of bourbon sounds spot on to me. COLONEL HETFIELD Good, good! Hang on one second... (presses intercom) Henrietta, can you whip us up two of your mint juleps hon? HENRIETTA (through intercom) Sure thing, Colonel. COLONEL HETFIELD She's an absolute peach, that one. RAYMOND SUSSEX Charming, indeed. Your entire layout here is delightful. COLONEL HETFIELD Oh, I'm sure Texas is a little warm for ya. RAYMOND SUSSEX Uh, to be sure, a bit hot, yes. COLONEL HETFIELD (smiles) So, Raymond, uh, is Ray okay? RAYMOND SUSSEX For certain. COLONEL HETFIELD Alright, Ray, now, you had some military service, am I correct? RAYMOND SUSSEX Yes sir. Still am in the employ of His Majesty. COLONEL HETFIELD And you've made some friends in the intelligence business along the way, yes? RAYMOND SUSSEX That's right sir. Counter intelligence, decryption, um, the kind of resume that doesn't behoove itself to detail. COLONEL HETFIELD Right, that's exactly the thing. Do you know Bert Walker? RAYMOND SUSSEX No sir. Not that I know of. Name doesn't sound-- The door opens and Henrietta brings in the drinks. She smiles politely at both of them as Raymond takes a sip. He smiles approvingly back, takes another sip and Henrietta heads for the door. COLONEL HETFIELD Henrietta, love, I know, I know I sound like a busted phonograph here but, the air conditioning is all the way up, right? HENRIETTA I'm so sorry, Colonel. It's awful today, isn't it? All muggy. Makin' my damn hose ride up. Raymond nearly spits, and the Colonel laughs. Henrietta smiles and heads for the door. COLONEL HETFIELD Uh, Henrietta, come here just a sec, you pistol, you. Would you have a seat with us for a minute? HENRIETTA Why sure, Colonel. Are the drinks okay? RAYMOND SUSSEX Oh, mine, mine's great, delightful, thank you. COLONEL HETFIELD Of course the drinks are just fine, sugar. I'd like you to tell Ray here what your last name is. HENRIETTA Oh. (addresses Raymond) Oh. Okay. Mister Sussex, my name is Henrietta Abramowicz. Sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Abramowicz. COLONEL HETFIELD Now, that seems like a perfectly reasonable social exchange huh? (beat, all silent) Now, Henrietta dear, HENRIETTA Oh, COLONEL HETFIELD I said there was gonna, be a time, HENRIETTA Oh, COLONEL HETFIELD When you were gonna have to tell this story, HENRIETTA Oh, I see where this is goin'. COLONEL HETFIELD And I was gonna need you to talk about this. Now, Ray, when this first happened I wanted to go to the newspapers and get this on the radio, and I almost regret it. I'll get to some of that later, but, well, Henrietta you take the reigns before I muck it all up. HENRIETTA Okay, Well, (deep breath) This was about a month and a half ago. One of our pretty major accounts came in here, this guy Bert Walker. Bert's a real big deal, New York banker, just uh, just ask him, he'll tell you. He shows up around three thirty, three forty-five or so, and insists to see the Colonel here, and, well, COLONEL HETFIELD Don't be shy, hon. HENRIETTA Right. See, the office closes at four thirty everyday, and I was kinda havin' my, my lady time? Y'know? Aunt flow was in town? Anyway, I had a pretty killer headache, just ready to go, and then in comes mister macho, all puffed up, then when I tell him the Colonel here's on vacation, He just went bananas. He started swearin' real vulgar like, I mean, stuff I've never even heard before. Demands my name, and I tell him, and then he just goes through the roof, talkin' like, well, sir, when he called me a Jew whore I called security, and that my people were ruining the world, and, well... COLONEL HETFIELD Easy Henrietta. There there. Thank you very much. I know that was hard. I really do appreciate it. HENRIETTA Thanks Colonel. If I can run to the ladies room... COLONEL HETFIELD Of course sugar. In fact, you need to take the rest of the day? HENRIETTA Oh, no, sir... Would you mind if I went to lunch though? COLONEL HETFIELD Not at all love. You put your lunch on me today, okay? HENRIETTA Thank you sir. The door closes, Hetfield's gaze settles on Raymond. COLONEL HETFIELD Now Ray, I knew damn good and well when I asked you that you don't have any idea who Bert Walker is. What I meant was, well, now that you know Bert Walker, do you know anybody like Bert Walker? RAYMOND SUSSEX I know a lot of people like Henrietta. The two seem to be mutually exclusive don't you think? COLONEL HETFIELD My thoughts exactly. The Colonel pours another drink for them both from the pitcher. COLONEL HETFIELD (CONT'D) Well... All is not well on this side of the pond. I know what them, them loft wafers is doin' to the English countryside and it breaks my heart. I was lucky enough to visit over there and, well it's downright tragic. RAYMOND SUSSEX Actually, most of the bombing is in major metropolitan areas. They do dump their whole payload to get back faster sometimes though. Makes the planes lighter. COLONEL HETFIELD Right. Weapons. What we're really here for. Just one thing before we get all nitty and gritty. I have your word as a man that you are not an anti-semite? RAYMOND SUSSEX Of course. Yes. Yes, you absolutely have my word on that. But Colonel, you understand that this really isn't just about the Jewish? I mean, he's gassing Gypsies and old folks and poofs and communists and, well, anybody he can excuse killing. It's about genocide, too, but there's no limit; once the Jews are gone he'll get all the blacks, and so on. Until there's nothing left to kill. He'll kill his way here to Texas if he can. I understand your personal commitment, believe me, I've lost loved ones to this war too, but we both have to look beyond our noses right now. This madman has to be stopped. INT. PLANE, DAY The door opens, and Tex and John are conspicuously not wearing parachutes. TEX Like I said, John, (looks out, wind whipping) We gonna do things you never thought you were gonna do. Tex smiles, grabs John and they both go out the door. EXT. MIDAIR, DAWN A huge black, shifting ball of fur claws at a yellow blur of teeth and talon. Scraps of cloth float upwards as we approach terminal velocity. The backdrop is seamless blue, TEX Why you fuckin' with me, son? (screaming over the wind) It's a long way down! INT. COLONEL HETFIELD'S OFFICE COLONEL HETFIELD Now what I'm proposing is a joint effort between private corporate entities here. Right now the Unites States has no official involvement in the war, but I think it's becoming clearer and clearer that's comin'. Now, friends in the industry inform me that you have no formal weapons project that um... well... The Colonel looks around, pantomiming audience attention as he scratches the air and bares his teeth. RAYMOND SUSSEX Right, lycanthrope commando units? COLONEL HETFIELD Lord, it blows me away you can just say it like that. RAYMOND SUSSEX No sense dancing around it, eh? No, there are, sorry, legends? Is that how to say, more even like myths maybe, units that feared no mustard gas or bullets... but those were typically stories from hunger starved bolsheviks or stories from black forest trenches. No, I've dug every book, every military record. Slightest paper trails just turn up dead ends. COLONEL HETFIELD Okay, now the thing is here all the intelligence organizations are spread out, like, through the treasury, state level, etcetera. I been hearin' about a consolidated effort, to bring everybody together and make like, a U.S. Intelligence. But that won't happen without us bein' in the conflict. So, seeing as I don't have access to the whole of our intel, like you do with yours, I feel like I might be shootin' my mouth off here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this would be the only unit like it in the world, right? RAYMOND SUSSEX Maybe in all of military history, sir. COLONEL HETFIELD And we could provide them with a level of modern training, with modern weaponry... EXT. TEXAS DESERT, DAY John lies prone in the desert, Tex crouched beside him. Tex holds the sun out of his eyes as John trains down the sights. TEX Okay. The reason you lie down is that it maximizes the surface area of your body that's on the ground. The more support you can give it, the less parts of you that can shake. Say I were to be of a spiteful spirit and kick you in the ribs right now. You'd still prolly kill whatever you're pointin' at. Now I want you to steady the cross hair real firm, and I want you to pull the trigger on the exhale. Gently now, easy... John squeezes a shot and a vulture flies off a fence post, squawking it's disapproval on the wing. JOHN WESTCROFT Damn it! TEX I take it back, maybe you might be safe to kick in the ribs after all. Lemme see how you're holdin' that thing... INT. COLONEL HETFIELD'S OFFICE COLONEL HETFIELD Well, we hafta figgur that way back in, in Roman times or so, they, musta had some kinda wolf troop or, what'd you call 'em? Like a whats? RAYMOND SUSSEX Lycanthrope commando units? COLONEL HETFIELD Yeah, maybe the, the old French, or the Chinese! Y'know, the Orientals are an amazing civilization. Oldest in the world, they say. Invented gunpowder. RAYMOND SUSSEX Your enthusiasm is encouraging, Colonel. Think of the logistics here. These things are huge. Fully automatic Thompson sub machine guns in each hand. Imagine that on the front lines. COLONEL HETFIELD Hot damn! RAYMOND SUSSEX Speaking logistically, we do have to keep in mind that the other guy is as determined to win as we are. There's no reason not to think that somewhere out there in the depths of the Reich that there aren't two similar people having a similar conversation. The Colonel mellows, suddenly steel, all business. COLONEL HETFIELD Right. Damn right. And every second we spend talkin' about this is one more second we spend not working on it. Right now I have two solid candidates in the initial stages of the program. You said you had a third candidate? RAYMOND SUSSEX Ah, yes. Well, here's where we get to a sort of a problem... INT. MILITARY COURTHOUSE John Westcroft is on the stand, the prosecutor gesticulating wildly as the sound fades in slow. PROSECUTOR So you were relieving yourself then? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes, sir. PROSECUTOR So, you just stepped into the Oslo hotel and had a tinkle? JOHN WESTCROFT No, sir, we weren't even in Oslo at the time. PROSECUTOR That's not what I meant, now, here look, where did you go to relieve yourself? I mean, there's not a functioning loo in the bombed out wreckage now is there? JOHN WESTCROFT Sir, at times like that one just had to improvise. PROSECUTOR So, a German tank just HAPPENS to decimate your company, just HAPPENS to blast them to smithereens, all while you just HAPPEN to be off taking a squat? In the same vicinity where another company just HAPPENS to stumble on a ruined panzer and some savagely flayed corpses? JOHN WESTCROFT Sir, the picture you're paint-- PROSECUTOR There's something you aren't telling us, Private! Just what happened back there? What the hell happened to scare you worse than courtmartial and execution? The door swings open and Raymond Sussex enters holding a sheaf of papers. RAYMOND SUSSEX It's funny, your lordship. Hilarious actually. There are worse things than courtmartial and execution, and I'm probably condemning him to them right now. Your honor, may it please the court, by parliamentary decree here, Raymond has approached the bench and is pointing to his documents, showing the judge. RAYMOND SUSSEX (CONT'D) And SAS full installation, and sir, here sir, secret intelligence has insisted that all orders, that's the release here sir, convene immediately and post haste, with ultimate confidentiality. I assume it'll be no problem going straight from here to the airstrip? PROSECUTOR What the hell... JUDGE Is this a gag order here? RAYMOND SUSSEX What an ugly term for it. Bailiff, get those irons off him, would you? (approaches prosecutor) It's simply a request for you to, yes, oh what's this here? (brushes Prosecutor's tie) Hmmm. Where did you learn to harangue like that? You're positively a demon, you know that? PROSECUTOR (smirking) Doing mine for my country, sir. Would you care to elucidate me? RAYMOND SUSSEX I'm with His Majesty's Special Operations Executive. Your witness is, well, I need him. His Majesty needs him. PROSECUTOR Right. RAYMOND SUSSEX As he needs you, in your duty. Got a yell on you, for damn sure. Gives a card, huh? Might need some legal some time. JUDGE In my room? In my COURT? I'm addressing you sir! RAYMOND SUSSEX And I've already answered you, your honor, that I find your phrasing of gag order offensive. It's a code twelve requisition for classification. And stop looking at me like I just pissed in your post toasties. This is huge. The "gag" order as you so crudely put it is just a formality. For all I care you can say he's dead, court martial, missing and presumed dead, makes little difference to me. I'm serving the entire free world here, and I'm counting on full cooperation, which I was assured. John? Ready to go? JOHN WESTCROFT Oh, god yes. The Door swings on silent hinges. EXT. AIRSTRIP, DUSK Raymond Sussex and John Westcroft walk towards a small plane. JOHN WESTCROFT Sir, thank you sir. I think, I mean, what's going on? RAYMOND SUSSEX So they didn't buy the slop about taking a shit, huh? JOHN WESTCROFT Apparently not, sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX John, I've been following you your entire military career. I've seen the photos, forwarded from Interpol through Scotland Yard. I know those claw marks. John, look at me, I know what you are. (beat, tense) I hope you aren't looking too hard at those woods. I want you to know I'm giving you the choice. You don't have to come with me. I'm offering you a chance to serve your country in a capacity I feel it's safe to say you have never even imagined. If you fuck off to those woods right now there's not a thing I can do about it. I know your smell, but I'm just kin, John; I don't get up from a gunshot wound, I scar, I bleed and die. But you signed up for service. If you wish to continue your service, you will be an incredible asset to your country. Tell me John, why did you enlist? JOHN WESTCROFT Sir, the Krauts took my home and family, most of my county. I just saw red. By the time we were in Norway, I felt like it was a job. RAYMOND SUSSEX Right, well, it is a job, and a damned hard one. You know you could have torn the entire courtroom apart. But you didn't. What stopped you? JOHN WESTCROFT That's why we've been hunted for a thousand years. RAYMOND SUSSEX Right. So, you still want Nazi blood? JOHN WESTCROFT The whole Axis sir. I've heard about what they do to anybody in their way. You think a half-dog would get any better treatment? RAYMOND SUSSEX Half dog? JOHN WESTCROFT Well, sir, what have you. The two of them climb the stairs to the plane. EXT./INT. PLANE RAYMOND SUSSEX You will not be alone. Your training will be intense, and when we're through with you, you will be the most powerful weapon at the disposal of the allied powers. The group you have been assigned to are creatures like you, and they have various names for the... condition. Raymond holds the door to the plane. RAYMOND SUSSEX (CONT'D) I think you'll learn a great deal more from the men I'm about to introduce you too. You'll have a long flight. We go from here to the proving grounds in eastern Texas. Last chance to back out. Raymond turns the handle, leading us to INT. PLANE RAYMOND SUSSEX Gentlemen, may I introduce to you, recently promoted Sergeant John Westcroft. Sergeant, Lieutenant Arthur "Tex" Rockler, and Special Agent Delbert Yazzie. Raymond taps twice on the cockpit door and the engines begin to hum. TEX Nice to meet you, John. JOHN WESTCROFT The pleasure is all mine, lieutenant. TEX Just Tex, hombre. This here's Delbert. He don't say much. Delbert gives a grunt that resembles agreement as he shakes John's hand. TEX (CONT'D) He's surprisingly quiet for a code talker. I figured for sure he'd have more to chat about. Raymond smiles, and we back out through the door, closing with a clunk, and the plane taxis down the runway. THE WEREWOLVES OF WORLD WAR II PART II Tripwires in East Texas EXT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, NIGHT Lightning cracks in the distance as clouds move unnaturally fast. The moon appears from behind them, full, and the thunder resounds, massive, pealing off the mountains. We move without adjusting altitude into the window on one of the castle's towers, where we watch a woman in a white coat tinker with a microscope while a man in SS regalia overlooks. We see the white coat splattered with blood in a few folds as she twists knobs, pours something. We are now INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB Fully engorged in the experimentation process. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Ve are gettink wery ready to see, frau doktor. DOKTOR INDIRA Really? She is holding a spiderweb carefully, web between twigs between tweezers. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) I swear to god, Siegfried, your English has gotten worse. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (Bemused) My little doktor! How did you find out my first name? DOKTOR INDIRA I told you I needed access, (Beat, examines web) Got it. You were right, you asshole. This is incredible. (Brings web to microscope) Uhm, that I needed access to the whole files. The, old stuff, real old. I must say, you were meticulous. She catches a spider, the only one, beneath a glass. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) Goodness, Siegfried, it's getting to be like I've done this before. She slides a piece of paper under a glass, holds it with one hand. She lights a bunsen burner on high, takes the glass and paper in tongs, and fries the spider, it's spindly legs curling in the flame. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Ah, it's the vord, you resourceful! Commandant Taubert smiles at her as she places the spiderweb in a box, a space age tupperwear thing, closing a complex latch. She does not smile back. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Still, I prefer to be called Commandant. DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah? Is that what you prefer? COMMANDANT TAUBERT (Suddenly cold) Put box down. She immediately sets the box down and he swats her with his stick, that weird riding crop thing that goes so good with the uniform. She howls and grabs her leg. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) You vant SCHMART MOUTH ME? I scheisse, I fuck you! DOKTOR INDIRA Please! COMMANDANT TAUBERT You show progress vis imshperiment NOW! DOKTOR INDIRA Okay! Yes, yes sir. She grabs the box and hobbles towards the door. Limping down stairs on a fast blackening bruise, we descend to INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, BASEMENT The basement is a dungeon, cages made of silver bars. One is empty, two hold semi-conscious lumps in ragged clothes, one male one female. Both are drugged and far away in the eyes. The last cage holds a very conscious young man, blond, blue eyed. PRISONER Oh, please, no... DOKTOR INDIRA He heard me swear in English. It gets really hard here, mine hair. (Beat, breath) Okay, give it to me. COMMANDANT TAUBERT I sthink, maybe not. Vere should I shoot him? DOKTOR INDIRA Just, god, really? Just, just shoot him in the leg. Commandant Taubert shoots the prisoner, busting most of a foot off with his pistol. The prisoner screams not in agony, but in a pathetic rage. He flings himself at the silver bars and recoils in smoking skin. Commandant Taubert jumps. COMMANDANT TAUBERT You are joking! He shoots the prisoner again and again, gutshot, hand, leg twice more, erupting the knee. DOKTOR INDIRA Stop! Stop, god, please, STOP! Realizing that the prisoner is no longer a threat, he pauses. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Zis is vaste of money. DOKTOR INDIRA Just wait. She looks at the prisoner as she fumbles open the box. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) This is important, here, the eye contact. She looks him in the eye as he flashes them open in a painful gasp, choking, pleading, feeling the pain of dying and the impotence of imprisonment. She holds up the spiderweb, keeps looking at him, and spits through it. The prisoner changes into a wolf, a starved, brown, ratty thing, broken. On the way, the bullet wounds disappear. The wolf's bleeding has stopped, but he licks at wounds anyway. It's eyes are human, sad, weak. Commandant Taubert is wide eyed. COMMANDANT TAUBERT It is unharmed! DOKTOR INDIRA Sure, it's half starved to death and shot up with opium, but other than that... COMMANDANT TAUBERT How do ve get it back? DOKTOR INDIRA Well, that's kind of a random. It seems like when they wake up, well, some of them, not sleep, but when they pass out? Real hard, like, REM Sleep? When they get knocked out, they'll shift. You have to get 'em pretty heavy down, though. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Knock them aus? Ya, you used the gas grenade, to make it, sleep? DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah, well, they have to be pretty fatigued. Torturing them for a few days or something. Hans? A guard at attention snaps to harder attention. At her nod, he takes off a backpack, handing her and Commandant Taubert gas masks, donning one himself, passing one to another guard. Hans gives her a grenade and pulls the pin on another one. The gas is thick and immediate. The breathing is huge, a chainsaw in the haze. As it clears, the man and woman in the back cages have been replaced with wolves under piles of ragged clothes, but the cage with the prisoner holds the same man, with no bullet wounds. Commandant laughs in an echo that takes us outside of the castle. INT. PLANE Delbert, Tex, Raymond and John grapple for balance as the plane bounces, jostling with turbulence. RAYMOND SUSSEX Hold on to your cats and dogs! TEX Look at it this way. If we have to swim halfway across the ocean, (Looks towards cockpit) We can eat the pilot all the way back. JOHN WESTCROFT You know that's how it starts right? The turbulence subsides and composure is regained. TEX What starts? JOHN WESTCROFT You know, when a turnskin eats man flesh, or, women or babies, he'll start to get a taste for it, and... TEX Oh, I'm pullin' your leg, buddy. JOHN WESTCROFT Yeah, well, it was called the inquisition in my country. TEX (Chuckles) Yeah, we had some witch hunts back on the east coast. Hell, the government did worse shit to the Indians. What'd they call it, Delbert, the trail of tears? Delbert is stoic. He lets the comment hang in the air. TEX (CONT'D) Hell, y'know, John, that raises an interesting point. What'd you call us? Turnskins? Delbert smiles at this. Tex is still contemplative. TEX (CONT'D) I mean, we're prolly the biggest minority out there. You gotta figure, if the uh, normals knew about us, they would probably lynch us. DELBERT Don't matter. The Nazis, He draws a finger across his throat. TEX Fuckin' eloquent, Delbert. Suppose you got a point, though. Still, is that it? Just a common enemy? Is that all that unites us is that we're up against the Nazis? John, Delbert, and Tex all look at Raymond. TEX (CONT'D) I mean, we'd probably survive the fall... RAYMOND SUSSEX Ahem. Well. Even though I doubt your constitution would actually survive impact out of the sky, what with the fuel and all, I'd like to point out that no one is here against their will. Right? I mean, gentlemen, you are all military volunteers, correct? JOHN WESTCROFT No, I absolutely want to be here. Well, I want to be back on my farm, rutting the redhead from two farms down, but that's not gonna happen. RAYMOND SUSSEX Right. And besides, see this? Raymond pulls a thin knife, almost a letter opener from his coat. He smiles and tosses it to John. Tex figures it out mid air, right as John catches it. John's hand sears and smokes. TEX Shit! JOHN WESTCROFT Ow! God damn it-- RAYMOND SUSSEX Easy boys. That's jewelery grade silver there. Metal like that melts down real easy. He has pulled the coat back to show the gun in his shoulder holster. RAYMOND SUSSEX (CONT'D) I am a patriot here in good faith, but I am not stupid. I'm also sure (Pats gun) that you would not survive the fall. Tex is eyeing the knife, and Delbert is smiling again. DELBERT You have balls. Big balls. TEX Ah, hell, Ray... Where'n the hell would we find the kind of action you bring? I's just havin' a little laugh at your expense is all... RAYMOND SUSSEX Yes. At my and your uncle's expense. I brought you and Delbert along so that you could have an extended briefing with the new candidate, and you're wasting all our time waxing philosophical about ancient fucking history. How about we start actually discussing things like silver, and fire, and each other. Tell 'em about what happens when you get bit. TEX Yeah. Course sir. See, okay, John, you're not from London? JOHN WESTCROFT North of Leeds, actually. TEX So, from the farm you said? Kinda, a more rural area? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes, sir. TEX So, before we start getting into the finer points of General William Tecumseh Sherman's march, tell me how much schoolin' you have... Let's just recoil through the thick bordered portico, backing out of the plane, gently floating out from the plane; a half moon in the sky over the plane, and ocean as far as can be seen. Pan out, all the way out; worldwide. EXT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, MORNING Let's get one of those wide sweeping ones, with the rooster crowing and the bugs buzzing. Take in the scope of the land, the village that surrounds the castle. Let's keep our eyes out here and boost the sound of eggs cooking, toast clanging. Cut right to INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE KITCHEN Doktor Purnima Indira slams a book closed and turns to the stove, turns back to the book, shoves it aside, shuffles through a stack of papers. She throws them, goes to the silverware drawer, dumps the contents, sifts through them on the floor. There are no sharp knives, no forks. She stops, holds her head in her hands, and lets out a deep, wracking sob. An SS guard comes into the kitchen, sub-machine gun leveled. SS GUARD ELMO Vas? Vas ist los? DOKTOR INDIRA Entschuldigung, Mein Herr. SS GUARD ELMO Säubern sie es!! DOKTOR INDIRA Ja, mein herr, Natürlich. SS GUARD ELMO Schnell!! DOKTOR INDIRA Alright, Alright, god dammit, here we go... She stands, shaky, bends and begins to pick up spoons and butter knives. We trail her as she eventually piles a plate and takes it down a hallway. She enters and we are in INT. CHANDA INDIRA'S CELL Doktor Indira's mother is blind, in a hospice bed. CHANDA INDIRA Is that you baby? DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah momma, it's me. I think I burned your eggs. I'm sorry. CHANDA INDIRA Baby. Baby, we're locked inside the heart of Germany in a drafty castle. Half the night the howls from the basement tear the curtains off, and during the day the hammers on the construction shake the floor. The eggs, baby, I wouldn't worry too much about. Help me, help me sit up, baby. DOKTOR INDIRA They tell me, that when the weapon is perfected they'll set us up back in Bengal. By the river... CHANDA INDIRA Baby, you know I love you. Don't, don't tell me about home. Once you get to the final phase of this project, you'll just get sent to the new project. Remember, baby, remember when uncle had the riverboat? Well, the way Aunt Isha and Dewrat Looked at me... I know they had guns, baby. DOKTOR INDIRA Mama, I'm so sorry. CHANDA INDIRA Don't you even for a minute. Huh uh. I'm not gonna hear you're sorry for educating yourself, baby, You're a genius. You're my genius. I love you. I'm so proud of you. Even if these pigs torture us for what you know. I should, I... A tear runs down her face. She gropes for her daughter's hand. She cradles it gently. CHANDA INDIRA (CONT'D) You remember what I said. You run if you even think you get a chance. Who knows what these scum are going to do with the research you're-- The door flings open and an SS Guard is pure fury. SS GUARD HENDRIK Some of us speak English, here, you ignorant bitches. He slaps the plate of eggs down to the floor, grabs Doktor Purnima Indira roughly by the arm. SS GUARD HENDRIK (CONT'D) Breakfast is over. He shoves her out the door, slamming it. We follow them into INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, HALLWAY Where he continues to berate her. SS GUARD HENDRIK You think this is going away? I'm gonna be watching you like a hawk. You slip up even a little bit, and I'll slit your throat. But before I do, He grabs her and forces her to make eye contact. SS GUARD HENDRIK (CONT'D) I'll make you watch me slit your mothers. And then I'll sausage you. And then. His fingers tighten in her hair, her breath rapid. SS GUARD HENDRIK (CONT'D) Then I'll slit your throat. Oh look at that. You really wanna kick me in the yarbles, huh? Then where would we be? I know. I know where we'd be. We'd be bruised. INT. BED, DIAMOND T TRUCK Tex, Delbert, and John ride bumpy roads. TEX Y'know, that's what I like so much about Delbert here. He doesn't really ask shit. I hope this is just a phase brought upon by your realization that your farm life upbringing may have left your vocabulary a touch diminutive. That is to say, I hope you don't keep this shit up. Okay, look, now, my uncle Hetfield, Mister Sussex, and others like them are in a special class. Well, that Sussex is an intelligence officer with security clearance higher than ultra with the O.S.S. I guess he's His Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service. You know what I mean with intelligence, right? JOHN WESTCROFT Yeah, I think. Field agents gathering data. Lab research. TEX Right. Well, what they do with the data and all that shit. What it's for. JOHN WESTCROFT Um, well, weapons? Intelligence is a branch of the military, right? TEX No. In Europe, yeah, like, the English and the French have their intel all coordinated, working together under the highest levels of state; usually in the executive. In theory, Mister Roosevelt is the final word, him being the ultimate power in the military. Say though, that somebody has some sort of state secret in, hell in Texas. If the local police or state troopers or rangers get it and don't wanna cooperate, well, there's always the court system right? (John laughs) Right. So there'll be an operative gathering intelligence on the folk that run the show for whatever "authority" because they work for a "higher authority" and report to Mister Roosevelt. But say you had somebody that was more loyal to the governor of Texas. Say that person was convinced that the office of the president was doing something that was not in the best interest of Texas. Well, there we may have a clash of invisible titans. I mean, you understand that information, real information, comes from all walks of life, all kinds of people. The "word on the street" has to really come from the street for it to be valid. That means dealing with all kinds of folks. JOHN WESTCROFT Okay. So... TEX So the intelligence network is a huge web at this point. JOHN WESTCROFT But-- TEX So that means a guy like Sussex has fingers in every pie, so to speak. Some homeless drifter might answer to him, along with aids to his, what, prime minister? Plus he's kin, got some kinda, (Smiles at John) Some kinda turnskin blood, some connections within what qualifies as our community. Then you got the departments, the treasury, all these little agencies that-- JOHN WESTCROFT Tex, this is all great, but it's missing the point of my question. I mean who do WE work for? If we ever get stranded in the, how did you put it, the field? I like that, yes, if we're stranded in the field, who do we report to? TEX Oh, right, yeah. That stuff. Okay, on the phone you can get Colonel Hetfield's office, and on the radio you can sign in with an alpha delta alpha seven one nine and get through also. As far was where to physically go, that's a different matter entirely. If you wind up in Texas though, The truck's door opens and Delbert, Tex and John climb out. Tex wears a pair of waterproof flares in a loose rope necklace. We are near the eastern edge of Texas, in the swamps and bayou. The full moon is high, slipping in and out from behind clouds in the sky and we are EXT. EAST TEXAS SWAMP, ROADSIDE, NIGHT TEX You can come by my place. DELBERT Make my head hurt. TEX Yeah, and I ain't done runnin' my gob even a little bit. This a live fire drill, that means real rounds, so watch your ass. This here's a private hunting reserve and it may well be the most expensive piece of property in the world. There are men in here fully armed, as well as an impressive collection of booby traps and tripwires. These men are taken from death row, meaning they have very little to lose. Hard to make 'em use machine guns in tandem, but you can be certain; every one of these motherfuckers is a stone killer. What we will be doing is recon, recovery, then search and destroy. Colonel Hetfield and Mister Sussex have set this operation up to challenge us, and expect it to take us up to twenty four hours or more. I wanna see this place a smoking ruin by dawn. The truck pulls out, splattering mud on the way out. DELBERT No guns? TEX Why Delbert, what a pussy ass thing to say. JOHN WESTCROFT Seriously, no guns? TEX Yeah, fuckin' serious! You fuckin' panty waist assholes think this is a joke? You want a gun, you take one from somebody. Let's get this show on the road. The men leave the road and wade into the swamp. TEX (CONT'D) The recovery operation is simple. We have dropped off the one commodity we feel a guarantee these men will kill for. Her name is Gertrude Halse. Our man inside, code named raptor, has informed us that our girl is somewhere in the southwestern portion of the reserve, in the only standing buildings in a few square miles. The girl's life is number one priority as we're fair to partly certain the uh, "inmates" here ain't gonna let her go without a fight. What you boys got in your pockets? DELBERT Lint. JOHN WESTCROFT Six American dollars, my pocket knife. TEX You leave that black-handled forty five back at Lackland? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes sir. TEX Good. Now let's get down to this damsel in distress shit... EXT. DEEP BAYOU, WESTERN LOUISIANA, NIGHT John and Delbert watch from the roadside muck as a troop of prisoners, all carrying rifles, patrol the road. As the last of the prisoner-soldiers passes their position, John reaches out and grabs him at the ankles. There is a splash, and the other prisoner-soldiers jump, suddenly wary. They see nothing as Delbert stabs the prisoner to death with his own knife, his head still under water, a scream muffled in bubbles. John and Delbert exchange the nod of two experienced killers, a grim satisfaction between them. Behind the fronds, Tex smiles a vicious grin. He moves then, blur fast, into the center of the confused group of prisoner soldiers. They scream as Tex becomes a cyclone of death, killing armed men with his bare hands. John and Delbert spring up from the bog, Delbert stabbing two while John tumbles with another. Tex takes a rifle from the one who appears to be the leader, a gun blast ringing out in the gloom. He holds it by the barrel, swinging it like a club, crushing nose and teeth. He looks over at John, struggling with the last one alive, walks over and steps on the prisoner-soldier's neck. TEX Not real sportsman-like, I know. (Esophagus crunching) What the hell are you doing, John? You tryin' to fuck 'im? JOHN WESTCROFT Shag off. I had him. TEX Right. If he woulda had a silver wedding ring he'd a pulled your eye out with it. Well boys, a few hundred more of these and we can just walk in and ask her out on a date. Slow fuckin' goin'. Peel these faggots and put together a few outfits. Delbert, you aren't going to pass any close inspection, so try to find a hat that fits. It's pretty bright out here... He turns to the sky, struck hard by the full moon. For a brief second, all three of them bathe their faces in the pale moonlight. EXT. PRISON BARRACKS, NIGHT The three of them blend into the surrounding, their ragged, stolen uniforms fitting in among the prisoner-soldiers milling about. Tex motions them out toward the fringe. TEX Okay boys... Clear your minds and look up at that big, beautiful moon... Tex spits into his palm, rubs his hands together and looks up as well. TEX (CONT'D) I am child of moon, I am victim in swoon; I am the tiger in baby's bedroom. A wolf among dogs, live oak among logs, the terror and stench of new ruin. As Tex speaks, the boys begin to bunch up, bristle, shift. A shout goes out among the camp, and we hear a gun racking. Tex's voice has gone absolutely feral. TEX (CONT'D) Kill boys!! Kill everything that moves!! John, Delbert and Tex charge into the nearest group, fists moving in altering knuckles, and the prisoner-soldiers instantly fall upon them. The furry fury of the fledgling pack is free, a twister, devastating the prisoner-soldiers around them, suddenly full of fear. They are scattering, dying fast. Delbert has a man-ish, thickly haired hand wrapped around a rifle, firing one handed into fleeing men. Tex is literally beating a man to death with his own arm, and John pounces on one of them. He rips the head clean off with a swipe, a bear paw afterthought snatching life. He takes the man's pants quickly, flinging a corpse in boxers and a bloody shirt towards another man, right as one of Delbert's bullets tears a hole in his side. Delbert's gunfire is rapid, Tex swims through terrorized men leaving a swath of shredded everything. The blood is so much that it is literally a haze, hanging red in the air. John leaps to the tallest building, still clutching the pair of pants. INT. PRISON BARRACKS, NIGHT The leader of the prison army stomps around inside. The girl, Gertrude Halse, is confused and frightened. A window behind him shows the briefest flash of a wolf's eye. He turns to look at the then empty window. He is jumpy as he hears the pandemonium outside rising. One of the soldiers runs in, flustered, at a loss. We are given subtitle over his German. PRISON SOLDIER Run Victor! Run for your life! They'll kill us all! VICTOR Who, you shithead? Who will kill us all? PRISON SOLDIER Run! Run, fool! Disgusted at his inferior's cowardice, Victor shoots the soldier. Gertrude gasps, hand over her mouth. VICTOR Oh, my sweet flower, and now, so soon after you have come to me, does my house crumble around me. I should take you now, (Holds her shoulders) My sweet love, you will be my queen yet. We will crush these cowards! These fools! The window he stands next to shatters and a ropy, hairy arm snatches Victor at the face, drags him, screaming airy over a torn windpipe. Gertrude loses it here, crying and wailing, floundering for a moment, composure coming on slow. John Westcroft opens the door holding a stolen rifle to match his stolen pants. GERTRUDE HALSE Ach, Mein Gott, Herr, nein! JOHN WESTCROFT Ahem. Ah, English, uh, English Bitte? GERTRUDE HALSE Oh, sir, I... Wait... Who are you? JOHN WESTCROFT Ma'am, I'm Sergeant John Westcroft with the uh, actually I'm with His Majesty's Secret Service. We're here to get you out of here. Unless you're enjoying the party so much that you insist upon staying, of course. GERTRUDE HALSE Oh, sweet jesus. Thank god. Can we, can we get out of here? JOHN WESTCROFT Positively. Let me check the outside, see how clear the coast is. GERTRUDE HALSE No, god, please don't leave me, don't leave me right now... John sets her delicately into a chair, looks into her eyes and gives her warmth that settles her, calms her. JOHN WESTCROFT Now listen to me lass. There's a whole bunch of real bad men out there, and most of 'em have guns. The weapons we're using just aren't safe to be anywhere near. So, now, look at me now, open your shutters there and look right in my peepers. Now, I promise, and I mean promise, that I'll be back for you in a flash. I just want to make sure you don't get shocked by a battery or hit by a stray piece of shrapnel... Outside a man screams again out of what sounds to be far away chaos. Gertrude grabs John's hands. GERTRUDE HALSE You promise? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes, I promise. GERTRUDE HALSE That's three times you promised. That makes it an oath. John smiles and takes a small knife from the desk she is seated by. He grimaces and cuts his hand. A few drops of blood spatter on the wooden floor. JOHN WESTCROFT And that's blood. And I swear by it that no harm will come to you this night. She stares at him, reaching down get her jaw off the floor as he approaches the door. We swing with it outside to EXT. PRISON BARRACKS, NIGHT And see the bodies strewn about like so many left out toys. The trails of red splatter everything, awash in spaghetti sauce, meat balls and all. We see Delbert, a deep brown mastiff wolf, toying with soldiers, snipping ankles, killing them to his pace at his fun. Tex is in full man-wolf frame, massive. John wolfed out is big, but Tex, standing on coiled haunches, thick blond golden retriever fur, is twice the size of John, diminutive in simple man shape. John rests his rifle over his shoulder as he addresses the hairy apocalypse. JOHN WESTCROFT Hey, Tex? I found the girl. The massive blond wolf is shaking gas out of a fifty gallon drum, splashing it everywhere, connecting a propane tank to the puddle and then flinging the drum into the final building. The flares hanging from his neck flail to and fro, swinging wild with his motions. They settle for a second as he looks at John, his eyes human and positively furious. He is in mid frenzy and all about it. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) So, right, we should accompany the lady to the road, get her out, and then continue the sweep and clear. Tex the beast's breathing heaves and seethes. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) And shoot the propane tank on the way out. Right. Start the smoldering wreck you were talking abou-- Tex howls a powerful, bellowing call. Delbert is finishing a soldier off when Tex spies another, giving immediate chase. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) Right then. John turns back and the same door swings, returning us to INT. PRISON BARRACKS, NIGHT Where Miss Gertrude Halse sits, apprehensive on her chair. JOHN WESTCROFT Thank you so much for waiting, miss. I think we're as ready as we're going to be. She takes his hand and they swing together through the door, the last living things to pass those doors. Gertrude steps out and stumbles over a mangled stump of arm. She looks down, sees what it is, and suddenly realizes she is standing in a field of carnage. The last few minutes finally crash on her and she vomits, leaning on the building. GERTRUDE HALSE My god... What could have possibly done all this? Delbert immediately barks a single, sharp tone. It sounds suspiciously like "yo." He sits, wags his tail, and licks his chops. John smiles. They leave, coming towards us on the screen, and as Tex and Delbert run past John he turns and fires a round into the propane tank, the compound going incendiary in a fast flash, timber flying and the three buildings erupt in giant gouts of flame. INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB Doktor Indira opens a file and lays out pictures for Commandant Taubert. DOKTOR INDIRA This is when we pulled subject six out of sensory deprivation. (Flipping photos) As you see, he's completely unstable at this point. He killed four guards before we sedated him. You were bitching about the chlorpromazine budget? Well this is where it got so expensive. As you can see, Doktor Indira points out a series of photos, each with a little more carnage and another tranquilizer dart. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) It took a lot to put him down. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Und es von here? He es yust attackink whole time? DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah, that's one we found out for sure. You see subject eight there had been forced down to extremely low levels of blood sugar. COMMANDANT TAUBERT You Schtarved him? DOKTOR INDIRA That's right, herr commandant. We starved him all the way to death. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Tso zey are not immortal at all. DOKTOR INDIRA No, far from it. Apparently it's not just the silver that kills them. Old age and malnourishment, total physical disassembly. However, iron, steel, brass, wood, nothing really seems to hurt them. You can see where with subject three that if you wound them with silver they do eventually heal, it's just that they heal at normal rates. See, the bandages here? I mean, it took three months, and there's still scarring and a weak point, but nothing like, well, (Opens a new file) All the other weapons testing. Once there in that halfway phase, they just don't get hurt. Look at these fall tests here. Here's from ten meters, and here's from thirty. Took some prodding to get her off the fifty and ninety meter fall. What we're looking at is past terminal velocity. The weird thing here is that from one hundred and fifty, which is the same end velocity as previous. Apparently we didn't have enough sedative in her, because her heart blew up in her chest from panic before she hit the ground. Apparently, (Points to another photo) They can be scared to death. Commandant Taubert smiles, then chuckles, then laughter rolls over the castle stones, tearing in peals down the halls. EXT. EAST TEXAS SWAMP Tex is a giant golden wolf, swimming ahead of John in the muck. Gertrude is piggyback on John as he wades between reeds. GERTRUDE HALSE Your dogs are amazingly well trained, John. JOHN WESTCROFT Oh, they may be the finest hunting dogs in the world, miss. GERTRUDE HALSE What are there names? JOHN WESTCROFT That's Tex and that one's Delbert. GERTRUDE HALSE They're huge. What breed are they? JOHN WESTCROFT Oh... I'm pretty sure they're American. The muck has gone down to knee deep or so, and Delbert is stopped in the muck. He sniffs, whines a little. John sets Gertrude down and begins poking around in the water. Tex sniffs up beside him, watches him trace the tripwire into the bush. We follow him behind leaves to an explosive device. Tex is right over John's shoulder as he pops the lid on the box. John stares hard at the green, orange, and brown wires. He puts his hand forward, Tex whining a little. Tex, his eyes all human, trades a long look with John. John puts a finger on the orange wire and Tex growls. He moves over the brown wire, then on to the green. As he touches green Tex ceases growling, licks his chops. John yanks the green wire, disconnects the others, and pulls the box apart. He looks at Tex, who grunts as John pulls the C-4 out and hefts it. GERTRUDE HALSE John? What is that? JOHN WESTCROFT Explosive 808. It's a nitrol. Smell it. Smells like almonds, doesn't it? GERTRUDE HALSE (Sniffing) Yeah, yeah it does. JOHN WESTCROFT Tear down a tank with this stuff. GERTRUDE HALSE Serious? JOHN WESTCROFT Absolutely. Catch it at the tread and it'll rip the whole side of it off. He pulls the fuse out and dumps it in the swamp. He smiles at her, and she slogs over to him. GERTRUDE HALSE Oh, god, sir, I don't mean to be presumptuous, but, may I ask, uhm, well. Well, I'm grateful for whoever you are, doing what you're doing for me and all, and I thank you, but, sir, do you know where we are sir? JOHN WESTCROFT Well... We've been going at a pretty good clip for a while... I say we've crossed into Texas at this point. GERTRUDE HALSE Texas? As in, America? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes, ma'am, that's right. GERTRUDE HALSE But, those men, they spoke German... JOHN WESTCROFT Right, well, I guess there's problems with them all over the free world ma'am. As we can see plainly. They had you on some pretty potent sedative, right? GERTRUDE HALSE Yeah, but I'm clearing up. I mean, I'm starving, but, yeah... JOHN WESTCROFT It won't be too long, I don't think. Maybe another klick or two. We'll have you in a fancy hotel with a big bathroom. Have you ever had this American thing called "grits," dear? GERTRUDE HALSE Uhm, no, I don't think so... Sounds kind of atrocious. What in the world is that? Sounds like something stuck in your drink. Grit. Like dirt. JOHN WESTCROFT Oh, now, let's not go judging a book by it's cover. It's made from hominy. It's like a, a white bean, absolutely delicious. GERTRUDE HALSE Well, maybe because you're such a proper gentleman I'll take your word. Right now I'd eat about anything you put in front of me. JOHN WESTCROFT Why thank you. Where you from, anyway? Belgium? GERTRUDE HALSE Close. I'm from Holland. The tripwire, unseen until John finds it the hard way, triggers and a chunk of C-4 explodes in the swamp. We go suddenly slow, John and Gertrude both looking directly toward the source of the explosion. Gertrude screams as John moves, shifting into his man-wolf form, shielding her from the blast with his thick form. Clothes, meat and hair shred. The blast propels them into the swamp, splashing into the bog. EXT. EAST TEXAS SWAMP, ROADSIDE John's assessment of the distance to the road was incorrect, and we see Tex and Delbert just a few hundred feet away. They have procured clothing from the first troop they slaughtered, Delbert's shirt having a huge red hole in the front of it. He sticks a finger through it. TEX Helluva set of fatigues, huh? Delbert smiles, and they both jump as the booby trap goes off. They immediately charge towards it, Tex launching a flare into to the sky on a dead run. They burst into the scene of the explosion, seeing John's furred back rejecting shrapnel and closing wounds. Gertrude splashes in the marsh. GERTRUDE HALSE Oh my god! I can't see! John shifts back down, his pants ragged, bloody, hanging by a thread. JOHN WESTCROFT Easy! Easy girl! Are you hurt? GERTRUDE HALSE I'm blind! Oh my god, I'm blind! JOHN WESTCROFT It's only temporary! Here, (He gathers her up) Here girl, easy, now, It's only a minute... Can you stand up for me? There's a girl... easy. Now try to relax, there, easy... You don't look like your bleeding, here. Just take it easy now. Easy now, just try to relax your eyes... GERTRUDE HALSE Okay... JOHN WESTCROFT Just blink for a minute... GERTRUDE HALSE Okay... It's so dark god it's so dark... JOHN WESTCROFT Just be patient. You'll be taking in a talkie in no time. (Noticing Tex and Delbert) Gentlemen! So glad you could make the swamp party! TEX She ain't hurt? JOHN WESTCROFT No, maybe a concussion. How much further to the road? TEX Only a couple hundred feet. Transport is on the way. JOHN WESTCROFT Great. How we doin' on time? TEX (Looks at sky) Hell John. It's probly not even midnight. They slosh back towards the road, John carrying Gertrude the last few hundred feet. The Diamond T's headlights bounce up the dirt road, followed by a Willys Jeep. Raymond Sussex is sitting shotgun in the jeep. RAYMOND SUSSEX Well boys. Looks like I win the bet with Colonel Hetfield. TEX And what bet might that be, Mister Sussex? RAYMOND SUSSEX Oh, just a gentleman's wager. Suffice it to say that I had the utmost confidence in you. And a good evening to you, Miss Halse. GERTRUDE HALSE Who's there? I... I'm sorry, I can't see. RAYMOND SUSSEX It's Raymond, my dear, and you seem to be in need of some medical attention. Gentlemen, shall we rendezvous in Beaumont for debriefing? Raymond loads her gingerly into the Jeep. TEX You know what kind of schedule we're on here, sir. No disrespect, but I figured that's why you brought two vehicles. We go straight back to Lackland. I told the Colonel We'd have this exercise whipped by ten, and I mean to have bacon and eggs with him at seven. RAYMOND SUSSEX You know, it's funny, Tex, that's exactly what our wager was on. There were fifty some- (Looks towards Gertrude) We'll discuss soon. You're heading straight for the airstrip? TEX Yes sir, I wanna try to run the Peregrine Scenario in the dark. RAYMOND SUSSEX Very good. You're dedication is a tribute to your character. Boys, (Climbing into jeep) We'll have a deep, soul searching series of discussions within seventy-two hours. Cheers. The jeep pulls away and the three ragged soldiers climb into the back of the Diamond T. The doors slam, and the engine shifts into gear. INT. BED, DIAMOND T TRUCK The truck rattles back down the washboard roads. John has to project himself to be heard. JOHN WESTCROFT What's the Peregrine scenario? TEX Heh. Well. Now. John, you ever heard of paratroopers? EXT. MIDAIR, DAWN John and Tex plummet through the air, half wolf and massive. Tex screams, but John is unable or unwilling to process. TEX Relax, dammit! Just keep in shift! John swims through the air awkward, clawing at Tex the whole time, TEX (CONT'D) Dammit, John! Tex shifts down to human, folds in his arms, and dives out of John's reach. He smacks the ground a split second before John does, shifting back to half wolf at impact, bouncing hard, bones breaking, muscles rend. John lands the same, the both of them stopped, bent, supernatural frames rebuilding. John, on a limping haunch, charges Tex. Tex dodges him, and John rebounds, bloodthirsty. TEX (CONT'D) Oh, now, for shit's sake. Tex grabs John at the throat and throws him, but not without John scraping his arms. When John jumps up again, Tex is already on top of him with open jaws at John's neck. TEX (CONT'D) Dammit, John, are you hurt? (John relaxes slightly) ARE YOU HURT? Tex gets up and shakes out the last of his completing joints. TEX (CONT'D) No, you're not hurt, you're just fuckin' scared. Now settle, god dammit. JOHN WESTCROFT Can we come up with an exercise that doesn't leave me buck fucking naked? Tex shifts down into wolf form, and his speech happens in his human eyes and in the space between wind. We see scratches bleeding on his front legs. TEX I think I'd look ridiculous, even if it was just one of them stupid scarves. Come on. We're gonna figure out a way to hit the ground running from these. The two wolves trot towards the airstrip in the sunrise. THE WEREWOLVES OF WORLD WAR TWO PART III On a clear day in Texas INT. COLONEL HETFIELD'S OFFICE COLONEL HETFIELD You know what the worst kind of thing on the planet is, Tex? TEX A Nazi? COLONEL HETFIELD Well, yeah, that's a pretty god damn good answer, Tex. I gotta tell you though, a puss ass traitor Nazi is the absolute worst. Somebody who would go to all the trouble to actually BE a Nazi, and then turn tail and fuck up even that. But I gotta tell ya too Tex, (Breaks into grin) TEX What, Colonel? COLONEL HETFIELD Unlike the rest of 'em, I got use for a yellow belly, turncoat traitor ass Nazi. What you say we go give an interview, huh nephew? (Winks) TEX Oh, I'm just tremblin' with anticipation Colonel. We pick up with them under the hot sun, in the INT. COLONEL HETFIELD'S TRUCK COLONEL HETFIELD So tell me about what happened in France? I wanna know all the gory details, son. You pull a Nazi spine out his ass, or what? TEX Aw, c'mon, now uncle, don't put me on the spot like that... COLONEL HETFIELD Now, dammit, how much have we invested in this training system so far? I don't even get a fuckin' story? TEX I didn't think it was my job to be an accountant, uncle, but I know how dedicated you are to the cause. Don't think I don't feel that every time I chew one of the sons-of bitches open. Aw, (Beat) Aw, hell, I'm such a hardass, huh? Shit, I'm sorry uncle, so, okay, look, Delbert's been in this burned out clock tower for like, six hours, holed up with a box of ammo-- EXT. SHOOTING RANGE, LACKLAND AFB Delbert sets a box of ammo down next to John, who lies prone shooting targets downrange. John tags out a target at one hundred yards. JOHN WESTCROFT Thank you, Delbert. Delbert nods as John reloads his rifle. DELBERT One fifty. JOHN WESTCROFT All right then. John rings the target at one hundred fifty yards four out of five times. Delbert nods again. DELBERT Two. John loads some more rounds, misses two shots. JOHN WESTCROFT Shit. Hang on now... Delbert nudges John, who looks up at him. Delbert licks his finger, holds it to the wind. John puts the rifle to his shoulder and rings the target three times. Reloads. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) Yeah. That's the, yeah, thanks again for the, (Shoots again) box of shells Delbert. I appreciate all your help with marksmanship. (Again) I feel like I'm not, I mean, (Again, misses) Shit, it's not there yet, but I feel like I'm on the road. INT. WILLYS JEEP Let's start outside it, actually, down low, where the rubber meets the road. Let's roll up over that sweet old forties jeep. Let the nostalgia whip through our hair, knowing that aw, they don't make 'em like that anymore. Let's go in through the window. RAYMOND SUSSEX You understand that this is extremely out of ordinary, you know, I mean, Miss Halse, when we agreed on our conditions in France... GERTRUDE HALSE Don't you go waffling on me now, Sussex. You god damn, you used me for bait out there. Hopped up on god damn morphine, I'm lucky I didn't get raped. And all I'm asking for is the opportunity to say thank you to the man who pulled me out of that mess. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, BASEMENT The napalm burns into the screaming woman's leg, a smoking, bubbling pulp. Doktor Purnima Indira watches, taking photos and writing on a clip board. The woman is barely more than a girl, screaming. Doktor Indira opens another space age tupperwear container, removing a spiderweb between still green leaves. She makes eye contact, spits through the web. As we look into her eyes during this process, a single tear rolls down her face. The girl metamorphoses into a small, pale wolf, almost like a large fox. It's leg burns still, the poor animal howling. Commandant Taubert Blasts the door in. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Vhere ist mine fveapon! DOKTOR INDIRA Oh, shit, no... The little fox howls louder as Taubert flips a table, smashes something in glass. He grabs a guard's gun and fires several shots into one of the other cages. The old man inside it, who has the number thirty-four tattooed on his face, dies messily, flopping apart. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) What the hell are you doing? Those are silver jacketed, oh, dammit... Taubert throws the gun, jumps down the stairs, punches Indira in the face. She crumples at his feet and he kicks her. Screaming, red with rage. COMMANDANT TAUBERT MINE VEAPON!! I VILL MAKE ZEH ARYANS ZEH BESCHT OF BLOODS!! Ve vill be immortal, vis none of zees pashetic schings VEAK, (Kicks her again) VEAKNESS, VEAKNESSES and, and FRAILTIES!! NICHT TZO SOFT!! I fuck I fuck your mother, in her dying bed, you, fuck HUND SCHEISSE! She sobs, and this only angers him more. He points at the guard, then the door. The guard leaves and Taubert picks up Indira by her shoulders. Her nose bleeds, and she coughs for us, dragging a ragged breath. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) (His teeth grit) I haff inveschtet, and mine family, in zvis proyect, and dyoo vill haff mine vrezhultsh. He lets her fall back down in a heap. He mutters to himself in German as he leaves, smashing wall clock on the way out. We get him in subtitle. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) This is a waste of the resources of the reich. Assanine. Inexcusable. If there are no results soon we shall simply have to place more emphasis on other weapons. The door swings, aching a wheeze on rusted hinges. EXT. PARKING LOT, LACKLAND AFB We see a military prisoner transport, big as a schoolbus, pull into a parking lot followed by Colonel Hetfield's truck. The transport opens and the only passenger climbs into the sunlight, in view of the shooting range. Delbert and John are focused on their shooting. TEX And me and John, right, we kick the door and bust it in, and THAT's when they bust out across the street, and Delbert, again, just knockin' 'em down okay? But John turns around and opens up with these two tommy guns, was like a god damn grain thresher uncle. COLONEL HETFIELD Oh, just, just waterin' that thirsty ground with nazi blood! TEX Yes sir! The prisoner shakes his shackles at Tex and Colonel Hetfield. COLONEL HETFIELD Well, looks like we're ready to start the interview! Tex and Colonel Hetfield approach the prisoner. On the way, Tex sees John and Delbert. The three of them exchange a salute. Raymond's jeep pulls into the parking lot at the same time, and everybody watches him and Gertrude get out. Tex and Colonel Hetfield enter a bunker-like building with the prisoner, while Raymond and Gertrude approach the shooting range. He waves at her. RAYMOND SUSSEX John, Delbert. Good to see you boys hard at work here. JOHN WESTCROFT Thank you sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX Now normally this kind of thing wouldn't even be considered. Seeing as the risk this young lady endured, however, we're allowing this. GERTRUDE HALSE Thank you, mister Sussex. John, and, Delbert was it? (She shakes their hands) Gentlemen, I just wanted to say thank you so much for what you did for me. I can't thank you enough, boys. I just can't even imagine what I would've done without you. JOHN WESTCROFT Thank you, ma'am. It was, it was all my pleasure. I would have preferred to have met you under different circumstances, but thrilled, anyway. Is there... Is there something else I can do for you? GERTRUDE HALSE Well, actually, if it weren't too forward, I'd like to buy dinner, you know, for the, the man that saved my life. JOHN WESTCROFT I'm flattered, ma'am. We're on a strict regimen here, though... (Looks at Sussex) RAYMOND SUSSEX Well... The prisoner looks out through a tiny window in the bunker like building. We see a bag go over his head. GERTRUDE HALSE I suppose mister Sussex did put up an awful fight about me even coming here. Well, John. Well. She grabs him, kisses him on the mouth. GERTRUDE HALSE (CONT'D) Maybe someday. Thank you, John. John stands dumbfounded as she turns and walks back toward the jeep. Delbert smiles. RAYMOND SUSSEX Right then. Fucking lawyers. Raymond follows Gertrude, and Delbert taps John's arm. John looks at Delbert, follows the foot that nudges the ammo can, and stares at Gertrude as she climbs into the jeep. INT. BASEMENT, WEWELSBURG CASTLE Doktor Indira limps to the guard's gun. She picks it up and goes to the howling, whimpering, tortured fox. DOKTOR INDIRA I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry baby. She tries to put a hand into the cage, to be met only with recoil. This pulls a sob from her. She points the gun at the frightened, broken animal. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) Oh... Oh, god... We pan out over the castle, a stark edifice in the gloom. A shot rings out, followed by the sound of Doktor Indira crying in huge heaving sobs. INT. INTERROGATION CONTROL ROOM Tex and Colonel Hetfield watch as a nurse administers a shot to the prisoner. TEX So, it's what, a sodium pentathol derivative? COLONEL HETFIELD Hell, I don't know. It's expensive as all hell, that's a fact. TEX Yeah, well I don't trust that kinda shit. Give 'im a hot meal then break his fingers. He'll tell you the most intricate details of his love life. COLONEL HETFIELD While I have no doubt, nephew, that you have become the kind of man that can stomach that sort of thing, there is oversight here. The treasurer would probably be appalled to see you bring the real deal right from the breach, and he will be through to check on the state's investment. He's promised to be thorough. Smashed hands or black eyes, cigarette burns, any of that shit, and we're up the proverbial creek sans paddle. Shut the whole thing down, congressional inquiry... Don't wind me up. Listen, this son of a bitch is expatriate, which means he's theoretically here under his own will. The sensory deprivation and serum are more precaution than anything else. Got them cameras up in there? INTERCOM Yes sir, rolling. EXT. GATES, LACKLAND AFB Raymond stops the car at the guard shack and opens the door for Gertrude. GERTRUDE HALSE Thank you again, mister Sussex. You did good with the immigration papers and all, too. Is there, RAYMOND SUSSEX I'm going to stop you right there, miss. I've gone to quite considerable risk just bringing you here. Now the agreement was citizenship and employment, with a nest egg and the opportunity to start a new and better life here in the colonies. GERTRUDE HALSE I know, I just, it's hard here for me. I don't really know anybody, and I so appreciate John's help. I see exactly what you mean when you said I'd be perfectly safe. I didn't mean to be so curt with you earlier. I know you're just doing your job. RAYMOND SUSSEX (His eyes soften) Miss, I'll be in touch with you through my organization. Maybe when the war is over, well... Well take care, miss Halse. Let's capitalize on the era here and have her climb into a gorgeous, old school Lincoln Continental, pulling off as the sun sets over the early forties San Antonio skyline. INT. INTERROGATION CONTROL ROOM TEX Don't wind you up, hell, uncle, why'd you bring me down here? I was thinkin' a good ol' kraut bashin', and shee-it, whatchoo want me ta do, go in there and bad breath 'im inta lettin' loose? COLONEL HETFIELD Dammit, Tex, I'm fuckin' serious here. He, in theory, WANTS to be here. I need you here to listen, and help me figure this out when Raymond gets here. Now, this is some shit that'll concern you, I'm absolutely positive. The file's over there on the desk, why don't you, yeah, there we go, thank you nephew, let's see... EXT. SHOOTING RANGE, LACKLAND AFB, DUSK DELBERT Gets harder in the dark. JOHN WESTCROFT Yeah, yeah no kidding. You ready to call it then? Delbert jerks his head, spits, collects up ammo and heads toward some benches by the wall. He sits, motions John over, and without words Delbert begins to disassemble the rifle, John doing the same. Delbert points, guides. He and John peel the rifles apart, and are mostly reassembled when Raymond's jeep pulls back into the parking lot. He hails them. RAYMOND SUSSEX Men! How're the rifles today? JOHN WESTCROFT Oh, I think I've handled mine worse, sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX From debriefings I should hope your making a conscious effort to push that in one particular direction, yes? Delbert, how's young Westcroft here fairing with the rifle? DELBERT Squirrely. RAYMOND SUSSEX Heh. Heh heh. Well, men, let's head on inside. Got a bit of highly classified rigamarole, secret turds in hidden loos, all that. Come on. He leads them into the bunker-like building. The security doors buzz open, and with a latch and clang we are INT. INTERROGATION ROOM HALLWAY Flooded by a sterile florescent white. The dirt John and Delbert track in is slight, but painfully visibly on the antiseptic white floor. RAYMOND SUSSEX There has been, as far back as a few years now, talk of what the other side may be up to on a comparable basis, and we have acquired some incredible intel. This was not, however, an inexpensive squeeze we're talking about. JOHN WESTCROFT Other than the pricy bit you've absolutely lost me there, mister Sussex. Delbert, did you understand anything that man just said? Delbert grunts and Raymond gesticulates, working his jaw as he dumbs down the ultra classified into bold headline. RAYMOND SUSSEX Okay, so, it stands to reason that we are not the only people interested in developing weapons. Suffice it to say, that we are now absolutely certain we are not the only habberdasher on market street. We've got an incoming location on a research facility complete with wrought silver cages, well funded labs, and silver jacketed rounds for just in case one of them gets loose. Apparently, the German government has spent a nearly equivalent amount on a similar project. Raymond shows a badge to a guard at a door, and we move with them to the INT. INTERROGATION CONTROL ROOM Where Tex and Colonel Hetfield are having a similar conversation. TEX Now how's this work? They've got some Indian lady doctor? Like, like one of Delbert's relatives? COLONEL HETFIELD And speak of the devil. Afternoon, or, evening, yet? Howdy, Ray, John, Delbert. No, Tex, I don't mean an American Indian, I mean an East Indian, as in, from India? Her name is, Hell, Ray, can you pronounce this? RAYMOND SUSSEX Purnima Indira. She's been educated in Calcutta, Oxford, and the U.S. ivy league. One of the leading biologists and zoologists in the world. She's obviously being blackmailed in some fashion to be working with them, that being another action item here on my interview list. Also construction details, yeah. Bunch of stuff. Colonel, are we getting close? COLONEL HETFIELD Hell close enough. Let's get this show on the road. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM Raymond pulls the black hood off the prisoner and looks into his glazed eyes. He gestures at him with a pack of Pall Malls. RAYMOND SUSSEX Cigarette? PRISONER Why, why thank you sir. I love these American smokes. RAYMOND SUSSEX Well, your English is a bit better than I had been led to believe. PRISONER I've been trying to recall my lessons. He puffs the cigarette to life, smoking with his left hand while the right one hangs from the shackle. PRISONER (CONT'D) Are the bonds truly necessary sir? I mean, we're here on your home turf. Were I to be running free here I'm sure the men on the towers would cut me down. RAYMOND SUSSEX I suppose you do have a point. You wouldn't get far if you tried anything. Raymond unlocks the shackles and they clank to the floor. The prisoner stretches, yawns. PRISONER Well, first things first I suppose. He sticks out his hand for a shake. PRISONER (CONT'D) Dieter Griebe, former Reichs Commander for the SS. RAYMOND SUSSEX Raymond Sussex, His Majesty's Special Operations Executive. They shake hands, Dieter pushing a thick plume of smoke out of his nose. RAYMOND SUSSEX (CONT'D) So, mister Griebe, I should ask this of you, Why are you so eager to help us? DIETER GRIEBE (Mulls it over) Well, sir, I knew, (Drags his smoke) I knew when I signed on that the men I was working under were not moral men. We're soldiers here, and there are provisional differences between working in the military and working for, say, a print office. The things I have seen... (Ceases musing, grave) Well, I've seen things that I never anticipated, to be sure, but I have become convinced that the things I've seen come from only one thing. RAYMOND SUSSEX And what would that one thing be? DIETER GRIEBE Sir, I believe it to be a pact with the devil himself. EXT. TEXAS DIRT ROAD, NIGHT Gertrude Halse kicks up dust in her beautiful new Lincoln Continental, puffs of dry brown rising into the night. She is a new driver in a new American car, and we observe the petals and speedometer with her. She likes it, rolling down the window, taking her hair down. She tunes in the radio, Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" squawks in, and she finds the volume. As the tune rounds the bend into the brass solo, she rounds a washboard old corner and the driver rear passenger resounds like a gunshot, erupting bits of thick rubber across the road. Swerving, the vehicle comes to a stubborn halt. Gertrude climbs out of the car, observing the damage. She is at a loss, exasperated. She begins to search the car, a pair of headlights round the corner going the opposite direction, approaching. The horns are horribly out of place, their wacky wailing becoming spitefully cruel to the stubborn, stopped automobile. Gertrude kills the radio in an exaggerated click. INT. INTERROGATION ROOM RAYMOND SUSSEX A deal with the devil, sir? Dieter pulls thick on his smoke, letting the gravity of what he just said weigh in. His glossy eyes let us watch his stoned mind put tons of imaginary heft to his speech. DIETER GRIEBE Aye, sir. I'll not discount the studies they do, the biology and genetics and testing. They call these things mutants, some sort of deviate branch from the evolving pattern. But I know, sir. I know evil when I see it. The very air is heavy with, with a darkness, I... It's hard to believe, I know. RAYMOND SUSSEX No, no, far from it. To be clear though, you do believe in a devil? DIETER GRIEBE Most of course, yes, sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX So, you are, a religious man? Is that correct? Is that what I'm hearing? DIETER GRIEBE Yes, yes sir. Catholic, sir. RAYMOND SUSSEX Isn't there some, well, doesn't that disqualify you from service? Being Catholic, that is? DIETER GRIEBE Well, in name, sure. Recently it's changed. Used to be we all went to mass every Sunday, and paid formal homage to the fuhrer in the mean time. I love my country, sir, I do, but, now the Catholic is considered a second class citizen. Almost like a dog fucking Jew. We can't wear any rosary. Nothing like that. And with the things I've seen in Wewelsburg, sir, I... RAYMOND SUSSEX What, mister Griebe? DIETER GRIEBE I'm in fear for my mortal soul. INT. TREASURER GRANT'S BUICK Treasurer Grant sits in the back, his driver slowing as they approach the Lincoln Continental, Gertrude holding the trunk. TREASURER GRANT Charles, stop the car. Now what's a sweet flower like that doin' all alone out here? Treasurer Grant gets out of the car and approaches Gertrude. TREASURER GRANT (CONT'D) Trouble with the auto, ma'am? GERTRUDE HALSE Why yes, I suppose. Got a little carried away here in the new car. These, uh, these American cars are powerful things. TREASURER GRANT They certainly can be, cant' they? Oh, where are my manners, I beg your pardon, (Takes her hand) I'm William Joseph Grant, the treasurer of the great state of Texas. Who might you be? GERTRUDE HALSE Gertrude Halse, sir. TREASURER GRANT Well the pleasure is all mine. Y'know, there ain't much out here in these parts. I assume you're coming back from Lackland, is that right? GERTRUDE HALSE Yes sir, I was going to my hotel in town. TREASURER GRANT Miss, I'd love to escort you back right this second, but I'm afraid I'm already late for a meeting out here at the base. If you'd be so inclined, I can take you back to base and send you back out here with a fresh tire and a strapping young lad to fix her right up. How's that sound to you? GERTRUDE HALSE You Texans, I must say, are just the height of hospitality. INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB She preps a slide and drops two separate samples of blood. She places it under a microscope and we see with her. Red blood cells are chomped by a strange shape among them, a spiny dark thing. It consumes a few blood cells, then stabs one with a spine. It consumes, but then seems to host upon the cell. The tiny dark thing morphs itself into a near perfect hemoglobin cell, and pushes itself in among the other red cells. The knob clicks and we reduce amplification, seeing a multitude of the same, tiny black things becoming one with the rest of the sample. DOKTOR INDIRA I've got it. I've got it!! She breathes deep, her mood darkening, then saddened. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) Oh my god, I've got it... INT. TREASURER GRANT'S BUICK Gertrude sits in the back with Treasurer Grant, her hands folded beneath her light jacket. TREASURER GRANT So, where you from, if you don't mind my asking? GERTRUDE HALSE Holland sir. TREASURER GRANT Well, a visitor from across the pond. What brings you to Lackland? GERTRUDE HALSE I was just having a brief visit with my... Here we get an extreme close up of her hands, under her coat, shifting the ring on her middle finger to her ring finger. GERTRUDE HALSE (CONT'D) My husband. We're newlyweds, and he's under the strictest command. Mister Sussex can't even let him-- Oop-- She covers her mouth, and Treasurer Grant laughs. TREASURER GRANT Mister Raymond Sussex? GERTRUDE HALSE Oh, I've got such loose lips, sir. I just, well, you've a disarming manner, and... TREASURER GRANT Not to worry, little lady, you've lucked out. I'm one of the good guys. So let me guess, that car a weddin' present from ol' Colonel Hetfield? He's tacky like that. Buy a little lady like you a big honkin' machine like that. (She just smiles) No surprise there. Then turn around and, what did you say? Can't let him... (She keeps smiling) Yeah, he keeps this whole thing on a real tight leash. Now, what, exactly, can't mister Sussex let your husband do? GERTRUDE HALSE Well, sir, I'm staying at the Saint Anthony, have you seen it? TREASURER GRANT Oh, yes, ma'am, I had brunch there with Lucille Ball on Wednesday. GERTRUDE HALSE Okay, right, so it's this big, grand hotel, with a fabulous restaurant and a great bar, and I've got this big spacious room, and, well, TREASURER GRANT It's goin' to waste, idn't it? GERTRUDE HALSE Exactly, sir. The car approaches the gates of Lackland AFB, where a soldier comes to the window. He looks at the driver's papers and waves them through. We watch from overhead as they drive the base. TREASURER GRANT Now, darlin', what'd you say your man's name was again? GERTRUDE HALSE John, sir. Oh, thank you sir. They climb out of the buick in the parking lot and walk into the bunker. He stops at the guard, smiles at her. TREASURER GRANT Now you just sit tight, and I'll see if I can make a just married miracle for ya, okay? At this point we have moved through the GATES, PARKING LOT and INTERROGATION ROOM HALL into INT. INTERROGATION CONTROL ROOM With a door securing firmly. Colonel Hetfield grins. COLONEL HETFIELD Billy Joe! TREASURER GRANT Dale Junior! How the hell are you? COLONEL HETFIELD Doin' mighty fine, doin' mighty fine. Yourself? TREASURER GRANT Oh, just the same ol' thing. Checkin' up for the committee folk. Now, damn, Dale, damn, this is why they sent me down here. Look at this, what is this you're doin' to this man? COLONEL HETFIELD He's a nazi. TREASURER GRANT He's an expatriate nazi, Dale, this isn't the god damn front lines. What're ya gonna do, pull his fuckin' toenails out? Treasurer Grant shoots a look at Tex. TEX I'll pull your fuckin' ass off! COLONEL HETFIELD Dammit!! Settle the hell down! Now, all we're doin' is askin' him questions at this point TREASURER GRANT God dammit, I read the letter he sent to Sussex! All we need to get out of him is a location! Look at all this! COLONEL HETFIELD None of this is breakin' any bank, and you know it. Now Ray has a list of questions that we're-- TREASURER GRANT No, fuck all this. Is that damn intercom on? You hear me control? INTERCOM Yes sir. TREASURER GRANT Good. What the fuck's his name? COLONEL HETFIELD Raymond Sussex, with the British Secret-- TREASURER GRANT No, dammit, I know that, the prisoner in there? COLONEL HETFIELD Dieter Griebe. TREASURER GRANT All right, control? Patch me in there. Right now. Upon "now" his voice rumbles in the interrogation room, making Raymond and Dieter both jump. TREASURER GRANT (CONT'D) Y'all hear me in there? Damn right you do, look at you, like you're hearin' the voice of the almighty from on high. Hell, y'are! Mister Griebe, We're gonna have a meal and a fresh set of clothes for you in a minute, there. Raymond, you haul it on in here. I wanna talk to you. And leave that pack of smokes. Raymond Sussex storms into the Interrogation Control room. RAYMOND SUSSEX Just what the blue blazes do you think your-- TREASURER GRANT You put a cork in that right now, Mister. I'll put you on a little row-boat back to that war torn cocksucker your from so fast it'll make your god damn head spin, you hear me? Now I wanna talk about overwork and compensation right now. How long you had these boys doin' the dirt? Months at a time in the field? What's your name, Delbert, how long's it been since you seen some R and R? Delbert just looks at him. His eyes widen just a little, mildly incredulous at what he's hearing. TREASURER GRANT (CONT'D) Hell, Sussex, he's lookin' at me like he don't even know what the fuck R and R means. Now look here. You're John, right? JOHN WESTCROFT Yes sir. TREASURER GRANT You go and you take my car, (Hands him the Buick keys) And you take that gal out for a night in San Antonio. That's an order. She deserves it and I think you know it. Tex, Raymond, Dale Junior, you boys all go take a night off. Go out and remember what we're fighting for. I'm one hundred percent serious here. Haven't we offered this guy in here a full diplomatic immunity package? And those are shackles on him? Unbelievable. Control? INTERCOM Yes sir? TREASURER GRANT Shut it on down for me. Go on now, clear on out. Raymond, Tex, Delbert an John all file out. We watch through the window of the control room as Grant unshackles Griebe's legs. He takes him in to the control room, then into a separate door. We are now INT. INTERROGATION BRAIN ROOM There are massive multiple screen, huge surveillance displays, tapes winding, strange machines whirring. Dieter looks around, and Treasurer Grant looks at him. Grant snaps into a nazi salute, and Dieter does the same. Grant smiles, and moves to hug him. We have subtitled German. TREASURER GRANT Come embrace me as a brother, Dieter. Your sacrifice for your country will be remembered. You will be one of the great men of history. In the mean time... Hope you've been practicing your english, eh? EXT. PARKING LOT, LACKLAND AFB Tex, Raymond, Colonel Hetfield and Delbert watch John and Gertrude drive off in the Buick. Raymond kicks a rock. TEX Somethin' smells like bullshit. RAYMOND SUSSEX Probably bullshit. TEX How far did you get? I mean, down your list of questions. RAYMOND SUSSEX Far enough. Colonel, what do you know about Treasurer Grant? COLONEL HETFIELD Well, he's not lyin' about his committee. I've seen him with Senators and, hell, I think he had dinner with the pope last year. He probably can pull the plug on the whole thing. I don't think it's terribly realistic that he would... RAYMOND SUSSEX Is this your liberal politics at play her? Some kind of military union shit? COLONEL HETFIELD Y'know, everybody's gotta cover their ass, Ray. TEX Still smells like bullshit. I'm going to cartography. Raymond, what's that location? RAYMOND SUSSEX Wewelsburg, Germany. North Rhine Westphalia. Pretty far deep. TEX Right. Tex turns on a heel. He stalks off into the night. INT. CHANDA INDIRA'S ROOM Doktor Purnima Indira creaks open the door to her mother's room. She carries a plate of food. DOKTOR INDIRA Mama? Mama, I got us something. CHANDA INDIRA Oh, baby, what did you bring me? DOKTOR INDIRA Well, it's no Aunt Isha, but I managed to wrangle enough ingredients to whip up a curry... CHANDA INDIRA Oh, sweet baby. DOKTOR INDIRA Now I warn you, it's not fresh, but, given the circumstances... CHANDA INDIRA It's delicious. They chew in silence for a moment. Doktor Indira strokes her mother's hair. CHANDA INDIRA (CONT'D) I had a dream, baby. DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah? What did you dream about? CHANDA INDIRA I dreamed that the woods went forever underneath a tiny fingernail of moon. It was so bright. Then all at once the moon went very full, and the woods themselves came alive, trembling in the timbers. They took it back, baby. They came and they undid all the bad things. But then I woke up, and the moon was nowhere to be seen. In the far distance of the German wood, a single wolf howls a mournful cry. It rings over Doktor Indira's chewing. DOKTOR INDIRA That's quite a dream, Mama. CHANDA INDIRA What do you think it means? DOKTOR INDIRA It's probably just a dream mom. CHANDA INDIRA But I can smell them, the, the woods, the fir trees, the sweet wind... Doktor Indira exits, leaving her mother to her dreams. INT. TREASURER GRANT'S BUICK, NIGHT The streets flow by, the desert finally cool outside. John and Gertrude are bathed in the passing streetlights as they cruise. She has moved her ring back to her middle finger. JOHN WESTCROFT So. Uhm. GERTRUDE HALSE Yeah? JOHN WESTCROFT Ah, from, from Holland then? GERTRUDE HALSE Yeah. They drive on for a few blocks, stopping at a stop light. He looks over at her. GERTRUDE HALSE (CONT'D) Hi. JOHN WESTCROFT Hi. They fall on each other's faces, making out through a change of a light. INT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL RESTAURANT John and Gertrude sit across from one another at a dim table, drinks and food. She is laughing, hand over mouth. JOHN WESTCROFT No, really, it's amazing, innit? It's supposed to be this antique, right? Barely thirty years old... GERTRUDE HALSE You know, I've heard, and this is apparently somewhat appropriate, I think, I've heard, that in America it's like, one hundred years is a real long time, but a hundred miles is like, well, JOHN WESTCROFT Right up the road, right. GERTRUDE HALSE Right. Well, in the old world, one hundred years ago is like, nothing, right? But a hundred miles, now... JOHN WESTCROFT Right, that's like the difference between western and eastern Europe, isn't it? A waiter appears with a bottle of wine. WAITER Compliments of Treasurer Grant, lady. GERTRUDE HALSE Oh. Oh, thank you. JOHN WESTCROFT You know what I love about here? GERTRUDE HALSE That's good wine. No, John, tell me what you love about here? JOHN WESTCROFT Well, You know how we're here? GERTRUDE HALSE You, you don't say. JOHN WESTCROFT No, I mean, we, we can travel so fast now, right? We were in Russia this time Tuesday. But, half of that time has been in America. Texas alone, hell. And, you know, you can see forever over the mountains, and forests, and deserts, but then New York, too. New York! Have you been there? GERTRUDE HALSE Only for, well, didn't see much of it. JOHN WESTCROFT Gertrude, it's amazing, it's hugely lit, and they don't ever turn off the lights. In London or Edinburgh, or god the burnt husks of Norway, they call it the city that never sleeps. The champagne pops, their glasses fill, their glasses ting. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) You look positively smashing, I must say. So, (Sips champagne) So what are you doing here? What, how did you get involved with Sussex? GERTRUDE HALSE Well, in, you read the papers, John, in Holland, the powers that be didn't want us to get rid of the Jewish family in our basement. They uh, they covered transportation pretty good. I think, y'know, I just didn't see much savagery in those men. I think they really really wanted my dad to, I guess, see their light. I came home to, John it was horrible, they burned the whole thing down. I had nothing, and mister Sussex found me. He had been there trying to get warning through to my father. When he saw what was left for me, and I mean, there was nothing, John. There was, I mean... Well he offered me a chance to emigrate to the States. Offered me a new life. What, what about you, John? JOHN WESTCROFT Surprisingly similar story. The reich took my family dumping weapons to lighten their loads. Everything went in one fell swoop. GERTRUDE HALSE Right, so, it's personal for you too. JOHN WESTCROFT That's right. The whole thing. My family aren't Jewish, we didn't care one way or the other. But we were there, an easy target. GERTRUDE HALSE I hate, oh, god, John, look, let's talk about something else, huh? JOHN WESTCROFT Sure. I'm sorry. GERTRUDE HALSE No, no, it's my, listen, I want you to know that I support you all the way. I think what you're doing is so important right now. Seeing a swastika hang from the Arc de Triomphe, from the ruins of Rotterdam, thousands of people... JOHN WESTCROFT Ma'am, (He takes her hand) I think I'm breaking my orders, being a morbid stick in the mud. Won't you dance with me? She has caught herself right before tears. John leads her to he dance floor, and soon they are both smiling, spinning amid the sparkling ballroom, Texas decadence sparkling from the mirrors and chandeliers. INT. CARTOGRAPHY ROOM, LACKLAND AFB Tex pours over maps, Raymond rifles through files. TEX Raymond, this is way the hell in here. This isn't like, nazi occupied territory. It's the heart of the reich here, man. RAYMOND SUSSEX I know. I'm trying to run logistics on transport. We've got moles near there, but they're buried real deep. I mean like bank employees, a guy in a patent office. TEX Right? Buncha salty dogs there. We can run peregrine with packaged gear, but that gear can't include explosive or ammunition. That's a bit of a damper with insertion. We're pretty resourceful once we get down... Hey, Raymond? What do we know about the staff? Who cooks and cleans up their shitters? RAYMOND SUSSEX Well, I don't know anything right this minute... I love where you're going with this. I should really just need a few photos from inside. Tex, Tex this is going to be something else. These guys are packing silver jacketed rounds. They actually know what their up against. I don't think you'll be able to get much past those kind of munitions. TEX All we need is to get components into it and burn the son of a bitch down. RAYMOND SUSSEX That's not it. TEX What? RAYMOND SUSSEX I mean it. This isn't a burn the house down scenario. TEX What the hell are you talkin' about? Raymond puts the file down and takes off his glasses. He regards Tex cooly. RAYMOND SUSSEX There's something I think you don't understand about the way the third reich does business. Look at it like this. What if here, in the United States, instead of costly lab work, we did medical research on convicts? I mean, look at how that would work. You trade off your sentence for having some experiment done to you, okay? Seem like the worst idea ever? Hell, it's downright humane. Okay, now imagine you have a prison population that is never intended for rehabilitation. The only state sanctioned fate for them is death. So you see, nothing to stop them from opening up their skulls and tinkering around, whatever. The thing about this radically inhumane form of research is that it's damn effective. We're doing recon here, John. The goal is to get Doktor Purnima Indira out of there alive. She's being held there with her mother, a blind old lady in a hospice bed. They'll kill her mother, probably along with her if we screw this up. You factor in that these men have weapons that can kill you, and Tex, we're looking at a whole new operation. Quite frankly, the reward isn't worth the risk. TEX They're killing my kind. In silver cages. To make weapons out of 'em. RAYMOND SUSSEX Yeah, kind of like a bullshit version of our project. One where nobody gets asked. I hear they have a silver test for every inbound member of the work camps. We can cripple the operation right here and apply everything they've got to our project. It's the kind of thing it just doesn't make any sense to waste. Besides, they're holding her captive, Tex. TEX Right. How could we not. INT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL, GERTRUDE'S ROOM John and Gertrude share a smoke as dawn peeks stubborn through the window. GERTRUDE HALSE So, what are you going to do when we win the war? JOHN WESTCROFT I haven't made up my mind, to be right honest with you. I've been taken with the States. It's such a big country here. We could buy a car and drive the whole country. GERTRUDE HALSE Mmmm. That sounds nice. John leans in and kisses her. JOHN WESTCROFT Sorry. I don't want to, but Tex would have my head if I don't make P.T. GERTRUDE HALSE Have your head, huh? JOHN WESTCROFT Well, maybe not my head, but I wouldn't want Delbert to look at me like that. John gets up to leave, and she pulls him down and kisses him again. GERTRUDE HALSE You'll find me when you come back? JOHN WESTCROFT Of course. They embrace, then John leaves. He smiles at her before he shuts the door, taking a long look at her. THE WEREWOLVES OF WORLD WAR 2 PART IV An American Werewolf in Wewelsburg EXT. WEWELSBURG GERMANY, NIGHT A tiny prop plane silently passes overhead. Three shaggy shapes, each dragging a pack behind them, fling themselves from the plane. They thump to the ground out in the forest. They unpack clothes and a small radio, which John and Delbert assemble. Tex radios in to Raymond. TEX Alpha delta alpha seven one niner, come on back. RAYMOND SUSSEX Copy and clear. Proceed to location alpha. TEX Nineteen. They kill the radio and bury it beneath a tarp, then a layer of duff. They proceed towards the road. They watch from the bush as a car pulls up, a glorious fresh Volkswagon Beetle, driven by a young man. TEX (CONT'D) Really? Tex towers over the diminutive automobile. TEX (CONT'D) They should have sent four of these things. (Observes driver) Who the hell are you, kid? JOHN WESTCROFT My thoughts exactly. BENNY GOODMAN I'm your contact. I'm Benny Goodman. TEX I thought Benny Goodman was a banker. JOHN WESTCROFT I thought Benny Goodman was a Swing man. BENNY GOODMAN Oh, I'm all that and then some, hepcats. I didn't think you were gonna bring the kitchen sink with you... TEX Look at this kid! He can't be more than fifteen! BENNY GOODMAN I'll be sixteen in a month! Look guys, we can stand here gawking at my father's automobile and wait for Dorf and his gestapo cronies or we can cram in here. Whaddaya say we make the scene before they sneak up and frisk our whiskers? EXT. ROAD, WEWELSBURG They are a sight, squeezed into the tiny car; Tex shotgun and John and Delbert in the back, their faces nearly obscured by the packs they carry. TEX So, listen kid, we really appreciate it, but I really think your father should probably-- The car screeches to a halt. BENNY GOODMAN Pin them ears open for this alligator. I'm the only contact you got. Old man Dutten got shot in the street two days ago cause he slipped his lip to the wrong old lady at bingo. Are you pickin' up what I'm layin' down? TEX But, kid-- Benny turns the engine off and the headlights wink out. BENNY GOODMAN Quit callin' me kid. I need you to collar my jive here. My father hasn't handled his own letters since the late thirties. The person your boss, who I know as Scarborough, has been communicating with is me. Look, man, pops is on his last leg, and I cut my whip for this. JOHN WESTCROFT Your whip? BENNY GOODMAN Yeah, cat, my whip. My hair. You know it's perfunctory for us all to join the Hitler Youth. Can't go blowin' my cover in the name of fashion. TEX You say you're dad's on his last leg? BENNY GOODMAN Bedridden, alligator. TEX So you've been... BENNY GOODMAN Now you're startin' to twist them noggin' knobs. See, I've been havin' to do pops' work since mom shit the bed. When she took ill, she was handllin' the family biz from home, for the most part. Dad set it up so he could do all his consulting by mail, and at first I was just the helpin'. Well, mom went faster than dad, and when he went blind, he didn't have any choice but to use me for his eyes. He swore up and down he didn't want me to have anything to do with this whole allies intrigue applesauce, that we should turn the whole thing over to old man Dutten, but I told 'em no way, buddy. I do so much stuff around town anymore, this place would probly just fall right apart without me. Look, man, okay, turns out old man Dutten got a, a case of diarrhea of the mouth at the fish fry, and Dorf and his gestapos shot him. Benny has been looking at Tex in the eye the whole time. His voice has not cracked or wavered, but tears stream from his eyes. He either doesn't notice or doesn't care. BENNY GOODMAN (CONT'D) They shot him in front of everybody. The whole town. Left him there, in the gutter, the shit running out of his knickers and the blood oozing out the hole in his head. I'm scared shitless they're gonna do it to me, but they can't do it to my mom, and it don't matter if they do it to my dad. Probly be doin' the poor cat a favor, anyway, condition he's in. So here it is, fellas. You got one contact here. It's me. And I'm the the only one you're ever gonna need. If that ain't gonna work for you, well, (Beat) Well, that's why I stopped the fuckin' car. TEX Well, son, ah, ah shit, man, you're a very brave young man. BENNY GOODMAN Now we're cooking with gas. Look fellas, I don't mean to snap my cap, it's just that, The new engine roars back to life and car is moving again. BENNY GOODMAN (CONT'D) Cat, I'm all alone out here. I can't even tell anybody I like the, I mean, you know they call it nigger-kike music? I can't even show off my forty-fives. JOHN WESTCROFT Jesus, kid, they gave you a gun? BENNY GOODMAN Of course I have a gun, you bozo, but I'm talkin' about records. My jazz singles. These blind assholes can't handle that I listen to Jew music, and I can only imagine what they'd do if they knew my dear ol' ma was half. TEX I don't think that would take much imagination. BENNY GOODMAN Right? TEX Well okay then. Now, in order to keep all that in your imagination, we need to get this underway. Now when we got the briefing from Raymond-- BENNY GOODMAN What? TEX When Raymond Sussex, your contact, our unofficial-- BENNY GOODMAN No, no, no, dammit, my contact's name is Scarborough, my name is Benny the bee's knee's Goodman, and your name is agent. (Looks into back seat) And your name is agent, and your name is agent. Now, agent, you were saying? TEX Right. Now we were led to believe that someone over here had access to the laundry of the castle. BENNY GOODMAN Yeah, that's right. My dad owns the company now, placed into his hands after they killed the Jews who used to own it. I get the pleasure of dropping off their linens and picking up their... You boys know what they're doing in there? (Beat, silence) They're cuttin' somethin' up in there. I pull these blood soaked linens, some of 'em torn to shreds. How it works is, like this. They pull into a garage on the side of a small laundry business. The boys unpack themselves from the tiny car, and we are now INT. GARAGE, LAUNDRY COMPANY BENNY GOODMAN In two hours, I drive the laundry truck to the servants entrance of Castle Wewelsburg. I pick up the bloody strips and freshly shit bedspreads and take 'em down here. TEX You don't have to swear just to impress us, Benny. BENNY GOODMAN Shut the fuck up, agent. So far you military clods are nothing but liability. I'll ask you for a grammar lesson when that little mustachioed madman is rotting in hell. You know the castle belongs to Himmler, right? I mean, somebody told you? TEX Yeah, well, we had heard... BENNY GOODMAN You weren't supposed to answer that. Matter of fact just, just stop interrupting me. Look. I pick up their dirty laundry in two hours. They haven't looked twice at me in a year. I know from my own personal fieldwork that those boys are always the servants at the end of the night shift. They dump it off with me, they don't wanna see it anymore, they don't wanna see me. They barely watch me dropping off the next day's sheets. The basket sits there for at least an hour untended. So if there's a way in, it's there. See, it's like, jinky keen business as usual, only this time I'll be dropping off, He points a clothes hanger at the three of them, standing there, dark, dirty, starkly contrasting the clean linen. JOHN WESTCROFT Us. BENNY GOODMAN Gettin' a handle on this thing, agents? They regard him grimly, acting badly, trying to seem perturbed. The truth seethes just underneath them; they know they are here on business, and it's a day at the grind. The steel in their eyes glints, so obviously weapons grade. TEX Two hours huh? BENNY GOODMAN (Checking watch) Uh, one forty-five. Tex nods, begins digging into his pack. He pulls a map of the castle and spreads it as John digs his black pearl handle Colt from his bag, pulls two clips from his bedroll. John fashions them together, then to a wide rope necklace of the same kind theat Tex wore for his flares in the swamp. Tex has a similar setup with a pair of large knives, while Delbert's an empty, strange looking bundle. Benny is immediately very interested in the pistol. BENNY GOODMAN (CONT'D) Oh, is that a snazzy bastard! JOHN WESTCROFT Like that, eh? BENNY GOODMAN Oh it's keen, jinky keen, sheik. What kind of weapon is that? JOHN WESTCROFT It's my old commander's Colt Nineteen Eleven. BENNY GOODMAN Nice, nice. What's the round? JOHN WESTCROFT Fires a forty five. BENNY GOODMAN Lotta stopping power. TEX Those live rounds? JOHN WESTCROFT Of course. TEX You jumped out of a fucking plane with live god damn rounds!! JOHN WESTCROFT Well, what? TEX You, dammit, John, seriously? Sussex, Damn, Scarborough went over all the peregrine details, like, what Delbert, twice? Musta been while you were out screwin' around with the bait-- JOHN WESTCROFT Bait? She put her life on the line for a fucking exercise, Tex! BENNY GOODMAN God you're some loose lipped cads. You sure you're working with intelligence? What's the big deal? You boys jumping with faulty parachutes? John looks at Benny, who looks at Tex, then back. The silence is deafening. DELBERT We had good parachutes. EXT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE LAUNDRY ROOM Smell the oil of the torches in their sconces; we are, after all, at the back entrance to a castle. Benny pushes the huge laundry bin up the ramp towards the servant's entrance. As he leaves, he gives a nod to an emaciated worker at the gate. The androgynous, starved thing looks blankly in Benny's direction. As the basket is pulled in on a conveyor belt, at the real entrance, the beginning of the horizontal, hands grab the basket and pull it further in. We ride the edge of the massive laundry basket INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE LAUNDRY ROOM Where the torches flicker over broken, slaving workers folding and organizing, toiling under the watch of the guard. Tex is the first to poke his head up, drawing an immediate point of a sub-machine gun. He flings himself at the guard, a hail of bullets passing at that close range, steel pummeling stone wall. John stands up, downy comforters hanging, and wraps a pillow over his Nineteen Eleven Colt. He lets a round fly right as Tex reaches, pulling his feet out and man handling the SS Guard's face right into the floor, a scream muffled on account of sudden death. The slave workers begin to scatter. TEX Stop! Sto-- Arbeiten, uh, shit, anschlag!! We get him over subtitles, shitty English to represent his shitty German. Maybe hard to read crayon writing. TEX (CONT'D) Okay, stop, work, stop. Just, wait a minute. Now, everybody gets out of here, just don't make any noise, and carry on like normal, okay? Just, just act normal, okay? The noise coming towards the door is the stomping of boots. Tex throws the corpse towards the basket. John and Delbert catch it, stash it, and duck back down into the basket as Tex hides behind hanging sheets. The two SS Guards smash the door. Subtitles very bold. SS GUARD LEADER SLAVE!! WHERE IS SERGEANT HOAG!? The emaciated worker points a feeble arm towards the door. The two guards storm through the room, flinging the next door, busting out into the night. Tex comes out from behind the sheets as John and Delbert climb out of the basket. Tex addresses the workers. TEX Danke Schon. One of them nods through a daze. Tex, John, and Delbert go through the door the guards left in splinters. We push the camera into the gloom and we are INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY TEX What the fuck was that pillow shit, John? You tryin' to silence it? JOHN WESTCROFT Yeah. I heard him push his weapon but, Tex, you heard this thing? It's a damn banshee. TEX What the hell's a banshee? Some of that sheep shagger shit of yours? Whatever. Okay, we're at the east entrance now. We split first down there, at a hundred and fifty feet. Second split at around four. Delbert, first one's you, down into the cells. Next one's me, up to the lab, and John, you're straight on till her room. They exchange a nod and steal down the hall. Delbert breaks off soundlessley down the stairs to the dungeon, and Tex and John continue. An SS Guard down the hall has his sub-machine gun in hand, back towards them as they approach. John takes point. He silently approaches the guard and snaps his gun downward, jerking the guard at the neck. He smashes the guard's face on the gun and lets him fall in a heap, scavenging the sub machine gun. John and Tex pass, switching position. John does not notice as the guard gets up, grabbing a torch off the wall. He holds it over his shoulder, approaches and whistles just a little at John, just enough to get his face turned to take the full swing of the fiery business end. John howls, changing as Tex's head spins. John's clothes are mostly destroyed as he shifts, clawing apart the torso of the assaulting guard, then in a flash back down, unharmed but his clothing mostly shredded. He is still hanging with their rags, breathing hard and mad at being snuck up on. TEX (CONT'D) Wait a minute... (Bends, gets torch) John hold out your, your face there... you ain't? JOHN WESTCROFT If it's real hot, yeah. But like, candles? Tex holds the torch to his hand and burns himself, a relatively small red mark on his hand. He shifts over it in a wave of altering bone and fur, doing nothing. It's like he runs his supernatural wolf shape up and down his arm, but the burnt skin remains. TEX You mind? John holds out his hand. JOHN WESTCROFT Wait, well, here, give me the torch. He grabs it and smashes it into his hand, wincing as he grinds his hand between the stone wall and the hot torch. He pulls it back, showing Tex his wounded, smoking hand. He runs change down it in a blorpy, less controlled, flopping shift. When his hand returns to normal it is slightly marred and pink; he shifts just his hand again and it looks as though he never mashed the torch into it. TEX Son of a bitch. JOHN WESTCROFT Right? Doesn't work so well with much past a camp fire. They burned some of us to death a long time ago. John shrugs and Tex looks thoughtful a second, then they move on down the hall, long shadows cast by the torch sputtering on the ground. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE, BASEMENT Delbert slips into the gloom behind a pair of SS Guards, lets them pass. He steals down toward the basement door, puts his ear to it, sniffs. He gently pushes the door open, hear boots approach, and swings it in, knocking the guard inside there over, then shanking him a few times as he surveys the room. He looks at the dead SS Guard and picks up his sub machine gun. The silver cages glint, and as Delbert approaches he is visibly disturbed. Inside the cages are corpses, and one unconscious girl. He approaches gingerly, poking at the cage with the gun. It's lock is a thick, masterlock thing. Delbert Finds a piece of leftover rebar from the cage reinforcement, and begins smashing the lock, the soft silver bending, but the steel lock not moving. Delbert smashes harder, eventually ripping the cage's door clean off. He motions toward the young woman, hisses. It becomes obvious that she is completely unconscious, so he grabs her, throws her over his shoulder, and carefully avoids the silver cage on the way out. He surveys the room one last time as he exits. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY John creeps towards the door to what he assumes is Doktor Indira's room. He listens at the door, and cracks it, pushing gently. He has stumbled onto INT. CHANDA INDIRA'S ROOM JOHN WESTCROFT Doktor Indira? CHANDA INDIRA (Sniffs him, smiles) I knew you'd come. JOHN WESTCROFT Ah... Ma'am are you... CHANDA INDIRA Oh, I just knew you'd come! I remember your smell from my dream! You're so, ah, earthy! JOHN WESTCROFT Oh bollocks. CHANDA INDIRA No, No, I'm sorry, just a, a touch excited. You're here for my daughter. But you're... Now I dreamed this, your name is John. You're here for Purnima. Where have I let my manners go? My name is Chanda. It's a pleasure to meet you, John. JOHN WESTCROFT So where is your daughter? CHANDA INDIRA Oh, well, I assume she'll be in the lab. I don't rightly know. JOHN WESTCROFT So, you know my name, but you don't know where your daughter is? CHANDA INDIRA Oh look! Oh Buddha and Jesus and Plato! Oh, I can see you! We push the camera into her cornea and see a grey, dead television entirety, broken hard by the black, bristling wolf shape that is Sergeant John Westcroft. She grabs his arm. CHANDA INDIRA (CONT'D) Oh, baby, you're beautiful! JOHN WESTCROFT Now, wait a minute, lady. You might have guessed by name, but how do I know you're telling me the truth here? CHANDA INDIRA Oh, John, didn't I tell you? I dreamed this already. JOHN WESTCROFT Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry about whatever's ailing you, but... CHANDA INDIRA Oh, John, don't even get into any of that. Listen, I know that you're gonna take me out of here, and I feel for you, hauling a little old Indian lady out over you're shoulder. It's going to be a bitch. But I've got you on two things. JOHN WESTCROFT Wow, I'm really listening to this aren't I? CHANDA INDIRA I know, it's starting to feel like a waste of time, huh? But hear me out. First, my daughter won't go anywhere without me. It's how they keep her here, and she thinks I don't know. They tell me, I'm serious. And secondly, and you'll probably appreciate this, (She pats his arm) I know that you turn from man, to wolf, and into that thing that is neither in between, nor both, but more than the sum of all parts. A true son of the earth, the blood of the moon. Oh, child, you're beautiful. JOHN WESTCROFT Ma'am? CHANDA INDIRA Yes, boy? I mean, man, sir, yes? JOHN WESTCROFT Flattery will get you everywhere. He hoists her over his shoulder, carries her out into INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY CHANDA INDIRA Oh, you probably want to grab that weapon you left in there. Just a suggestion. JOHN WESTCROFT Right. Probably a damn good one, too. No sense living dangerously. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM The throne faces not the room, but one wall filled with crude closed circuit security. The fuzzy monitors are crackling, buzzing, feeding information, casting their blue glow. A man in a white coat prepares a syringe. He approaches the throne. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (Subtitled) Doktor Muller, Do you like my perspective? DOKTOR MULLER You can see every nook and cranny, can't you? COMMANDANT TAUBERT Yes, every shadow and every shape. The white coated Doktor Muller rolls up Taubert's sleeve, ties him off, shoots him up. Taubert's eyes roll back. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Tell me... You got all the files copied? All her major notes? DOKTOR MULLER Yes, sir. COMMANDANT TAUBERT I like your attitude. I think I shall enjoy working with you. And the, serum? DOKTOR MULLER Of course sir. Several samples, and I'm going over the field notes as we speak. COMMANDANT TAUBERT And no more sullying my fine Aryan tongue with that piggish English. Oh, wait, I want the sound for this part. He turns a knob and we see him focus on a monitor, labelled delicately to indicate it's location. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY Tex approaches an SS Guard who stumbles slightly. Tex slows, watches as the Guard keels over and pukes. Tex pulls the knife from his neck and sinks it into the sick guards eye, no honor in the kill, no battle, simple survival. It has taken only a second to stir the Guard's brain with the tip of the long blade. Tex takes careful appraisal of the situation. We cut to the nazi boot, stepping on the cold castle stone. Rise up slow over the uniform, and we see Tex grinning, checking his reflection in the glint of his massive blade. His grin fades as he looks down into the puke. TEX Oh, this shit really better work. He smears his hands and face, shuddering. He deposits the Guard's corpse in a closet and proceeds, pushing his way into INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB And immediately stumbles, hanging his head a little. The other Guard gives loud German which we get in subtitles. SS GUARD HELMUT Dammit Gunther! You smell like shit. TEX Enschuldigung, mein herr. SS GUARD HELMUT It's hard enough to do this without being the only one who isn't smashed every night. I know it's just some girl we're guarding, but you can't keep doing this... The Guard leaves in a flurry of disgust. Doktor Indira looks at him distractedly over a manilla file. DOKTOR INDIRA You're not Gunther. You're... Oh, who cares. If you speak English, the couch over there is where most of the guards sleep, oh god, you're covered in your own puke... TEX This here ain't my puke. This here's dead nazi puke. DOKTOR INDIRA Who the hell are you? TEX (Removes helmet) Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Arthur Rockler. My friends call me Tex. I know we've just met, but I'm hoping we'll be friends. DOKTOR INDIRA What... what outfit are you with? TEX American Intelligence, ma'am. Our operation is classified at a level beyond ultra. We are literally not here, not in Germany, we did not dive out of a plane and slog through a whole mess of zombie ass SS to get to you. And when Time Magazine interviews you, we were absolutely not here to pull you from the clutches of these vile bastards. DOKTOR INDIRA Nothing in this world is free. What do you want in return? TEX Ma'am, despite the dubious nature of our work, we are a one hundred percent volunteer operation. We were hoping we could bring you on board due to your level of... Expertise, in the area. DOKTOR INDIRA So, what, are you trying to offer me a job? TEX Ma'am, I'm offering you your freedom. We wanna slink off into the night with you, back to the states, put you to work for the good guys. She looks at him, sizing him up. She holds a small silver pendant in her fist. DOKTOR INDIRA Hold out your hand Tex. She burns him with it, stinging hand retracting and shaking. TEX Ow, god dammit! DOKTOR INDIRA A real live lycanthrope commando unit. I'll be damned. TEX Okay, look, damn that stings, so, as stated our operation is volunteer. My job is to get you the hell out of here, but I ain't gonna force nothin'. I realize you don't have any reason to trust me any more than these goose-steppin' racist cowards. But ma'am, you just gotta believe me, I'm one of the good guys. DOKTOR INDIRA You uh, you don't see any leg irons, right? TEX No ma'am. DOKTOR INDIRA So you can, being with intelligence, put together that I am not physically restrained. TEX Of course. DOKTOR INDIRA So... TEX So they're keepin' you hemmed up in here by some other means. DOKTOR INDIRA And so your next concern should logically be... TEX How are they keeping you here? DOKTOR INDIRA Well done, Sherlock. It's my mom. They're holding her hostage. I, I won't go anywhere without her. I can't. TEX Well I understand. Family's comes first, all that. You wanna lead me to her? INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM Commandant Taubert and Doktor Muller watch Tex in Doktor Indira's Lab. Again, subtitles. COMMANDANT TAUBERT What are they doing, firtting? DOKTOR MULLER We must stop this now. They have killed almost twenty men, by my count, and I haven't even been in here watching for the whole thing. The cost is in German lives here, Taubert. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Doktor Muller, we were off to such a good start. DOKTOR MULLER I'm serious here! These things are way too fast. The silver rounds in the guns don't mean shit if they can't draw a bead on them. Did you see the big blond one snap out Fred's arm when he tried to use the silver service knife? COMMANDANT TAUBERT First, you prepare me a fix. You're stressing me. Second, that guard's name was Walter, not Fred. Furthermore, I don't think you actually understand the gravity of the situation. There are events here at play that you cannot possibly comprehend. I am making HEROS of these men who give their lives for the fatherland here. In addition, I have plans that will not work if they are not sufficiently off their guard. DOKTOR MULLER So you're killing innocent men for your game?! It's sick! COMMANDANT TAUBERT Doktor, you are a real doctor, yes? DOKTOR MULLER What does that have to do with anything? COMMANDANT TAUBERT Are you a medical doctor? DOKTOR MULLER Yes, of course. Commandant Taubert shoots him in the leg, a fleshwound. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Then go patch yourself up. And send in a nurse who can fix a needle. Fool. The bleeding Doktor Muller hobbles sobbing out, the smoke hanging from Taubert's gun mixing with his cigarette. The monitors flicker, and he settles his attention on them. INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB DOKTOR INDIRA I'm not gonna be able to take all my files, but I can bring the master, plus a bunch of microfilm. TEX Nice. Like that microfilm. DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah, you really can't alter it, you know? Kind of impossible to forge. TEX Well, it's impossible to walk into a hail of bullets or bite through body armor, too. DOKTOR INDIRA Right. You bring some explosive? TEX Nope. DOKTOR INDIRA What are you going to do, chew the god damn castle down? TEX Believe me, miss, my idea of a good time would be blasting this place straight to hell. All fifty feet of blasting that would be... Listen, our orders are to get you out of here with minimal collateral damage. I guess there's some sentiment of saving this place for whatever reason. DOKTOR INDIRA This place is pretty ancient. TEX They can put the rubble in a damn museum. Whatever. We'll focus on that next trip. Right now let's talk about the location of your mother. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY Chanda bounces up and down on John's shoulder, flopping the breath out of her, making her voice push in odd spots. JOHN WESTCROFT How did you wind up here anyway? CHANDA INDIRA It's kind of a long story, but to be succinct, the nazis found my daughter and put her to work. Put her to work... They enslaved her is what they did. I'm from New York originally, and my late husband was from Delhi. We scrimped and scrounged and saved, to get my beautiful daughter the best education we could. If she wasn't so smart, so apt, with so much scholarship money, well... look out here. John shoots down an SS guard, barely breaking his stride. JOHN WESTCROFT So the SS got wind of her. CHANDA INDIRA Himmler himself oversees the project. Of course it was sold to her as a great job, initially, but the way these bastards do business is absolutely inhumane. And here... Here is the red wolf. Delbert rounds the corner with the girl unconscious over his shoulder. CHANDA INDIRA (CONT'D) With a little silver cub! JOHN WESTCROFT Delbert. You find somebody to play with there? DELBERT Prisoner. JOHN WESTCROFT Right. So, Tex should be in the lab... CHANDA INDIRA He'll be coming down from there any minute... INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB TEX Alright, now we're burning dark. We need to get this show on the road right now. DOKTOR INDIRA Okay, just one last thing... She lights a crumpled piece of paper and throws it into a pile of files. The flames begin to crackle and rise as they push out, into INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY Where they almost collide with Delbert and John. CHANDA INDIRA Baby! DOKTOR INDIRA Mom? CHANDA INDIRA John and I were just talking about you! And Look at the big gold one! TEX Big gold what? CHANDA INDIRA Why you, baby! I imagine my late husband would have referred to you as rakshasa, after the Hindu. TEX John, who the fuck is this? JOHN WESTCROFT It's her mom, Tex. She dreamed me. TEX Yeah, I had a dream I was a god damn butterfly, and now I'm no longer certain whether I'm a man dreaming I'm a butterfly, or if you're just a complete ass, John. DELBERT How we leaving? DOKTOR INDIRA How'd you get in here? JOHN WESTCROFT (Looks at ruined clothes) Laundry. TEX Remember the mess we left in there? We're leaving through the front door. DOKTOR INDIRA Is he serious? CHANDA INDIRA Oh he's serious, baby. TEX Come on. I'm point. Let's move. They blow the joint. EXT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE GATES, NIGHT I know how sour "They blow the joint" comes off, but let's take at jolt back down to the action. They crack these huge doors down, superhero style, to the chirping of crickets. Tex has all the grit in his teeth and so much lead straight away, Delbert is somehow aiming a Mauser right at the camera, an unconscious girl slung over his shoulder, surgical with any firearm on a dead run. They bolt down, through the trees, to the only underpass where they could possibly stumble the last little bit, Tex, as he guides Doktor Purnima Indira down the treacherous bluff, and let's get at least one good shot of them tumbling. The Black Beetle driven by Benny Goodman, wearing a ridiculous fake moustache, almost honks. He yanks his hand back and almost yells. He bites that back, looks around, waves at them. We can pan back now to the show the entrance to the laundry room, buzzing with armed men. Down the hill, Benny has opened the car doors. BENNY GOODMAN Get in get in! You guys paid extra to bungle? What's with the luggage? DOKTOR INDIRA I am a doctor, young man. BENNY GOODMAN I know that, doll. What's with the mummy and the kid? CHANDA INDIRA Ha! You little sap suckin' mother- TEX I'll beat his ass soon as we clear the Fatherland. How'n the fuck are we gonna squeeze-- BENNY GOODMAN I ditched the spare for your packs but... wait, did you leave your other luggage, old timer? TEX No, kid, fuck the packs, look, we got three plus-- BENNY GOODMAN Shove the girls in, you boys make the scene on the rails. Anybody stops us we gotta kill everybody. I don't got time for this, you assholes, You're gonna get me drilled, pablo, I mean... TEX (Slamming the door) Drive. Again with the powerful span of shot; Tex rides the side of the beetle behind the driver, Delbert forward and John rear on the other side. They truck down the road, beneath a pale German moon, the bloody scraps of John's clothes fluttering. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM All the cameras show still, still footage. Doktor Muller comes to us sparky over the intercom. DOKTOR MULLER They're gone. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Zvey are schtill not wer far. Zhere ist no, no schport. DOKTOR MULLER Sport? This is the backbreaking research of-- COMMANDANT TAUBERT Somevone hit him. There is a healthy ruckus on the other end of the intercom, followed by a brief but wild feedback squeal. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Doo vould lechture me on tze vresearch? He stands, pacing hard, passing screens. An SS Guard has entered, gently opening and closing the door. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Doo vould, fuck, doo, Here we go subtitles as he goes ballistic COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) You would tell me, of all people, of all of his furher's most trusted, loyal servants, you would lecture me in that pig English shit!? Oh, it's tea time in fucking Dresden! You shit eating ass! You want to tell me how to serve MY ORDERS, which are MY ORDERS, you get that straight! You get that straight right now! I run this whole show! I run it for MY REICH and I answer to MY REICH and my Reich does not answer to YOU! OR ANY PAPER PUSHING, REPORT FILING FLUNKIE THAT THEY'VE SENT FRESH FROM HITLER YOUTH TO FAIL ME!! The SS Guard has approached, gently attempting to gain Taubert's attention. He is utterly ignored. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) YOU NEVER QUESTION ME EVER! Somebody, somebody train a gun on him. Muller? You looking down the barrel of a gun? Are you? The SS Guard tries again as Doktor Muller gives a cry through the intercom. It's like Taubert sees him, recognizes him, and then starts hitting him with his little riding crop. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Don't you ever, ever, EVER think you know anything, anything at all about what I'm doing here-- SS GUARD KARL Sir, you said when the time was up to make sure... COMMANDANT TAUBERT Oh. Right. Commandant Taubert shoots the SS Guard in the face, remorselessly, watching almost bored as the body crumples. The guard watching Muller wants to shoot him so bad that he drools a little. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) That man in here, who just died? DOKTOR MULLER Yes? COMMANDANT TAUBERT He died so you did not have to. He can be your jesus. Freidrich? A powerful voice emanates from the intercom, affirmative. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Very Well. Release the bats. At this we push out of the castle to EXT. WEWELSBURG GERMANY, NIGHT On a nice wide buzz, so that we can see the monstrous bug rising from a helicopter pad inside the castle. It's huge, a great mechanical cicada bug, fierce and steely. It thumps and shakes the air, that ultra low thwip thwip thip that's crashed way down underneath thwup thwup twup, powering itsself up into the hazy air. A fire has started somewhere. TEX So you tellin' me she dreamed all this? JOHN WESTCROFT That's what she told me, man. She knew my name. As the giant bug like nazi death machine draws into view, Tex leans into the car. TEX Hey, lady, how much of this did you dream? CHANDA INDIRA Oh, child, my dream ended when John made it out of my room without being shot. TEX Oh, that's just gonna be real helpful. You wanna trade some god damn recipes? DOKTOR INDIRA You knock that off, you hillbilly prick! You get off barking at a blind lady? TEX Jesus, you're blind too? You don't even get to watch me tear this big ol' thing apart? JOHN WESTCROFT Hey, Tex, let's havr a poke at it, huh? Hey, uh, drive good kid. Real fuckin' good. John motions for Delbert's Mauser, then climbs the car to get a prone position, kind of wrapping the car in a balancing hug. He opens it up as the car jolts over a bump, it's ricochet on the armor resounding. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) Oh that was shit!! I was robbed! You gotta give me a fucking mulligan!! No one else seems to care as John dramatically cocks his rifle. The rifle pops again, flopping off the roof of the car. Delbert makes a sour face as John simply sets his jaw and pulls out his Colt Nineteen Eleven. He aims again and we somehow hear the bullet hitting flesh. The big mechanical bug begins to wobble in the sky. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) I got it! I fucking got it!! Delbert, did you fucking see that it's like I just-- As John follows the rest of their gaze, it crashes on him as hard as it hits us, the clank and splinter of wooden doors as we make the door into the gloom of INT. ABANDONED AIRSTRIP HANGER With the wood chips still almost afly, hanging among the sawdust particles and grit. Tex runs back to the door and watches the giant mechanical cicada spin, swirl, explode on the ground. TEX Yeah! Look at that! Son of a bitch, John! Shit, Delbert, is that a smile on you or is your face crackin'? Delbert's stoic face is tinged with the tiniest of smiles. Benny is already starting the black prop plane. JOHN WESTCROFT That's bloody well right, dammit. Doktor Indira runs to the broken door of the hangar. She looks at the smouldering, burning wreck of the nazi war machine, the small black plane in the hangar, her mother, then back to Tex. DOKTOR INDIRA I swear to you, on all my dead ancestors, and even the ones that are just blind and old and sick, from now until the day I die, I am your woman. Tex smiles, looks at her. TEX Good lookin' plane there. BENNY GOODMAN Yeah, it's a prototype, agent. They call it stealth. Supposed to bounce radar. TEX So that's what we've got covering us? A black coat of paint? BENNY GOODMAN Look, man, the real thing we've got going for us here is that anybody who finds you couldn't possibly believe what you've done. Himmler's castle in the heart of Germany? The powers that be couldn't possibly believe you made it all the way in here, let alone all the way back out. They load Purnima, Chanda, and the girl Delbert pulled from the cage into the plane. TEX Get in, youngster. BENNY GOODMAN You off your rocker alligator? TEX Kid, they're gonna catch you and kill you. BENNY GOODMAN They ain't never catchin' me. I'm too damn smooth, old timer. Next time you cats come to the Fatherland we gonna be jiggin' it up with the real Benny Goodman. You sure you can fly this thing? TEX You bet your newsie lookin' ass, Benny. Listen, thank you for all your help. BENNY GOODMAN You tryin' to get sentimental on me, agent? Tex says it all with his eyes and his smile as he shakes young Benny's hand. John and Delbert follow suit. We pan and pull way out, watching the plane lift off from Wewelsburg. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM Taubert is throwing random junk across the room. He pulls a luger and shoots the screens for the closed circuit security, blowing several of them out. He storms towards the door, opens it, screams at the SS Guard outside. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (Subtitle) Bring Doktor Muller NOW!! SS GUARD MORITZ Already on the way sir. COMMANDANT TAUBERT You almost killed me of shock there, officer. A spark of competence after all! SS GUARD MORITZ Thank you sir. Doktor Muller enters, dragged with a fresh bandage on his gunshot wound up towards the throne, where Taubert is seated like a wizened nazi Conan. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Guard. Leave. Now. The guards exit, quick, quiet, afraid of Taubert. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Well, Doktor, what do you have to say for yourself? DOKTOR MULLER What? COMMANDANT TAUBERT When I report to Himmler of your grotesque failure here, what would you like me to tell him? We can see the rage and sense of abuse in Muller's eye. He chokes down hard on his horrible emotion. DOKTOR MULLER That I, sir, that I... (Wipes his brow) Sir, that I... (Looks at wound) That I did everything I could, I gave my all, and I would gladly die for the reich. COMMANDANT TAUBERT How gladly? DOKTOR MULLER Very gladly sir. COMMANDANT TAUBERT And would you kill for the furher? As well as die? DOKTOR MULLER Of course, sir. Taubert studies him a long moment. COMMANDANT TAUBERT How could you even suggest using those American buffoons for anything more than target practice! For sport? SPORT? That's not sport, Muller, it's a waste of money. DOKTOR MULLER Sir? COMMANDANT TAUBERT You shut the fuck up when I'm taliking, god dammit!! The next time you breach protocol to satisfy your own damn fool curiosity, I'm going to see if you'll die for the Reich. Or kill. Because you will kill, Doktor, (Beat) You will kill yourself, you stupid pig. THE WEREWOLVES OF WORLD WAR II PART V Like laxative for blood INT. PLANE TEX You know doc, sometimes I hate the moon. DOKTOR INDIRA How could you hate the moon? She's the, kind of the patron saint of your kind... TEX You know somethin' about my kind, ma'am? DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah, thing or two actually. TEX And what kind of guy do you think I am? DOKTOR INDIRA Half. TEX What? DOKTOR INDIRA I said half. As in, I really don't think you qualify as just one of the guys. TEX Fair enough. DOKTOR INDIRA It's not really like you're just a pack hound either. How could you hate the moon? TEX Well, go 'head and look out that window right there, and tell me about her. What you can see. DOKTOR INDIRA Well, we're quite certain that it's made of some form of volcanic rock. TEX No, no, tell me how it looks. DOKTOR INDIRA Well, it's big... TEX Uh-huh. DOKTOR INDIRA And round... TEX Go on. DOKTOR INDIRA And it's, it's beautiful, Tex. TEX There we go. DOKTOR INDIRA You hate the moon because it's beautiful? TEX Well, you see that big hunk a cheese in the sky moves me to my very soul, sugar. Shakes me, makes me wanna do wild shit, y'know? I mean, I know why the dogs howl for her. And why women's cycles are moved by it. And the ocean. But sometimes I look up at old gorgeous, and I kind of lose it, lady. I see all that natural beauty, that free, incredible spectacle. I mean look at her, doc, she's amazing. I mean, can you not tell me she's amazing? Well, see, there it is. Free up there for everybody. Everybody in the world. DOKTOR INDIRA Even the... TEX That's right, even the soulless, dickless nazi bastards we just yanked you away from get to see her. And all they gotta do is go outside and look. And for that girl, (Looks at her) For that I wanna take every last one of their god damn eyes. DOKTOR INDIRA Not one for sharing, huh? TEX Not with those sons of bitches. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM Commandant Taubert watches emaciated slaves repair and replace his closed circuit security. Doktor Muller hobbles up to him, full of fear and hate. We of course have subtitles. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Herr Doktor. DOKTOR MULLER Commandant, you wanted to see me? COMMANDANT TAUBERT Well, no, I wanted to see a replacement for you, but... You have surveyed the lab? DOKTOR MULLER Yes, sir. COMMANDANT TAUBERT And you have seen the basement? DOKTOR MULLER Of course, sir. COMMANDANT TAUBERT But you still have the files, yes? DOKTOR MULLER Yes sir. Complete and intact. COMMANDANT TAUBERT And you were saying, what, that the weapon can still be completed? DOKTOR MULLER Well, sir, the thing is that she was close. Real close. COMMANDANT TAUBERT How close? DOKTOR MULLER Well, in all actuality, the project isn't that far out. COMMANDANT TAUBERT So, you are telling me we may yet have a product to test on the allied scum before we win the war? DOKTOR MULLER Well, the trouble I'm running into is that I still lack a specific conjunction of reagents. I can make this thing work, but I need another sample, and they stole our last one. COMMANDANT TAUBERT All of them? DOKTOR MULLER No, the, the other ones were all dead already. The only one we have left disappeared in that tiny car. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Shit. What am I supposed to do, round up another one? You know how RARE these beasts are? DOKTOR MULLER Well, sir, It's not like I need a full grown one. COMMANDANT TAUBERT What the fuck do you mean? DOKTOR MULLER Sir, I need one, ah, in vitro. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Unborn? He pauses at this. His countenance regains some semblance of self control and he takes a deep breath. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Doktor, fix my shot. And when you are done, bring me the telephone. Doktor Muller slinks out of the room before Taubert can find a method or excuse to hurt him again. INT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL, GERTRUDE HALSE'S ROOM Gertrude Halse packs lackadaisically, apathetically throwing clothing into her big black luggage. That's when Raymond Sussex bursts in. RAYMOND SUSSEX Good, you're already mostly packed. Listen, Gertrude, I've got the most ominous feeling about tonight... Too little Too late, the door pops right back open and in strolls Treasurer Grant, followed by Dieter Griebe. TREASURER GRANT Raymond! Well, I suppose I should be explaining all this to you in detail, some reason for what I'm doing, but... He waves a slight wave at Dieter, who directly shoots Raymond. TREASURER GRANT (CONT'D) And you, my delicate flower, DIETER GRIEBE Get on the fucking floor, bitch. He grabs her violent by the hair. She screams, then is silenced by Dieter in a quick motion a syringe in her. DIETER GRIEBE (CONT'D) She's it? TREASURER GRANT No, no, we've got the wrong people. Pick her the fuck up you stupid turd! Now! I'm calling the cleanup crew right now. Hurry, you fucking wart! Grant heads to the phone on the dresser, and we fade out while Dieter begins to lift Gertrude up. EXT. LACKLAND AFB We watch from far out as the plane descends towards the airstrip and lands. The lot of them climb out, an odd clump of strange looking people on the tarmac. DOKTOR INDIRA My soul for a hot bath. TEX Tell you what little missy, (Stops, looks at her) I'll point you in the direction of the ladies room without even so much as collateral for your soul. It's like the first time she has ever smiled, and the warmth of it even surprises her. DOKTOR INDIRA Thank you, Tex. I just need a bath and a spot to dump off mom and we can get right into it. TEX Miss, don't you think you might wanna take a day or two to get your head straight? DOKTOR INDIRA No. Matter of fact hell no, Tex. You know what I want? (Beat) Tex, I want blood. TEX I like your attitude Doctor. DOKTOR INDIRA Thanks. What kind of labs are we working with here? You boys got some kind of centrifuge? TEX Uhm... Sure. I'm sure there's the finest the U.S. Military can offer scientifically... What would you need a centrifuge for? DOKTOR INDIRA I need to separate specimens in an order to get the banding right. The amino acids need to be isolated without ultraviolet so the nutrinos aren't tampering with the shift. I wanna watch the blood itself during change but... TEX What the hell are you talking about? DOKTOR INDIRA Well, you said you wanted to hire me, right? You said there was a job offer here. TEX Well, yeah, but first off, that's all greek to me. I don't have the slightest clue what you mean except for the ultraviolet thing. DOKTOR INDIRA Right, and there's a sun and moon thing, like, Tex, you know moonlight is just reflected sunlight? TEX My, how monotheistic of you. DOKTOR INDIRA Right? So, if I'm to develope a serum, I'm gonna need-- TEX Serum? What serum? DOKTOR INDIRA The serum to, look, didn't they brief you on what we were doing? Tex opens the door for Doktor Indira, and the whole crew moves into the INT. LACKLAND AFB Without letting the conversation pause. TEX Yeah. Gettin' pulled out of there by Tex Rockler and his nazi killing crew. That's what you were doing. DOKTOR INDIRA No, I mean, okay, look, the serum would be used to create a super soldier. One not afraid of guns, knives, a, a war machine, Tex. TEX Oh. Wait. I see. Guys? You meet me in Raymond's office? JOHN WESTCROFT You got it. We'll get Chanda straight to medical, along with the youngster there. TEX For sure. She alive? JOHN WESTCROFT The girl? Sure. Catatonic, but... TEX Gotcha. I won't be long. Doctor? Tex and Doktor Indira break off from the group down another hallway. They approach a men's room. TEX (CONT'D) Gimme a sec. Tex walks in, we wait a second. He comes back out and motions her into the restroom. INT. MEN'S ROOM Tex shuts the door and turns a lock. He peels off his clothing and Doktor Indira is instantly uncomfortable. TEX Oh, don't you wish. I'm just trying to save my shirt. I'ma show you why we were sent to get you. I mean, you get that, if you shoot anybody with a silver bullet, there's gonna be a hole in 'em? Like if you shot Joe Schmoe on the street, with a silver bullet, it'll kill 'em? DOKTOR INDIRA Yeah... His clothes hung up, he stretches, and stretches, and stretches. He is massive, hunched up beneath the eight foot ceiling. His shaggy gold coat and green, human eyes glint in the dingy yellow bathroom. She is entranced, astounded. TEX Well, a silver bullet'll fuck my shit up, but if you wanna try straight round from a pistol, I'll let you. Startin' to get to be like bee stings anyway. DOKTOR INDIRA You're huge. And you're not talking out loud. TEX I'm not am I? Shit. She approaches and puts a hand on his massive, hirsute arm. a smile creeps over her. DOKTOR INDIRA I've never seen one so healthy before. You already have the serum? TEX Serum? Ma'am, I'm from Texas. DOKTOR INDIRA You're telling me you aren't a project? TEX Well I most definitely am a project. DOKTOR INDIRA But you were... You were born this way, like our specimens... TEX Specimens? He shifts down into a wolf, sits on his haunches. DOKTOR INDIRA Hey, look, they were gonna kill my mom, man. I'm sorry to be selfish, but what would you do? TEX You do have a point there. No, I get it. The way those bastards operate is pretty evil. DOKTOR INDIRA How fast can you move like that? She is still touching him, petting the huge golden hound. TEX Yeah, behind the ears, and under the chin. Oh, yeah... it's like a big tongue but ah... I can... that's good... I can do a mile in a minute with terrain. DOKTOR INDIRA So... for a job... TEX (His leg is kicking) Ah... Yeah well, we're in the interest of developing the existing weapons... DOKTOR INDIRA Elastic backed body armor. TEX Huh? DOKTOR INDIRA Silver rounds right? Well... Body armor. We'll take measurements for your change... How many of you are there? TEX Near as I know, three. DOKTOR INDIRA See, the nazis had me developing a system or serum or, well, the means didn't matter, but like, a program to give the, the gene, y'know? The changings to already loyal troops. (Beat) Get me to my files. INT. RAYMOND SUSSEX'S OFFICE John and Delbert enter, the receptionist is a smartly dressed woman behind a large metal desk. John and Delbert both salute her. RECEPTIONIST Why good afternoon, gentlemen. What can I do for you? JOHN WESTCROFT Mister Sussex, please. RECEPTIONIST Oh I'm sorry, I'm afraid he's stepped out. JOHN WESTCROFT Would it be a bother if we wait here for the rest of our crew? RECEPTIONIST No problem, boys. Have a seat. John and Delbert twiddle their thumbs a bit until Tex enters. TEX Boys? What's the hold up? JOHN WESTCROFT He's not here. TEX What? RECEPTIONIST Mister Sussex isn't in right now sir. May I leave a message? TEX No, no message, where the hell is he? RECEPTIONIST I'm sorry sir, I'm not at liberty to discuss his whereabouts. TEX Log my security, miss, Alpha Delta Alpha Seven One Nine. I understand that information is provided on a need to know basis, but you can take it too the bank I need to know. She thumbs a rolodex and looks up at him warily. RECEPTIONIST Mister Sussex has gone to the Saint Anthony Hotel. JOHN WESTCROFT Let's get ramblin', eh? TEX Aw, John, that was so cute. Fuggin' hilarious with that cockney accent of yours but, yeah, thank you miss. EXT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL As the three of them pull up, sirens wail and the lobby buzzes with people. We overhear bits of conversation involving gunshot noise, thumps, the smell of chaos. TEX I don't like this shit one bit. JOHN WESTCROFT What the hell are we looking at? None of them speak as they exit the car. DELBERT Bedlam. We cross the foyer, passing the rich doors. INT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL The boys approach the lobby and see Colonel Hetfield scurrying up to them right away, having instantly recognized them. COLONEL HETFIELD Boys!! Boys, Tex, damn, it's good to see you, damn... You are a sight for sore eyes, Texan. CUT TO: INT. SAINT ANTHONY'S HOTEL, KITCHEN TEX Uncle. Uncle, I don't think you've formally met the boys. This is Special Agent Delbert Yazzie and Sergeant John Westcroft. Men, I'd like you to meet my uncle Colonel Dale Stewart Hetfield. I'm not sure if you caught their names proper last time. COLONEL HETFIELD (Shaking their hands) Guys it's, it's a real pleasure. I've heard so much about you. I'm, listen, this breaks my heart, guys, come, come on and sit down. We gotta have us a little pow wow. TEX What's up? COLONEL HETFIELD It's been real rough here on the homefront, boys. I've got some terrible news, and I can't really candy coat it, so I'm gonna let it rip, right here. They killed Ray. TEX Oh god dammit... COLONEL HETFIELD Look, just, just sit back down, Tex. Ya'll stay put now, cause this next parts a bitch. John, they took your wife. DELBERT Didn't know you had a wife. JOHN WESTCROFT Neither did I. What do you mean, my wife? COLONEL HETFIELD The gal? The little lady what's been stayin' here, Raymond introduced you? Grant was talking all about her. I mean, it was like yesterday, he was tellin' me about your wife, John. You are John Halse, right? Tex begins to laugh, sick, sad, fierce. John shakes his head and Delbert gives a real genuine smile. TEX Oh, I, I bet that was a shitty date, man... (Wiping eyes, then flips) And now Sussex's FUCKING DEAD! JOHN WESTCROFT Sir, my last name is Westcroft. COLONEL HETFIELD Well ain't that a conundrum. TEX So they stole his fake wife? And why didn't you say somethin', John, I thought you said your whole family had died back on the farm, back in sheep shagger land-- JOHN WESTCROFT Tex, she didn't exactly propose to me in the hotel there. I'm not married, I just barely met the girl, but I wasn't that drunk, we didn't go to a priest. COLONEL HETFIELD Well, maybe you damn should have, son. Cause they took her, and they took her cause she's got your seed. TEX Damn, uncle, how do you know all this? COLONEL HETFIELD Cause he called me to gloat about it. From a little dock right outside of Houston. About four hours ago. JOHN WESTCROFT Who, dammit, who called you to gloat? COLONEL HETFIELD Grant. TEX Son of a bitch I knew it! I knew it from all the way back, remember, that dinner with Bert Walker down here? With the singer gal? Hell, what was I, eleven? COLONEL HETFIELD Well, it's a good thing you bothered to god damn say anything about it, Tex. TEX Where the fuck are they? JOHN WESTCROFT Yeah? Let's smash some fucking heads! You said they're only four hours away! COLONEL HETFIELD I don't think you're getting it. They told me where they're going and how they're getting there. The tour boat they're on will debark in Morocco, and they take a leisurely tour. Right back. JOHN WESTCROFT Wewelsburg. COLONEL HETFIELD So we know where, but not really when. TEX Looks like we need to get word to Benny Goodman. COLONEL HETFIELD Right, turn on the phonograph and get drunk. Nice and positive, Tex. JOHN WESTCROFT He means our intel contact. We'll need Raymond's files. INT. LACKLAND AFB R&D LAB Doktor Indira measures John, Delbert and Tex, while making notes on a combination blueprint/sewing pattern. Colonel Hetfield flips files and watches the men go into their huge half-wolf stage, then wolf stage, then flipping more pages. COLONEL HETFIELD Got it here, Benny Goodman, and over there it is... It is right about business time at the laundry. He dials a million numbers making the international call. COLONEL HETFIELD (CONT'D) Ah, shit, ah, schprecken pleezen der Benny Goodman, Yah? BENNY GOODMAN Oh, jesus, this can't be Scarborough... Look prank caller prank caller, don't call here... John snatches the phone from Colonel Hetfield. JOHN WESTCROFT Benny this is Agent, over. BENNY GOODMAN Shit, what do you want you cheeky bastard? This is applesauce! You imbeciles are gonna cook my goose! JOHN WESTCROFT Love that lip on you, cad. Now listen, we're coming back to burn the pumpkin patch down. You follow me? BENNY GOODMAN Yeah, yeah, baby. I'm pickin' up what you're layin' down. I'm chowin' down what you're throwin up. I'm scarfin' what your barfin'. What time you wanna make the scene? JOHN WESTCROFT Soon, real soon, junior. Now we've got a spot of real trouble with a certain individual coming into town... BENNY GOODMAN Oh, the foreign dignitary? They say he's from Italy, but dig this, he's from Texas. JOHN WESTCROFT You love your job, don't you? BENNY GOODMAN Love my job sir. Positively infatuated. Well, I love all my jobs, but this one shakes the tail feather. Anyway, before you started telling me how good my racket was, I was showin' you. I pick up the Italian Embassador of devastating bebop or whatever, his niece, and his nephew in Stuttgart on friday. JOHN WESTCROFT Three days then. We'll see you in four. BENNY GOODMAN Same pickup? Same crew? JOHN WESTCROFT We're just in the pocket, huh? BENNY GOODMAN Swingin'. The phone clanks down, and Doktor Indira puts a field syringe in his hand. DOKTOR INDIRA All right, let me just check my findings. Vulnerabilities include... TEX Silver. Fire. Well, except for John here, sorta. JOHN WESTCROFT Not what's inside a train engine, but I can roll in a campfire and walk out, yeah. DOKTOR INDIRA The claws and teeth of one of your own kind? TEX Make a note, Doc, that those'll work even if separated from one of our own kind. DOKTOR INDIRA Also total physical disassembly. TEX Yeah, blend one of us up real fine, yeah, that'll do it. DELBERT Painted bullets. TEX Delbert I'm assuming you don't mean a can of sears and roebuck whitewash, man, you wanna elucidate? DELBERT Bullets painted with the ashes of a holy man. TEX Well, at this point it seems more economical to melt the crosses than the clergy. DOKTOR INDIRA The most usable of these seems to be silver, in my research. Although Delbert, I will make a note of your suggestion. Now... (Gestures toward syringe) Ever been shot? JOHN WESTCROFT Hundreds of times. DOKTOR INDIRA God, you just wave it around, huh? No, jackass, ever shot yourself? With one of these? JOHN WESTCROFT No, what's the process? DOKTOR INDIRA You bite it and stab yourself with it. She demonstrates, he seems to get it. JOHN WESTCROFT What's in it? DOKTOR INDIRA Oh, just a little bacteria that eats silver. And the oxides it exudes. JOHN WESTCROFT Really? DOKTOR INDIRA I'm not going to act like I won't lose a limb if I don't ask, so, volunteers? TEX Right here. DOKTOR INDIRA This is going to hurt. Maybe like nothing that has ever hurt before. He shows her some skin and she shanks hard. DOKTOR INDIRA (CONT'D) Do it, do it! He writhes in pain, screaming. He fumbles blindly, managing at last to awkwardly stick himself with the field syringe. It seems to do nothing for him. JOHN WESTCROFT Change around it!! Shift the spot!! Muscle and bone alters, and the silver wound belches smoke and blood. Soon, it's a tiny, faint scar line. DOKTOR INDIRA Now, the body armor is folding, sliding plate system. You aren't a uniform size, so... INT. ZEPPELIN, NIGHT The sky over Wewelsburg is alive with a gunshot. The assorted passengers scream as Tex flings a uniformed nazi through a window. We get his jagged subtitles again. TEX You tell them everything you saw! And with that, Tex, John, and Delbert jump out after the corpse, straight down into the same patch of forest they landed in earlier. Baggy clothing shreds to reveal a black stretchy armor, gear tucked into close fitting bags. They head for the road. Benny wordlessly drives out. This time, the boys climb right in through a sewer grate, Tex snatching the cover open, fast change rippling. They steal into a hallway and Delbert silently spins a guard's head clean off. They pack off, John taking lead. They split at a juncture, disappearing in their dull black armor. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE HALLWAY Torches burn off oily smoke, casting sputtering light. A guard yawns and then turns toward a tiny sound, towards us. It becomes a "psst" in the black. SS GUARD HENDRIK Hallo? JOHN WESTCROFT Hey what's it doing? SS GUARD HENDRIK (Wary) Identify Yourself! As the guard approaches, we see Tex behind him, stretching into the massive half wolf, now clad in black armor, stalking down the corridor. JOHN WESTCROFT I don't really think you need to worry about me so much. Now This other guy here, This is Tex. He's from Connecticut. The guard flies a burst of sub machine gun fire into the dark, and a lucky shot plies a scream from John. Tex charges, shreds the poor bastard. Delbert brings the torch down the way, and we watch John shooting himself in the dim light with the syringe. The anti-silver takes effect as he shudders. His face has been hit, and he bubbles back up most of it. TEX Don't you ever fuckin' joke about be me bein' from Connecticut again, god dammit. John's face is back enough to smile, sick under blood and steadily altering muscle. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM Where we see Gertrude Halse tied to a chair. Doktor Muller prepares syringes and the video monitors flicker. Treasurer Grant and Dieter Griebe watch Taubert as he talks to Gertrude despite her unconsciousness. COMMANDANT TAUBERT Ah. Zhat you could shee zhe froot of your loinz. (Subtitled, now ) Bring to me the first volunteer! Muller shoots up an SS guard, who immediately begins to shift. Taubert begins to laugh. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Look here! Look at the new breed of the reich! The proof that the Aryan is the supreme man! Look at me!! The other guards watch in stunned silence. Taubert shoots the changing guard, then holds him with the look in his eyes. The hairy, unstable thing spits the bullet and a little smoke. It is somehow obedient through its frenzy. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) Make no mistake! I still hold your very lives in my hand! He pulls a different gun and executes the first of the new breed of SS soldier. He weeps. COMMANDANT TAUBERT (CONT'D) You must kill your babies, men. Now line up for your shots, and pay attention to the security vision screens. That is what you hunt. You wanna go in through the monitor? Descend through the floors? Either way, let's make the scene at INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE BASEMENT Where Tex and Delbert and John systematically sweep the room, stretchy, wolf shaped black metal blurs tumbling death. They scramble stairs, shuffle the hall and burst into INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE DINING ROOM Where they dump a load of explosive and hide a bundle of TNT with a timer. The sound of the howling and scrabbling rises up, then the mutated SS half-wolves explode into the room. The scrap is fierce. Their weapons are their claws and teeth, and we see the resilience of the armor and the experience of Tex, Delbert, and John working as a team, as a trained pack. They storm up towards the throne room, where we see Deiter Griebe and Treasurer Grant bolt down a separate hallway Delbert and John chase down Griebe and Grant, while John storms up to the throne room. INT. DOKTOR INDIRA'S LAB Griebe and Grant stumble into the lab, knocking over equipment in their panic. TREASURER GRANT Where the fuck are we? Where's the way out? I thought you said you knew where we were going! DIETER GRIEBE I did! Didn't you see those things that were down there? Where is a guard, or guard's gun? A silver-- The door erupts, spitting Tex and Delbert volcanic into the small lab. Tex wraps a claw around Grant's head, holds him up. TEX Where is she? TREASURER GRANT You piece of shit. You know right where she is. You can smell her. You really just wanted to-- (Coughs) To stop and torture me. Or did you really want to ask me something? TEX How could you? Sell your country, your SOUL, damn, I mean, what did they offer you? TREASURER GRANT In the States, I can be a senator, maybe even president. I was gonna be the King of Texas, get it? A KING! Come to think of it, I think I still will. He pulls a gun and shoots Tex in the leg. As he does, Tex howls and twists his arm off. Dieter Griebe dies at Delbert's hands, quick, quiet. TEX Texas ain't never gonna have no king, you piece of shit. You obviously have missed the whole point of the Lone Star State. Tex lets him scream for a minute. He casts a long look at the semi-burnt pile of files. He eviscerates Grant, tosses the body in disgust. INT. WEWELSBURG CASTLE THRONE ROOM Commandant Taubert's elbows hang over the side of the chair, the security screens casting blue in the room. Doktor Muller is nowhere to be found. A flutter of black passes through the lit area, a vague blur. Gertrude Halse sleeps in her bonds, snoring in her chair. JOHN WESTCROFT So you gonna shoot yourself up? Gonna take some of that stolen serum and see if you can stand up against me? A scratch of feet and a location of voice change. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) Well stand up!! Climb on up from man, to share turnskin blood!! He is preternaturally fast spinning the throne, a massive black weapon whipping the chair in a tight half cyclone. The gun flies from his limp hand, clacking to the floor across the room. We get the close up on Taubert's face, smoking hole and blood soaked chair. He has committed suicide. JOHN WESTCROFT (CONT'D) Bastard. He goes over to Gertrude, unties her, throws her over her shoulder. EXT. WEWELSBURG GERMANY, NIGHT The boys trundle down the hill as the bomb goes off, blowing down most of one tower. DELBERT Wish we had more dynamite. They meet back with Benny as we see parts of town in the distance bustle. They all fit in the car this time. They arrive again at the abandoned airport hanger. Gertrude wakes up in the car. GERTRUDE HALSE Oh my god... Where, where are we? JOHN WESTCROFT We're a long way from home, lady. But we're on our way. Come on out, come on, lets look at the plane. TEX Amazed they aren't on to you, kid. BENNY GOODMAN Hell, cat, they probly are. Thing is, I don't think they care. It's like, I'm a special guy. TEX Still, you don't think you should maybe, at least check the car? BENNY GOODMAN Sure, jack. Dig my blinker. As Benny hits the blinker, the fine automobile erupts in a huge gout of flame. The fire catches the plane, which erupts as well. John has covered Gertrude, but Benny is a charred skeleton. We take a long pull out and watch the smoke pillar up into the gloom. JOHN WESTCROFT How the hell are we gonna get home? TEX How the hell are we gonna get out of Germany? EXT. HARBOR, NEW YORK CITY We hear the seagulls and the ringing bell that we always hear at the docks. A fishing boat pulls in, and we see John, Gertrude, Tex and Delbert about to get off the boat. CAPTAIN All right. Three hundred dollars and passage. If ye ever decide to sail again, you know where to find me. Tex and John have grown long beards, and they are all toughened by the sea and the sun and the voyage. As they make their way into the city, people are cheering, leaning on car horns, celebrating. TEX What, what's happening here? PASSERBY You haven't heard? It's over!! The war is over, we won!! As they enter New York, we pan up over the city, the ticker tape parade, and the sound of the city celebrating victory. FADE OUT. THE END
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