DANIEL:
Thanks, Pa. (a beat) Do you think I am just having nightmares?
PA:
What else could it be?
DANIEL:
But why am I having them in the middle of the day?. . .When I’m wide awake?
PA:
The mind is a funny thing, Daniel - especially when it’s been traumatized. It can fool you into thinking something’s there when it’s not. Best thing you can do is fix your mind on the fact that the danger’s over. . . you’re home now. (a beat) Hey, look at the time - you better go get cleaned up. You don’t want to be late on your first day of work.
SOUND:
THE CHAIR SCRAPING ON THE FLOOR AS DANIEL GETS UP.
DANIEL:
Especially for “Bass The Hard-Ass.” Thanks for breakfast, Pa.
MUSIC:
EPISODE SCORE MARKING PASSAGE OF TIME.
SOUND:
DANIEL GRUNTING AS HE UNLOADS A FINAL BAG FROM A DELIVERY TRUCK.
DANIEL:
(breathing heavily) All right, that’s the last of it, Mr. Bass.
MERLE:
Nice to watch someone else unload the truck for a change. Close up the tailgate for me, would you?
DANIEL:
Sure thing.
SOUND:
TAILGATE ON THE TRUCK BEING SHUT.
MERLE:
(calling out) That’s it, Travis! We’ll see you Thursday!
SOUND:
TRUCK STARTING UP AND DRIVING AWAY, UNDER.
MERLE (cont’d):
Good job, kid. I think you might work out here.
DANIEL:
(distracted) Thanks.
MERLE:
You feeling all right? You look like your mind is somewhere else.
DANIEL:
(a bit reluctantly) I, uh. . .I didn’t get much sleep last night.
MERLE:
Nightmares?. . .about the camps?
DANIEL:
Something like that.
MERLE:
(hesitant at first, then forges ahead) You know. . .uh. . .when I came back from Korea, I had days when it seemed like I was still there. . .like the war was one long nightmare I’d never wake up from. But the more I went on living my life, and the more I hung on to everything those bastards tried to take away from me, the more. . .powerful I felt. Then one morning I woke up and I just had this feeling that I’d been through the worst of it. I was ready to move on. That’s when I knew. . .the nightmare was over. (a beat) It’ll be over for you, too, kid. Just keep fighting.
DANIEL:
(quietly) Yes, sir.
MERLE:
(a world-weary sigh, then. . .) Come on. If you want to see a nightmare, I’ll show you how to work that pile of scrap metal that passes for a cash register.
MUSIC:
TRANSITION
NARRATOR:
It’s a fairly busy morning for Daniel. Working with customers and learning the
NARRATOR (cont’d):
routine around the store takes his mind off his nightmares. In fact, by the time his four-hour workday is almost done, he begins to think his sanity may be restored.
SOUND:
THE BUSTLE OF THE TOWN SQUARE.
NARRATOR (cont’d):
After work, he decides to go for a walk through the town square, which on this sunny afternoon is the very picture of small town America. It is an idyllic scene. . .perhaps too idyllic.
MUSIC:
OMINOUS, UNDER.
DANIEL:
(alarmed) That man walking out of the diner. . .he looks like a guy who was a prisoner in the camp. (a beat) It is him. . . he’s even wearing the gray prison uniform. (anxiety building) Wait. . .there’s another prisoner over by the courthouse steps! And another by the bus stop. They’re all wearing that same uniform! (frightened now) What are they doing here? (a beat) They’re. . . they’re pretending to play football. . .
DANIEL (cont’d):
just like they used to do in the exercise yard at the camp.
NARRATOR:
If the sight of his fellow prisoners isn’t enough to spook Daniel, the next person he sees sends him into a full- blown panic.
HANGMAN:
(off) Enough game! Time for interrogation! Where Private Daniel Conway?
DANIEL:
(gasps) The Hangman!
HANGMAN:
(off) Conway a spy! I interrogate him!
DANIEL:
(a panicked whisper) No! I’ve got to get out of here!
SOUND:
DANIEL’S FOOTSTEPS RUNNING, UNDER.
HANGMAN:
(off) There he is! He try to run away! Where you going to run, Conway? You cannot go far! I find you!
DANIEL:
(panicked, breathless as he runs) This isn’t happening! It can’t be real!
MUSIC:
STING.
ANNOUNCER:
We’ll return to Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories – after these few words.
ANNOUNCER:
Now back to Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories and “The Final Battlefield.”
SOUND:
DANIEL RUNNING INTO KITCHEN, THE DOOR SLAMMING BEHIND HIM.
DANIEL:
(breathing heavily; trying to convince himself) They weren’t there! It never happened. . .it’s impossible!
NARRATOR:
Daniel stands in the middle of his kitchen trying to figure out how a group of Viet Cong could chase him out of the village square in Clover Ridge, Iowa. Then, remembering that it must be a nightmare, he starts looking frantically around the kitchen for the dreamcatcher.
SOUND:
DANIEL QUICKLY WALKING TO COUNTER, AND DREAMCATCHER CLATTERING A BIT AS HE PICKS IT UP, UNDER.
NARRATOR (cont’d):
Seeing it on the counter, he grabs for it and clutches it desperately to his chest.
DANIEL:
(a bit relieved) All right. I just need to calm down. Maybe I’ll go upstairs and lie down for a while.
SOUND:
FOLLOW DANIEL WALKING UPSTAIRS AND INTO HIS ROOM, UNDER.
DANIEL (cont’d):
It’s impossible. The Hangman can’t be here. Neither can Keith. . .or all those other POWs. Gotta slow down my heart. I’m too upset.
SOUND:
THE BED CREAKING AS DANIEL LAYS DOWN, UNDER.
DANIEL (cont’d):
Gotta close my eyes and relax. Deep breaths, Daniel. Just picture those nightmares falling into the dreamcatcher. (takes a deep breath, then, more calmly) That’s better.
HANGMAN:
(abruptly) You comfy now?
DANIEL:
You! What are you doing in my room?
HANGMAN:
What you mean your room? This no hotel!
DANIEL:
You’re not here! This is an illusion!. . .Some trick of the mind!
HANGMAN:
Guard! Set up the pulley. Time to interrogate Private Conway.
DANIEL:
No!
SOUND:
DANIEL STRUGGLING WITH GUARD, THEN THE ROPE AND PULLEY BEING SET UP, UNDER.
NARRATOR:
As Daniel tries to process all this, his wrists are wrenched behind his back and tied with a thick rope. . .a rope
NARRATOR (cont’d):
that is part of the dreaded torture device he knows all too well.
DANIEL:
(almost a sob) This isn’t happening! You’re not real! You’re some kind of hallucination!
HANGMAN:
No worry. . .we convince you otherwise. Guard. . .pull him up!
SOUND:
SQUEAK OF PULLEY AS IT PULLS DANIEL OFF THE FLOOR.
DANIEL:
(groans loudly in
