Batman Page #3

And still the BLACK FIGURE draws closer, deliberate,

menacing. On its chest: THE EMBLEM OF A BAT, in an oval

yellow field, glowing like a target in the darkness...

NICK FIRES TWICE. TWO CLEAN HITS. The strange black figure

is knocked bodily to the roof.

Trembling, sweating buckets, NICK gets to his feet. He

whacks a motionless EDDIE on the arm --

NICK (cont.)

I'm gettin' outta here.

-- and bends to retrieve his loot. EDDIE lets out a

strange, pre-verbal squeal...

... and NICK sees THE HUMAN BAT, BACK ON ITS FEET,

NIGHTMARISH, UNDEAD, MOVING SLOWLY AND INEVITABLY CLOSER.

Panic. Sheer, raw, unrelenting panic. Stolen money flutters

out of NICK's hands. He scuttles around the periphery of

the roof, his feet skidding on the gravel as he searches

for a way down. The BLACK SPECTRE is blocking his path to

the fire escape. Trapped like a rat, NICK FIRES WILDLY.

EDDIE is frozen in place, his eyes glazed over, his face

drained of blood. The BAT treads calmly past. A LEG snakes

out. A BLACK BOOT catches EDDIE high on the chest --

-- LIFTS HIM CLEANLY OFF HIS FEET --

-- AND SENDS HIM FLYING THROUGH THE AIR. EDDIE slams into a

brick chimney and slumps to the roof unconscious, a broken,

weightless puppet.

THIS ACTION IS SO SMOOTH, SO AUTOMATIC, THAT THE BAT DOES

NOT EVEN BREAK HIS STRIDE. NICK sees his chance and CHARGES

past the black wraith, scrambling toward the fire escape...

A GLOVED HAND slices through the air, and NICK pitches

forward, his legs ensnared in a tangle of WIRES. Screaming

now, he drags himself across the gravel roof, the looming

figure of the BAT at his heels...

... until there's no place left to go. NICK cowers against

the ledge, his pants torn, his hands and knees bloody. He

has dissolved into total mindless hysteria.

Almost by reflex, NICK keeps shooting. He'd do better if he

could manage to open his eyes. By now the hammer is falling

on an empty chamber, but NICK continues, obsessively, to

pull the trigger. He weeps; he moans; he wails...

THE BAT grabs a fistful of NICK's shirt, and with

supernatural ease HOISTS HIM into the air.

NICK (cont.)

Don't kill me... don't kill me...

When NICK finally opens his eyes, he realizes THE BAT is

standing on the ledge of the roof -- HOLDING HIM OUT, at

arm's length, over six stories of nothingness.

The gruesome black apparition speaks, in a rasping whisper:

Rate this script:3.5 / 6 votes